Stamp duty and registration charges in Karnataka, and the guidance value behind them

Stamp duty in Karnataka is 5 percent of the higher of the price you pay and the state's guidance value for the property, and two additions sit on top of it. Most guides put the effective rate at about 5.6 percent in urban areas. Then comes the registration fee, which doubled to 2 percent of the property value on 31 August 2025. Together they add about 7.6 percent to the price of a Bengaluru flat, and they are paid in cash on the day of registration, not financed by the loan. This guide sets out each charge, the guidance value behind them, and the arithmetic on one flat.

Karthik's missing six lakh#

Names and numbers in this story are illustrative. Karthik's first spreadsheet had the price, the loan, the down payment and a line for interiors. It did not have stamp duty, because an older guide had told him registration cost "about 6 percent", and he had pencilled it in at the end as a rounding error. When Ananya asked the sales manager what they would need on registration day, the answer was a little over six lakh rupees, in addition to the down payment, and none of it eligible for the loan. They moved the interiors line to the following year.

Each charge, in plain words#

Stamp duty is the tax on the document that transfers the property to you, charged under the Karnataka Stamp Act, 1957. The base rate is 5 percent. A cess of 10 percent of the duty and a surcharge of 2 or 3 percent of the duty are added on top, depending on where the property sits, which is how most guides arrive at an effective 5.6 percent in urban areas and about 5.65 percent in rural ones. Guides also list lower base rates for lower-value properties; the calculator on the state's Kaveri portal applies whichever slab is in force.

The registration fee is what the sub-registrar charges to register the document. It was 1 percent from 2013 until 31 August 2025, when the state doubled it to 2 percent. A notification summary by the law firm King Stubb and Kasiva records the change, and reporting at the time put the department's collection for 2024-25 at about Rs 22,500 crore against a Rs 26,000 crore target, the shortfall officials cited for the increase.

The guidance value is the state's minimum value for property in a given area. Duty is charged on the higher of it and your price, so a guidance value above the price raises your duty even though you paid less. The last broad revision took effect on 1 October 2023, when the Revenue Minister said increases would average 25 to 30 percent; in some areas the increase was far higher.

An analogy: the minimum fare#

A taxi meter has a minimum fare. If the ride is short, you pay the minimum; if it is long, you pay the meter. The guidance value is the minimum fare for property in your area. Your agreement value is the meter. Stamp duty is charged on whichever is higher, which is why two buyers paying the same price in different localities can pay different duty.

The arithmetic on one flat#

Take an Rs 80 lakh flat in Bengaluru whose guidance value works out to Rs 72 lakh, so duty is on the price:

That is Rs 6,08,000, or 7.6 percent of the price. If the same flat sat in a locality whose guidance value worked out to Rs 90 lakh, the duty would be charged on Rs 90 lakh instead, and the total would rise to about Rs 6.84 lakh, still on an Rs 80 lakh purchase. Six lakh rupees is a lot to pay for a deed on a project you have not read: the free page for each Bengaluru project on Bengaluru Urban's district page shows its filed completion date and every extension before you commit.

The other costs that arrive with it#

An under-construction flat carries GST at 5 percent of the price, or 1 percent in the affordable category, as GST on a flat purchase explains; a ready flat with a completion certificate carries none. The loan has its own processing fee and the costs of the mortgage, set out in a home loan on an under-construction flat. If you are comparing a Bengaluru flat with one in Pune, the rules there differ in both rate and structure, as stamp duty and registration charges in Maharashtra shows. Where these costs sit in the whole sequence of a Karnataka purchase is in buying a flat in Karnataka.

Where buyers get it wrong#

1. Budgeting on the price alone. Check the guidance value for your locality first; if it is above the price, duty follows it.
2. Using an old registration fee. Many pages still say 1 percent. Documents registered from 31 August 2025 pay 2 percent.
3. Forgetting the cess and surcharge. Five percent is the base, not the bill.
4. Expecting the loan to cover it. Lenders usually finance a share of the property's value and not the duty and fee, so plan them as cash.
5. Paying before checking the project. Duty is paid at registration, after the booking. Read the project's filing before the booking amount, not after the deed.

What the free page shows before you get to registration#

Before you budget for a deed, check what the deed will be for. ReraGenie's free page for a RERA Karnataka project names the legal entity that will sign your sale deed, the completion date with every extension, the estimated and incurred cost lines the promoter filed, and every filed document, with the deed and encumbrance certificate for each survey number of the land listed among them. Buyer reports, the project watch and alerts cover MahaRERA projects only for now. Every Bengaluru project is on Bengaluru Urban's district page.

Rates change by notification; confirm the duty, cess, surcharge and fee on the Kaveri portal before you register. This article is educational and not legal advice. For a dispute, consult a lawyer who practices before your state's RERA.