- Bribe Fighter
- 10 years ago
- 4346 views
Registration of my apartment without paying bribe a.k.a. "legal fees"
I, along with two of my friends were the first customers of our apartment complex to complete our registrations without paying any bribe.
At the time of booking, the builder collected Rs. 35000 from all the customers as Legal fees. We were told that builder would help us all the way from doing the final registrations to getting the Khata from BBMP. We don't have to do any running around and they would take care of everything. Now at the time of sending the final demand note for registration they also asked us to get 2 DDs for Rs. 13000 in the name of 2 lawyers who would help us with the registration process. About the 35K that we had paid earlier, they simply said that it was for a different purpose and it is nowhere written in the agreement that they will take care of the registration process.
Whether its 35K or 13K legal fees, it actually stands for "bribe". I told them that I won't pay 13K and do the registration myself. They tried to mislead me in several ways by postponing the dates and giving wrong information. I asked them for a soft copy of the sale deed and took a print of those on Rs. 2/- stamp papers that you get in many of the BDA complexes in Bangalore. You need 2 witnesses to sign on the deed, so I teamed up with two more customers of the apartment complex, so that we could sign as each other's witnesses. You must visit the sub-registrar office in the morning because whole process may last for the entire day. The timings are 10:30 AM to 5:30 PM.
Given below is a list of the documents that you may need for registration
1. Khata certificate
2. Tax paid receipts.
3. Encumbrance Certificate (EC)
4. Khata extract
5. Previous sale deeds of the entire property
6. Conversion copies
7. Sanctioned plan copy
8. Joint Development Agreement (JDA) with GPA (General Power of Attorney)
9. PAN copy of the seller
10. Sale deed.
11. DD's in the name of The Sub-registrar.
12. Pan Card of purchaser(s)
13. Address proof of purchaser(s)
14. Witness - 2.
15. Form #1 and #2 (To be provided and filled in at sub-reg office)
Out of these items 1 to 9 will be provided by the builder. You can get the sale deed format from the builder and print it on stamp paper yourself.
You need to get 2 copies of the first 3 items and it should be signed by you and the builder's representative. Documents no 4 to 9 were not asked for by the sub-registrar office, but it is good to have them to avoid harassment from bribe seeking officials. Similarly it is good to carry the address proofs of the witnesses too.
You need to fill 2 copies of form 1 and 2. Form 1 is in English. Here you have to put your name and address, the total area of your flat, the total amount on which you are paying the stamp duty charges and your signature.
Form 2 is in Kannada. In the first set of 2-3 lines you have to write you name and address, in the second set of 2-3 lines you have to write the seller's name and address. Another set of 2-3 lines below this can be left blank. Finally sign on the right hand side bottom of the page.
A clerk at the sub-registrar office examines your sale deed and fills up a form where he calculates the stamp duty and registration charges to be paid by you. Then you submit all the documents along with 2 DDs (one for stamp duty and the other for registration fees). Then you are called in to take your photo on a webcam and the impressions of your left thumb. Similarly the photo and thumb impression of your builder's representative are also taken. You are asked to verify the details for spelling mistakes etc. before clicking on the button for registration. Then you are assigned a document number and the reverse side of the first 4 pages of the sale deed is printed with these information (photo and thumb impressions of the buyer/seller, witness names and addresses etc.)
Finally it goes to the sub-registrar for his signature and the entire document is scanned into the computer. You have to pay Rs. 35 per sheet for scanning and they give you a receipt for that. You are then asked to get 2 photocopies of the sale deed to be deposited at the sub-registrar office and you can take the original with you.
This completes the registration process.
I was asked for a bribe for Rs 5000 by the sub registrar insisting that it is much less than Rs 13000 that your builder is asking you. He called it "office fees" and said he has share it with his higher ups also. I told him that I am ready to pay the "office fees" provided he gives me a receipt. Without a receipt I won't even give him 1 paisa. He became so nervous when I said this and sheepishly released my papers. These people have a guilty feeling and they can't look into your eyes if you are firm in your resolve to not pay a bribe. Later he sent a message through the builder's representative saying that he can still create problems for us in future like getting the Khata etc. I was eagerly waiting to see what he can do. However I have got my Khata also, again without paying any bribe.