Stamp duty on rent agreements, state by state

How stamp duty on a rent agreement works

A rent agreement is a lease, and a lease is one of the documents on which stamp duty must be paid (Section 3, Indian Stamp Act, 1899). Stamp duty is a tax on the document itself. It is paid by buying stamp paper of the right value, or an e-stamp (a stamp certificate issued electronically for your state), and the agreement is written on or attached to it.

Four rules apply everywhere:

• Pay before or when you sign. Section 17 says a document must be stamped before or at the time it is signed.
• The tenant pays, unless you agree otherwise (Section 29).
• State the facts truly. The rent, deposit and term that decide the duty must be set out fully and truly in the agreement (Section 27).
• Unstamped means unusable. A document that is not duly stamped cannot be admitted in evidence or acted on until the missing duty and a penalty are paid; the penalty can be as high as ten times the duty (Section 35).

Why it differs by state

Stamp duty is a state tax, so each state sets its own rates. Some states have a Stamp Act of their own (Gujarat's is the Gujarat Stamp Act, 1958); others apply the Indian Stamp Act, 1899 with their own schedule of rates (Delhi does). The rates sit in the schedule at the back of each Act and are changed from time to time.

States use two broad methods for a short lease:

1. A fixed amount, whatever the rent, for an agreement of up to a set term.
2. A percentage, worked out from the rent for the term, often with part of the deposit counted as well.

The table

Every figure in our duty table is still being confirmed against the state's Stamp Act schedule, so this page does not print them. The stamp duty calculator and the price card on the rent agreement page show the current figure for your state, and the exact duty is confirmed on the price card before you pay.

State	How the duty is set (being confirmed)	Registration of an 11-month agreement	E-stamp and e-sign online with eMunshi
Chandigarh	A fixed amount	Not required	Yes
Delhi	A fixed amount	Not required	Yes
Gujarat	A fixed amount	Not required	Yes
Haryana	A fixed amount	Not required	Yes
Maharashtra	A percentage of the rent for the term, with notional interest on the deposit counted in	Required, whatever the term	Not yet: the agreement must be registered
Punjab	A fixed amount	Not required	Yes

"Not required" comes from Section 17 of the Registration Act, 1908: registration is compulsory only for a lease from year to year, for a term of more than one year, or reserving a yearly rent (Section 107 of the Transfer of Property Act says the same). Maharashtra's rule comes from its own rent control law, which requires every leave and licence agreement to be registered.

Your state is not listed? We have not yet confirmed the duty for it, so we do not show one. Your state's stamp department can tell you. If you are unsure what a particular document needs, Section 31 of the Indian Stamp Act lets you take it to the Collector of Stamps, who will decide the duty for a small fee.

What to do, step by step

1. Find the figure for your state. Use the calculator. In a percentage state, enter the monthly rent, the deposit and the term.

2. Agree who pays. The tenant by default; write any other arrangement into the agreement.

3. Pay the duty before anyone signs. Buy the stamp for the state where the property is.

4. Sign, and keep the stamp certificate with the agreement.

Costs

eMunshi's rent agreement is ₹599, all-inclusive: drafting with a free preview, the government e-stamp issued in your name, Aadhaar e-sign for landlord, tenant and two witnesses, and the signed PDF. The stamp duty is the government's, passed through at cost; eMunshi adds nothing to it. More on how this works: stamp and sign online.