New rules Introduced to Prevent NRG Property Fraud

The state government has put in place checks to make sure that “power of attorney” papers are not misused and that NRG properties are not sold for fraudulent reasons.

This month, the tax department put out two important circulars that explained the new rules. From now on, an NRG or person living outside the state who gives their agents the power to sell a property will need to send an extra document proving they were still alive at the time of the sale.

The agent could be a family member or a stranger. According to the rules, the sub-registrar should be the only person who can open the sealed envelope containing the notarized statement.

The notice from the revenue department goes into more detail about how the NRI must make the declaration from the date of the application for the sale deed to be carried out. “The declaration must be registered with the sub-registrar’s office,” a top revenue official says.

In Ahmedabad and other towns in Gujarat, buyers have bought NRIs’ properties through people with power of attorney, only to find later that other people wanted to claim their rights to the property.

Jenu Devan, who is in charge of stamps, sent out two circulars about this on January 9 and January 10. The Gujarat Registration (Amendment) Regulation 2023 was used in the January 9 notice. The rule that said “declaration by a power of attorney stating that the principal (owner of the property) is alive” had to be changed to “declaration by the principal stating that s/he is alive.”

The person with power of attorney can’t file a declaration that the NRI owner is still alive. Instead, the owner must file their own declaration and send it to the sub-registrar in a sealed envelope. The date should be in the NRI seller’s declaration, ideally one day after the sale deed is filed.

“The NRI seller giving a power of attorney must say in a separate declaration on Rs. 50 stamp paper that they are still alive, that they have not revoked or cancelled a power of attorney, and that there are no lawsuits or disputes in any Indian court or tribunal about the property in question.” The NRI seller also has to promise that they will be responsible if the deal turns out to be fake, according to the tax official.

Conclusion

Non-Residential Gujaratis are most prone to property fraud and we are sure these new rules introduced these frauds will surely help them. While laws and regulations work most of the time there are often loopholes that are exploited by fraudsters to do property frauds. To prevent such fraud it is better to take action before anything happens and the Property Watcher App is the answer to all your concerns regarding the safety of your property. No matter where you are just install the Property Watcher app and register your properties with us and choose services and we’ll take care of the rest ensuring your property remains safe from any fraud selling, trespassing, illegal usage and more.