If you have purchased a property on GPA make sure one thing that you have notarized it or authenticate it by the magistrate. Section 85 of the evidence act says a GPA when presented in the court is presumed to be authentic only when 1) the parties have signed the GPA in front of public notary or magistrate as per s. 85 evidence act 2) It must be authenticated by notary or the magistrate this means a seal or endorsement is there on the GPA.

Remember-: If you have failed to follow these steps then you cannot say the GPA is authentic and presumption under S. 85 will not be in your favor.

Registration

You need to register a GPA which can be converted into conveyance deed in order to initiate a valid transfer of title. Title of the property means the ownership. One cannot claim title to property if the sale deed or GPA is not registered. So if you are trying to save the stamp duty remember legally you may not be protected.

S.17 of registration act along with S.54 of transfer of property act says that if you want to transfer a valid title of the property then it must be registered, else GPA would act as agreement of sale and is an incomplete transaction. This point was held in recent SC judgement  of Suraj Lamp. Now if anyone says to you that purchase property on GPA then it would be risky to protect your title easily and somebody else can take your title very easily, multiplicity of GPA is also possible as it is not registered can lead to fraud and cheating. So registered transactions are always safe and sound.

Paying the stamp duty is the cost to protect your title and interests in the property and would protect you in long run.

If you need any consultancy on property related transactions click here.