State Rules · Karnataka
Property Rules in Karnataka
Bengaluru, Mysuru, Mangaluru and the rest of the state — including the clearest account we can give of what A Khata and B Khata actually are in law, because almost everything written about them is wrong.
The short version
Karnataka’s conveyance duty is 5%, plus a 10% cess on that duty and a 2% surcharge on it in urban areas — about 5.6% effective. The registration fee doubled to 2% on 31 August 2025, and we found no cap on it. That combination makes Karnataka the most expensive of the five states on this site to register a large property in.
Karnataka has no women’s stamp duty concession. Not a small one — none at all.
And on khata: a khata is a property tax record, not a title document. B Khata is the separate register created by section 108A(3) of the Karnataka Municipal Corporations Act, 1976, and that sub-section says in terms that being on it confers no title, no ownership, no legal status and no right to regularise.
On this page
- What you actually pay
- The reduced slabs, and why they may not apply to you
- A Khata and B Khata, in law
- e-Khata, and the khata transfer rule that catches sellers
- Form 15 and Form 16
- Renting: the law, and the ten-month deposit
- Conversion, layouts and agricultural land
- What we could not confirm
- Sources
1. What you actually pay
As in Maharashtra, the effective rate is a sum of separate statutes. Here they are:
| Component | Rate | Basis |
|---|---|---|
| Stamp duty on conveyance | 5% of market value | Article 20(1), Schedule, Karnataka Stamp Act 1957 |
| Cess (statutory name: additional duty) | 10% of the stamp duty chargeable — statewide | Section 3-B, Karnataka Stamp Act 1957 |
| Surcharge, urban | 2% of the duty, for property in a “larger urban area” — which includes Bengaluru | Section 140, Karnataka Municipal Corporations Act 1976 |
| Surcharge, rural | 3% of the duty, in panchayat areas | Section 205, Karnataka Gram Swaraj and Panchayat Raj Act 1993 |
| Registration fee | 2% of value — ₹20 per ₹1,000, doubled from 1% with effect from 31 August 2025 | Notification dated 29 August 2025 under s.78 Registration Act 1908 |
Note that the cess and the urban surcharge are calculated on the duty, not on the property value. That is why the effective duty is 5.6% and not 5.7%.
Worked example — a ₹80 lakh flat in Bengaluru
| Component | Working | Amount |
|---|---|---|
| Stamp duty | 5% of ₹80,00,000 | ₹4,00,000 |
| Cess | 10% of ₹4,00,000 | ₹40,000 |
| Urban surcharge | 2% of ₹4,00,000 | ₹8,000 |
| Total duty | 5.6% effective | ₹4,48,000 |
| Registration fee | 2% of ₹80,00,000 | ₹1,60,000 |
| Total | ₹6,08,000 |
The same ₹80 lakh flat costs a male buyer ₹5,60,100 to register in Delhi and a female buyer ₹4,00,100. Karnataka is more expensive than both, and the gap is almost entirely the registration fee.
Our arithmetic on the components cited above. We do not publish a single blended headline percentage, because no official source states one.
The change that has not reached most calculators
Karnataka’s registration fee doubled from 1% to 2% on 31 August 2025. On a ₹80 lakh flat that is an extra ₹80,000; on a ₹3 crore property, an extra ₹3 lakh.
Two things follow. First, any calculator still showing 1% for Karnataka is out of date, and there are a great many of them. Second, we looked for a cap on the registration fee and could not find one in any official source. Haryana caps its registration fee at ₹50,000 and Maharashtra at ₹30,000; Karnataka, on everything we could read, does not cap it at all. On a ₹5 crore property that is a ₹10 lakh registration fee against Haryana’s ₹50,000.
We have marked the cap question in what we could not confirm, because proving the absence of a cap is harder than proving its presence. But do not budget on the assumption that one exists.
2. The reduced slabs, and why they may not apply to you
FactArticle 20(2A) of the Schedule provides reduced rates by value band:
- Market value up to and including ₹20 lakh — 2%
- Above ₹20 lakh up to and including ₹35 lakh — 3%
- Above ₹35 lakh up to and including ₹45 lakh — 3% (inserted by the Karnataka Stamp (Amendment) Act, 2021)
- Above ₹45 lakh — the general Article 20(1) rate of 5%
The condition every summary drops
Read the words of Article 20(2A) as drafted. It applies to “an instrument of conveyance relating to the first sale of flat or apartment” as defined under the Karnataka Ownership Flats Act, 1972 or the Karnataka Apartment Ownership Act, 1972.
First sale. Flat or apartment. On the face of the statutory text, the reduced slabs do not obviously reach a resale flat, a plot, a site, or an independent house. Every non-official source we found presents the slabs as applying to all property by value, with no such condition.
We could not open the department’s current official Schedule to settle it, so we are not resolving the question — we are flagging it. This is the highest-risk figure on this page. If you are buying a resale flat or a site under ₹45 lakh in Karnataka, get the applicable rate confirmed by the sub-registrar in writing before you assume you are paying 2% or 3%.
3. A Khata and B Khata, in law
This is the most searched and most wrongly answered topic in Indian real estate. Here is what the statutes actually say.
