Documents of Which Registration Is Compulsory

In one line

Gifts of land, documents dealing with interests in land worth a hundred rupees or more, leases over a year, and, since 2001, agreements to sell relied on for part performance, must all be registered.

In exam wording: section 17(1) provides that the following documents shall be registered: instruments of gift of immovable property; other non-testamentary instruments which purport or operate to create, declare, assign, limit or extinguish, whether in present or future, any right, title or interest, vested or contingent, of the value of one hundred rupees and upwards, to or in immovable property; non-testamentary instruments acknowledging receipt or payment of consideration on account of such a transaction; leases of immovable property from year to year, or for any term exceeding one year, or reserving a yearly rent; and non-testamentary instruments transferring or assigning any decree, order or award of the same value and effect.

The five compulsory classes

(a) Instruments of gift of immovable property. Note there is no value threshold. Every gift deed of land must be registered, however small the property, which matches section 123 of the Transfer of Property Act.

(b) Other non-testamentary instruments which create, declare, assign, limit or extinguish any right, title or interest, vested or contingent, in present or in future, of the value of one hundred rupees and upwards, to or in immovable property.

This is the workhorse clause. Sale deeds, mortgage deeds, deeds of release and deeds of partition all fall within it. Two features matter. "Non-testamentary" excludes wills, which are optional under section 18(e). And the five verbs are wide: it is not only a transfer that must be registered, but any instrument that declares or extinguishes an interest.

(c) Non-testamentary instruments acknowledging the receipt or payment of consideration on account of the creation, declaration, assignment, limitation or extinction of such a right, title or interest. A receipt tied to a clause (b) transaction is itself registrable.

(d) Leases of immovable property from year to year, or for any term exceeding one year, or reserving a yearly rent. This is section 107 of the Transfer of Property Act stated from the other side, and the two are supplemental to each other by section 4 of that Act.

(e) Non-testamentary instruments transferring or assigning any decree or order of a Court or any award, where the decree, order or award itself creates, declares, assigns, limits or extinguishes such a right of the same value.

The lease proviso. The State Government may, by order published in the Official Gazette, exempt from sub-section (1) any lease executed in a district or part of a district the terms of which do not exceed five years and the annual rents reserved by which do not exceed fifty rupees.