In an Indian property purchase, the largest costs nobody quotes you are stamp duty and registration. They are not part of the price, they are not usually part of the loan, they fall due in a single lump at the moment of registration, and on a high-value home they come to a figure most buyers find startling the first time they see it. Getting them into your budget at the start, rather than at the sub-registrar's office, is the entire point of this page.

What follows describes Karnataka's system as we could verify it, with the sources named. Government notification changes rates and slabs, and they have changed recently. Confirm the current position with the Department of Stamps and Registration or your advocate before you commit money — do not budget from a web page, this one included.

Two Different Charges, Often Confused

Stamp duty is levied under the Karnataka Stamp Act on the instrument — the sale deed itself. Paying it is what makes the document legally valid and admissible in evidence. Registration fee is a separate charge under the Registration Act, 1908, paid for the act of recording the transaction in the public register at the sub-registrar's office. Both are payable, they are calculated separately, and they go to different heads.

On top of the stamp duty rather than the property value ride two further items: a cess and a surcharge, each computed as a percentage of the stamp duty amount, the surcharge differing between urban and rural jurisdictions. Individually they are small, and they do move the total.

The Current Rates

Stamp duty in Karnataka is charged on a slab basis, by the value of the property. As published by lender and industry sources the structure is 2% below ₹20 lakh, 3% between ₹20 lakh and ₹45 lakh, and 5% above ₹45 lakh. Every villa in this project's price band falls in the top slab.

With effect from 31 August 2025 the registration fee was revised from 1% to 2% of property value — the first change to it since 2003 — and it applies to residential, commercial and plotted transactions alike. Every purchase in the state therefore carries a full one per cent of property value more than it did, which on a high-value home is not a rounding error.

Cess runs at around 10% of the stamp duty amount, and the surcharge at about 2% of stamp duty in urban and BBMP areas, about 3% in rural areas. Added up, industry summaries put the total statutory outlay on a property above ₹45 lakh at roughly 7.5% to 7.6% of the assessed value. Use that as an order of magnitude for budgeting, and have the exact figure computed on your own document.

What They Are Charged On

The assessment takes the higher of the actual consideration and the government's guidance value for that property — so, not necessarily on what you agreed to pay. Fixed area by area and revised periodically, guidance value is the state's own minimum benchmark rate, and it exists to stop transactions being under-declared.

Two consequences follow. Where your negotiated price is above guidance value, duty is on your price. Where guidance value has recently been revised upward past your agreed price, duty is on the guidance value, whatever you actually paid. Before you model the cost, check the current guidance value for the exact survey number — not the value for the locality generally.

Kaveri Online Services

Kaveri Online Services (now Kaveri 2.0) is what registration in Karnataka runs on, operated by the Department of Stamps and Registration at kaverionline.karnataka.gov.in. Learn that portal, and not only for the moment of registration.

• Stamp duty and valuation calculation — compute duty and fees on a proposed transaction before you sign anything.
• Guidance value lookup — the department's own benchmark rate for a location, which is the figure your duty will actually be assessed against.
• Encumbrance Certificate (EC) — the record of registered charges and transactions against a property. Pull this yourself for the survey numbers involved; it is the cheapest piece of due diligence there is.
• Certified copies of registered documents — including past sale deeds in the chain of title.
• E-stamping and payment, and appointment booking at the sub-registrar's office.

That same portal is also the best independent check on a corridor's real price level. What nearby property actually changed hands for is shown in the registered transaction records — a very different thing from what a listing portal says sellers are asking.

Why These Fall Outside the Quoted Price

No builder in India folds stamp duty and registration into a headline figure. They are statutory charges payable by the buyer to the state rather than to the developer, and what a developer quotes is the consideration for the property. Nambiar's Beverly Green states this explicitly: registration and stamp duty are excluded from the quoted price, which starts at an indicative ₹5.48 Cr. In that band the statutory stack is a substantial additional sum in its own right, and it falls due in cash at registration.

One clarification specific to this project, since it is a common confusion: the development and infrastructure charge and 5% GST are already included in the quoted figure. Those are not additional. Stamp duty and registration are.

Why Your Home Loan Will Not Cover Them

This is the part that catches people out. Under the Reserve Bank of India's loan-to-value framework for housing loans, the value of the property for LTV purposes must exclude stamp duty, registration and other documentation charges. Houses costing up to ₹10 lakh are the only exception, where banks may add them in. Above that band — and certainly at this one — the statutory charges fall outside the funded amount.

The arithmetic on a high-value purchase therefore comes to this: your own contribution is the down payment plus the entire statutory stack, in cash, at registration. Budget the two together, or you will be short at exactly the wrong moment.

Practical Points

• Get the calculation done on your specific document before you sign, using Kaveri or your advocate. Slab boundaries, guidance value and the urban/rural surcharge all turn on specifics.
• Duty is payable on other instruments too, not only the sale deed — an agreement to sell, a gift, a lease above a certain term and a power of attorney all attract their own duty. Ask what the full document set for your transaction will cost, not just the deed.
• Rates change by notification. The registration fee doubled in 2025 with limited notice. Reconfirm before you transact.
• Keep the registered documents. They are your title, and you will need certified copies for any future sale, loan or mutation.

For how the statutory charges fit alongside the villa price and the other cost heads, look at the Nambiar's Beverly Green price page. The Nambiar's Beverly Green blog indexes further buying and due-diligence guides.

This page is general information about Karnataka's registration system; it is not legal or tax advice. Verify current rates with the Department of Stamps and Registration, and take advice from an advocate on your own transaction.