Built-to-Suit Lease Agreement

स्टाम्प ड्यूटी

Duty is on rent, not on the cost of construction and not on premises value, banded by term exactly as for any other commercial lease — a built-to-suit deed is stamped as a lease under Article 35 of the Indian Stamp Act, 1899 because the consideration moving from the Lessee is rent for the Term, not a price for building work. That premise depends on the deed actually being drafted that way: if a construction cost figure is stated as something the Lessee pays or reimburses rather than as background to the Cost of Construction clause, ask at the counter whether that turns any part of the instrument into something else. All figures below checked 6 September 2026 (undated tables), the same date as the rest of this library's Punjab and Chandigarh stamp duty content. PUNJAB: under one year 4% of annual rent; one-five years 8% of average rent; five-ten years 3%; ten-twenty 3% of twice it; twenty-thirty 3% of three times; thirty-99 3% of four times. Reg fee 1% (twice on the ten-twenty band), facilitation Rs 500, pasting Rs 200, mutation Rs 600. The 8% one-five-year band looks like a departmental error (higher than neighbours) — confirm at the counter. Ask whether s.4(2)'s Rs 1,000 fee displaces the 1% (see registration note). E-stamp via SHCIL before execution — and buy it against the Term and annual average rent actually stated in this Deed (the Target Completion Date to the Expiry Date), whichever start-of-Term option is chosen, because that is the figure on the face of the instrument the counter will check. CHANDIGARH: up to five years 2% plus 3% on the refundable security deposit only, never advance rent (not on advance rent); five-ten 3% plus 3%; ten-twenty 3% of twice plus 3%; twenty-thirty 3% of three times plus 3%; thirty-100 3% of four times plus 3%. Reg fee 1% capped Rs 10,000 plus Rs 20 pasting. No sub-one-year band. The 3% on the deposit bites hard, and a built-to-suit deposit is often larger than an ordinary commercial deposit because it is doing double duty as comfort against the Lessor's construction risk; settle who bears the duty on it, and whether a later top-up attracts more. BOTH: no family/gender concession. A duplicate is separately chargeable (Article 25). Under-stamping: deficiency plus penalty fall on whoever the deed names, and it's impounded until paid.

रजिस्ट्री

Compulsory — s.107 TPA/s.17(1)(d) for year-to-year, over a year, or yearly rent leases, which a built-to-suit deal is in practice always over, because the committed Term is the whole commercial point. Present within four months (s.23), four more on fine (s.25); inadmissible under s.49 if unregistered. PUNJAB — THE SECTION 4 FEE FORK: Sub-Registrar of the tehsil (S.A.S. Nagar for IT City/Mohali), via igrpunjab.gov.in, photographs/Aadhaar/PAN. Published table: 1% of annual rent plus Rs 500 facilitation — but s.4(1)-(2), Rent Act 1995 requires a covered non-residential letting on the Schedule I Form at flat Rs 1,000, notwithstanding the Registration Act, so this deed and its 1% duty may be wrong where the Act applies (Article 35 applicability also unresolved). Settle in writing before engrossing; s.50 appeals don't reach s.4(2) disputes. Where s.3(1)(c) applies — very often the case here, since the building is being constructed now — or s.3(1)(f) or the urban-area limit exempts the premises, this deed and the pattanama fee are simply correct. CHANDIGARH: Sub-Registrar, 30 Bays Building — 12-1pm presentation, 3-5pm registration, 9-11am collection. Fee 1% capped Rs 10,000 plus Rs 20 pasting. Copy count is unsettled for leasehold sites (checklist covers freehold only) — ask when booking. No jamabandi/mutation for sector property — title is the Estate Officer's allotment file, auto-mutation since 2025 means everything must be right at the counter (Manimajra/lal dora areas use a fard instead); prior Estate Office permission may be needed to let (50-day NOC, Right to Service, 30 March 2026), and separately, permission to build to the Agreed Specifications where the allotment conditions require it. Deeds executed outside India for Chandigarh need Finance Department embossing.

नोटरी

Not an alternative to registration — a notarised but unregistered lease over a year still fails s.49; adds nothing where registration follows, normally skipped. Use the notary for surrounding papers: board resolution/authority letter, title/vacant-possession affidavit, an allottee-lessor's indemnity, mortgagee no-objection, head-lease residue confirmation, permitted-use undertaking, and — specific to a built-to-suit deal — any separate undertaking on the construction budget or a parent-company guarantee of the Lessor's construction obligation. A POA used to execute/present needs s.33 authentication (registering officer, magistrate, or abroad: notary plus consular attestation) BEFORE execution — an unauthenticated power gets refused at the counter, delaying registration. Chandigarh: also needs Finance Department embossing if executed abroad. Chandigarh Estate Office now accepts notarised affidavits over Executive Magistrate attestation, except where specifically required otherwise.

गवाह

TPA doesn't require attestation (s.107 needs only execution by both parties) but both offices expect two witnesses, adults, not parties. Chandigarh adds a real qualification: under para 127, Punjab Registration Manual, the FIRST witness must be known to the Sub-Registrar (councillor/gazetted officer/advocate in sectors; Lambardar/Sarpanch/Member Panchayat rural), both known to each other — a driver and neighbour get turned away. Executant/claimant photographs affixed. Punjab: two identifying witnesses with photo ID, captured in NGDRS. What gates registration is attendance: both executants in person with photo ID/PAN, photographed, thumb impressions; a company through its authorised signatory with board resolution; an absent executant needs a s.33-authenticated POA.