New rules to prevent NRG property fraud, Real Estate News, ET Real Estate

Ahmedabad: To check fraudulent sale of properties belonging to NRG, state govt imposes checks to ‘prevent misuse of’power of attorney‘ document.

The Department of Revenue this month issued two important circulars defining the new procedures. Henceforth, an NRG or person residing outside the State, who delegates authority to his representatives to execute the sale of property, will have to send an additional document declaring him to be alive at the time of sale. The proxy can be a blood relative or a third party. The rules say that the notarized declaration should be sent in a sealed cover and opened only in the presence of the sub-registrar.

The notification of the Department of Revenue elaborates that the NRI will have to file a declaration from the date of application for execution of sale deed. “The declaration has to be registered in the sub-registrar’s office,” says a senior revenue official.

Several cases have been reported in Ahmedabad and other cities Gujarat where the buyers bought the properties NRI Through people armed with power of attorney, only to later find others claiming their share in the property.

Stamp Superintendent Jenu Devan had issued two circulars in this regard on January 9 and January 10. The January 9 circular called for the Gujarat Registration (Amendment) Regulations 2023. It changed the relevant rule from filing a “declaration by power of attorney” stating “the principal (property owner) is alive” to “declaration by the principal that he/she is alive”.

“This means that instead of the power of attorney holder declaring that the NRI owner is alive, the owner has to file a separate declaration and post it in a sealed cover to the sub-registrar,” says the revenue official. The date should be included in the declaration by the NRI seller, preferably one day after the filing of the sale deed.

“The NRI seller issuing the Power of Attorney shall state in a separate declaration on Rs 50 stamp paper that he is alive; that he has neither withdrawn nor canceled the power of attorney issued by him; And that there is no suit or dispute pending in any court or tribunal in India in respect of the property concerned. The NRI seller will also have to certify that it will be his responsibility if the transaction is found to be bogus,’ says the revenue official.