Rent Agreement Stamp Duty and Registration Charges by State in India

Rent agreement stamp duty and registration charges by State

Why are rent agreements made for 11 months?

Section 17(1)(d) of the Registration Act, 1908 makes registration compulsory for leases of immovable property from year to year, for any term exceeding one year, or reserving a yearly rent. An 11-month agreement sits below that line, so in most States you are not legally required to take it to the Sub-Registrar.

That saves you a registration fee, a visit to the office and, in some States, a percentage charge on the rent. It does not save you stamp duty. Stamp duty is charged on the document itself under the State Stamp Act, whether or not you register it.

The shortcut also has limits. A State can add its own registration rule on top of the central one, and 2 States in our data do exactly that.

Where 11-month agreements still need registration

Of the 14 States and UTs in our dataset, 2 require some form of registration even for an 11-month term.

Maharashtra is the clearest case. Leave and licence agreements must be registered there regardless of length, under section 55 of the Maharashtra Rent Control Act, 1999. You do it through the IGR Maharashtra e-Leave and Licence portal. The registration fee is ₹1,000 in urban areas or ₹500 in rural areas, plus a ₹300 document handling charge.

Tamil Nadu works differently. The requirement there is not Sub-Registrar registration. Under the Tamil Nadu Regulation of Rights and Responsibilities of Landlords and Tenants Act, 2017, a tenancy agreement must be informed to the local Rent Authority, which registers it. That applies whatever the term.

How to work out stamp duty on your rent agreement

The formula changes from State to State, so start with the rule for your State and then run the numbers. Take a flat in which the monthly rent is ₹25,000 for 11 months (₹2,75,000 in total) with a refundable deposit of ₹1,00,000.

• Maharashtra: 0.25% of a base made up of total rent plus 10% of the refundable deposit, for a term up to a year. The base here is ₹2,85,000, and 0.25% of that, or about ₹713. Add ₹1,000 registration and ₹300 handling in a city, for roughly ₹2,013.
• Karnataka: 0.5% on the average annual rent plus advance, with a ₹500 maximum for residential leases up to a year. At this rent you hit the cap, so stamp duty is ₹500. Registration is optional and starts at ₹200.
• Tamil Nadu: 1% of the total rent, premium and so on, which is ₹2,750. The registration fee is also 1%, capped at ₹40,000.
• Telangana: 0.4% of total rent for a lease under a year, so ₹1,100, plus 2% on any premium or money advanced in addition to rent. If the office treats your deposit as money advanced, that 2% would add ₹2,000, so ask before you pay. Registration, if you choose it, is 0.2% of total rent, or ₹550.
• Kerala: a flat ₹500 for a lease under one year, and ₹210 if you register it.
• Gujarat: a flat ₹500 for a residential lease under a year where rent is fixed and no premium is paid. Commercial premises pay ₹1,000.

Which States charge the most and the least?

Among the 8 States with confirmed rates, the gap is wide. Kerala, Gujarat and Karnataka keep a home rental cheap with a flat ₹500 or a ₹500 ceiling. Punjab sits at the other end: 4% of the annual rent, plus a 1% registration fee and a ₹500 facilitation charge if you register. Punjab's figures come from a 2020 official table, so check the current rate before you pay.

Haryana treats a lease under a year like a bond on the whole amount payable: ₹15 for the first ₹1,000 and ₹7.50 for every further ₹500, which works out to about 1.5%. That source is undated, so confirm it too.

Watch the deposit and any premium. Several States charge extra on money paid up front. Telangana adds 2% on an advance, Gujarat applies conveyance duty to any premium, and Gujarat's Act treats advance rent as a premium unless it is set off against the last instalments of rent.

How e-stamping and online payment work

You often do not need physical stamp paper now. Many States let you pay duty through an e-stamp certificate or an official portal, and the certificate is attached to the agreement as proof of payment.

• Find your State's portal. Maharashtra uses the IGR e-Leave and Licence system, Tamil Nadu uses TNREGINET, Karnataka uses Kaveri Online Services, Telangana uses IGRS Telangana and Gujarat uses GARVI. Haryana and Punjab both list e-stamping through SHCIL.
• Work out the duty on the right base. Use total rent for the term in percentage States, and remember to add any deposit share or premium your State counts.
• Buy the e-stamp in the name of the party paying the duty, with the property and the other party described correctly.
• Print or attach the certificate and sign the agreement after the stamp date, not before.
• Register it if your State requires it, or if you want the extra protection, and keep a copy of the receipt with your file.

