Existing flat owners in self-redevelopment projects will now have to pay only Rs 1,000 in stamp duty instead of the current rate varying between 5-7% of the total agreement value of the property.
The state government issued a government resolution in this regard on Friday to push for self-redevelopment projects across Maharashtra. The GR, however, clarified that homebuyers purchasing apartments from the open market in self-redeveloped projects will have to pay stamp duty as per the prevailing market rate.
State housing federation representatives said the move would definitely benefit 30-year-old housing societies going for self-redevelopment. Earlier, flat owners in such projects had to shell out double the stamp duty.
“Flat owners in such projects were made to pay around 5-7% of the market value depending on the city and district as stamp duty, which has now been reduced to just Rs 1,000,” said Advocate Shreeprasad Parab, director of the state housing federation.
Self-redevelopment of the old societies is the need of the hour to provide affordable housing in cities like Mumbai, Thane and Pune, he added.
Vice-president of the state housing federation, Suhas Patwardhan, said it was a good move. “The 2019 GR on self-redevelopment had called for a single-window system to clear such proposals too. This also should be in place along with the reduced stamp duty,” he said, adding that there was no data on such proposals in the state at present.
Deputy chief minister Devendra Fadnavis had on May 8 directed the state administration to fast-track implementation of the self-redevelopment policy approved by the government in 2019.
Consumer organization Watchdog Foundation demanded that the stamp duty for such projects be reduced to Rs 100. “Several projects will go for self-redevelopment if the stamp duty is reduced to Rs 100,” advocate Godfrey Pimenta of the foundation said.
