People queue up outside the district sub-registry office in Jamshedpur on Wednesday. Picture by Bhola Prasad

Ranchi/Jamshedpur, May 18: Planning to buy a plot or flat? Get ready to pay more. Effective from today, the registration fee for property would be three per cent, up from the existing one.

The move will allow the state to collect revenue to the tune of Rs 450 crore, up from last fiscal’s target of Rs 302 crore.

The districts implemented the hike in accordance with a state registration department notification. Added with a four per cent stamp duty, the legal paperwork will now be seven per cent of the property value.

“We increased the registration fee by two per cent after a gap of seven years,” said Ramakant Tiwary, the district sub-registrar of East Singhbhum. When pointed out that the move would discourage people from registering their properties, he said prior to 2004, the registration fee and stamp duty of immovable properties amounted to about 12 per cent.

Sections of the builder community expressed unhappiness with the latest development. “After this, flat and land owners would be reluctant to register their property. We understand their problems. There are many house owners who take loans to pay the registration fee. The hike would just be an added burden for them,” said Kaushal Singh, a leading builder and president of the Jamshedpur Builders Association (JBA).

President of Confederation of Real Estate Developer’s Association of India (Jharkhand chapter) Kumud Jha, however, said the increase in registration fee would not affect their business. “The increase is not much but prospective buyers of property would try to bargain more with us,” he said.

Ranchi district sub-registrar Shahdeo Mehra said the capital would aim to achieve a revenue target of Rs 122 crore in the 2011-12 fiscal through registrations.

Today’s development is one of several moves adopted by the state government to increase its internal resources to meet its increased budgetary requirements in the current fiscal.

Chief minister Arjun Munda said the increase was moderate and would not pinch the pockets of property buyers.