The South Delhi Municipal Corporation (SDMC) has implemented changes that will make property purchases more expensive in South Delhi. The transfer duty, calculated on the registered sale value of a property in addition to stamp duty, has been increased by 1% for properties above Rs 25 lakh. Furthermore, the corporation has proposed an increase in the fee for installing lifts in societies, from Rs 5,000 to Rs 2 lakh.
According to an SDMC notice, the transfer duty has been increased to 3% for women buyers (up from 2%) and to 4% for other buyers (up from 3%) for properties valued at Rs 25 lakh and above. There will be no change in transfer duty for properties with a registered value below Rs 25 lakh. These new rates came into effect from September 10 after the proposal was passed by the House.
Additionally, the SDMC has decided to raise the processing fee for installing lifts in DDA flats and cooperative group housing societies in posh A and B category colonies like Green Park, Vasant Vihar, Greater Kailash, South Extension, Jor Bagh, and Sunder Nagar. The fees will increase from Rs 5,000 to Rs 2 lakh. In C and D category areas, the fees will be Rs 1.5 lakh, and in E, F, G, H colonies, the fees will be Rs 1 lakh.
The SDMC stated that the burden on existing services being maintained by the corporation has increased due to the installation of lifts in common areas. The proposal has been passed by the standing committee and will be presented in the house meeting later this month.
There is also a new proposal where people will need to pay to have their properties desealed, with charges ranging from Rs 10,000 to Rs 25,000 depending on the category of the colony. This excludes properties sealed by the Supreme Court-appointed monitoring committee.
While some officials argue that these changes are necessary to ease the administrative burden, critics, including Abhishek Dutt, the Leader of Congress in the South MCD, have raised concerns about the impact on residents’ finances, especially during the ongoing challenges posed by the Covid pandemic. The Leader of the House in South MCD, Narender Chawla, mentioned that they might revise and reduce the proposed amounts before final approval. Chawla attributed the need for these increases to the Delhi government not providing the MCDs with their due funds.