What happens if the agreement is under-stamped or not registered?

An under-stamped agreement is not void, but it is weak. Under section 35 of the Indian Stamp Act, 1899, an instrument that is not duly stamped cannot be admitted in evidence until the duty is paid along with a penalty of ₹5 or ten times the missing duty, whichever is more. States with their own Stamp Acts, such as Maharashtra, set their own penalty rules, so the figure can differ. If you ever need to rely on the agreement in a dispute over the deposit or eviction, that penalty lands on whoever produces it.

A document that the law says must be registered, but was not, faces a separate problem. Section 49 of the Registration Act, 1908 says it cannot affect the property or be received as evidence of a transaction affecting it, though it can still be used for limited collateral purposes. In Maharashtra, an unregistered leave and licence agreement also breaks the State's own rule.

If you discover the stamp is short, the fix is usually simple: pay the deficit with the Collector or registration office before a dispute arises, rather than at the door of a court.

A quick example. Say you are renting in Chennai and the agreement was stamped at ₹500 because a broker said that was standard. Tamil Nadu charges 1% of total rent, so on ₹2,75,000 of rent the right figure is ₹2,750. The shortfall is ₹2,250. Settle it early through the Collector and the cost is usually far lower. Leave it until the agreement is needed as evidence and, under section 35, the penalty can reach ten times the shortfall.

Central law and the Model Tenancy Act

Two central statutes set the frame. The Registration Act, 1908 decides when a lease must be registered, and the Indian Stamp Act, 1899 is the base Stamp Act that many States have amended with their own schedules. Maharashtra, Karnataka, Gujarat and Kerala run their own Stamp Acts instead.

The Model Tenancy Act, 2021 is a template from the Centre, not a law that applies by itself. It only binds you once your State passes its own version. Tamil Nadu's 2017 Act, with its Rent Authority registration, shows the direction that kind of law takes: a written agreement filed with a local authority, whatever the term.

How we built this data

We built this dataset from the law in each State, then had a second, independent review re-check every entry against primary sources and correct anything that did not match. Each row links to its source.

Of the 14 entries, 6 were confirmed directly against the official registration or stamps department, or the State Stamp Act. 2 rest on several secondary sources that agree, usually because the official site could not be reached or because there is no statute to read where the answer is that no law exists. 6 could not be confirmed; they are marked "Not yet confirmed" in the table and left out of every count and chart. Data verified on October 11, 2026.

Sources

• Andhra Pradesh: Registration and Stamps Department, Andhra Pradesh: Stamp Act Schedule I-A (with G.O.Ms.No.588 notes)
• Delhi: Department of Revenue, GNCTD: DORIS / NGDRS notice
• Gujarat: Legislative and Parliamentary Affairs Department, Gujarat: The Gujarat Stamp Act, 1958 (as modified up to 28 February 2026)
• Haryana: Revenue Department, Haryana: Schedule 1-A of Indian Stamp Act 1899 (for Haryana), updated stamp duty and registration fees
• Karnataka: Department of Stamps and Registration, Government of Karnataka: List of Stamp Duty and Registration Fees
• Kerala: Registration Department, Government of Kerala: Existing Rates of Stamp Duty and Registration Fees (as on 01.04.2024)
• Madhya Pradesh: Registration and Stamps, Commercial Taxes Department, Madhya Pradesh
• Maharashtra: Department of Registration and Stamps, Maharashtra: Leave and Licence stamp duty calculator
• Punjab: Department of Revenue, Punjab: Inspector General of Registration
• Rajasthan: Department of Registration and Stamps, Rajasthan
• Tamil Nadu: Registration Department, Government of Tamil Nadu (TNREGINET)
• Telangana: Registration and Stamps Department, Telangana: Table of Fees under s. 78 Registration Act (in force from 02.09.2021)
• Uttar Pradesh: Stamp and Registration Department, Uttar Pradesh
• West Bengal: Directorate of Registration and Stamp Revenue, West Bengal