Builder-Buyer Agreement – Commercial Unit

स्टाम्प ड्यूटी

Different instruments, different figures, and neither is the eventual sale deed's duty. CHANDIGARH: an agreement for sale under which possession has not passed is Item 22 of the Chandigarh stamp schedule — five per cent, charged on the earnest or token money actually paid under the agreement, not on the Total Price — plus one per cent registration fee capped at Rs 10,000 and Rs 20 pasting fee. Confirm the figure at the Sub-Registrar's counter, Sector 17, before buying the e-stamp. PUNJAB: this instrument falls to Article 5, Schedule I-A to the Indian Stamp Act, 1899 as it applies in Punjab — entry 5(c), an agreement without possession. The Revenue Department's own table carries no rate for it. Ask the Sub-Registrar of the tehsil before buying paper. Both figures are for THIS agreement, not for the conveyance deed that follows possession — Clause 8 states that separately, and it is the far larger number. Buy the e-stamp dated on or before the day of signing; an unstamped instrument is inadmissible until the duty and penalty are paid.

रजिस्ट्री

Compulsory, on two independent grounds that both point the same way. Section 13(1) of the Real Estate (Regulation and Development) Act, 2016 forbids the Promoter from accepting more than ten per cent of the cost of the Unit as an advance or deposit without first entering into this Agreement and registering it. Separately, an agreement of this kind is a contract for a sale of immovable property within Section 53A of the Transfer of Property Act, 1882, and Section 17(1A) of the Registration Act, 1908 — inserted precisely to catch a Section 53A contract — makes it compulsorily registrable regardless of the RERA threshold. Present it before the Sub-Registrar or Joint Sub-Registrar within whose sub-district the Unit is situated, with the Promoter's authorised signatory and two identifying witnesses, each carrying Aadhaar and PAN. Nothing is payable by the Allottee until registration is complete — Clause 5 says so and the receipt at the foot of this Agreement is left blank until then.

नोटरी

No substitute for registration, in either jurisdiction. A notarised but unregistered draft does not satisfy Section 13 of the RERA Act or Section 17(1A) of the Registration Act, does not let the Promoter lawfully take an advance, and does not cure a stamp shortfall. Some promoters offer to work from a notarised copy while registration is arranged later, with money changing hands in between — Clause 5 exists to stop exactly that. Notarisation belongs on supporting papers instead: an authority letter, an indemnity, a non-attending co-allottee's no-objection.

गवाह

No attesting witnesses are required by the RERA Act as such. What the counter needs is personal or authorised appearance under Section 34(1) of the Registration Act, 1908 and identity verification under Section 34(3)(c) — two identifying witnesses with their own photo identity documents. Both parties should sign or initial every page, including each Schedule, before the appointment; an unsigned specification page is what gets disowned later.