What a khata is
FactA khata is a record of an immovable property maintained in the property tax register by the City Corporation. A khatadar is the person in whose name it is recorded and who is legally responsible to pay the property tax. That is the statutory definition, and it arrived only in 2025, in the Greater Bengaluru Governance Act, 2024.
CorrectionThe word “khata” appears nowhere in the Karnataka Municipal Corporations Act, 1976. Not once. “A Khata” and “B Khata” are administrative labels for two registers, not statutory terms in that Act.
Where B Khata comes from
FactB Khata is the “separate register” mandated by section 108A(3) of the Karnataka Municipal Corporations Act, 1976. The sub-section allows the corporation to levy and collect property tax from a building constructed in violation of building byelaws, or in an unauthorised layout, or on revenue land, or occupied without an occupancy or completion certificate — and then says:
“The property tax collected from such building shall be maintained in a separate register: Provided that levy and collection of property tax under this sub-section from such building does not confer any right to regularise violation made, or title, ownership or legal status to such building. Such buildings shall always be liable for any action for violation of law…”
Section 108A(3), Karnataka Municipal Corporations Act, 1976, inserted by Karnataka Act No. 2 of 2009 (assent 27 February 2009, gazetted 5 March 2009).
InterpretationSo B Khata is not a lesser grade of ownership. It is the corporation’s mechanism for taxing a non-conforming building without legitimising it. The property remains liable to enforcement action, and the register entry gives you nothing to argue with. That is the whole design.
CorrectionTwo further errors worth naming. First, many guides cite “Section 108A” as though the whole section is about khatas; it is not — section 108A is principally a property tax computation provision for BBMP. The register rule is specifically sub-section (3). Second, the Greater Bengaluru Governance Act, 2024 did not abolish B Khata. It defines “khata”, dissolves BBMP, provides for up to seven City Corporations and creates the Greater Bengaluru Authority — and contains no B Khata provision and no regularisation mechanism.
Where conversion stands
Secondary, and time-sensitiveA B-to-A khata conversion scheme was launched in Bengaluru on 1 November 2025 at a fee of 5% of guidance value, running 100 days and administered by the Greater Bengaluru Authority, aimed at roughly 7.5 lakh properties. Uptake was slow. On 9 January 2026 the Cabinet approved extending conversion statewide to all urban local bodies, covering about 10 lakh properties. On 13 May 2026 the fee was cut from 5% to 2% of guidance value for a 100-day window running 15 May to 22 August 2026.
InterpretationThat discounted window closed on 22 August 2026. What applies now — whether the window was extended, what fee is charged today, and whether the statewide scheme has actually commenced — we could not establish from an official source. All of the above comes from newspaper reporting, and we could not find the Act, section, rule or notification that legally authorises the regularisation scheme at all. We looked: it is not in the Greater Bengaluru Governance Act, and it is not in the Karnataka Municipal Corporations (Amendment) Bill, 2025, whose full text we read.
If you are relying on conversion to make a B Khata property bankable, verify the current position with the Greater Bengaluru Authority directly before you pay anything. This is the most perishable item on this page.
Sources. Karnataka Municipal Corporations Act, 1976, s.108A (official Act text); Greater Bengaluru Governance Act, 2024 (Karnataka Act No. 36 of 2025), ss.2, 5, 7 and 9, via PRS Legislative Research; conversion scheme dates and fees from Deccan Herald reporting of 13 May 2026 and 9 January 2026 (secondary, newspaper). Verified 8 September 2026.4. e-Khata, and the khata transfer rule that catches sellers
Facte-Khata is mandatory for immovable property registration in Karnataka, announced effective 30 September 2024. The Department of Stamps and Registration states it plainly on its own official account. The portals are e-Aasthi (eaasthi.karnataka.gov.in) for urban local bodies statewide and BBMP e-Aasthi (bbmpeaasthi.karnataka.gov.in) for Bengaluru. Rural property runs on e-Swathu.
The provision that keeps a seller on the hook
Section 114 of the Karnataka Municipal Corporations Act, 1976 requires both parties — transferor and transferee — to give notice of the transfer to the Commissioner within three months of executing the instrument, or of its registration if registered. On inheritance, the heir has one year.
Then section 114(4): a person who transfers without giving that notice “shall… continue to be liable for the payment of the property tax assessed on the premises transferred until he gives notice or until the transfer shall have been recorded in the corporation registers”.
In plain terms: if khata transfer does not happen, the seller keeps the property tax liability — regardless of having sold, registered and handed over. Sellers routinely treat khata transfer as the buyer’s problem. Section 114(4) says otherwise, and it is one of the few places in Indian property law where the seller’s exposure survives the sale deed.
Two more provisions worth knowing. Section 114(5): for property belonging to BDA, the Karnataka Housing Board or a local authority, a transfer cannot be recorded without consulting that body — which makes the khata transfer process itself a check on BDA-allotted property. Section 114A: the Commissioner may reopen a recorded transfer within three years where it was obtained by fraud, misrepresentation or suppression of facts.
Source. Karnataka Municipal Corporations Act, 1976, ss.114 and 114A (official Act text), verified 8 September 2026.5. Form 15 and Form 16
FactEncumbrance certificates in Karnataka are governed by Chapter XX, rules 148 to 154, of the Karnataka Registration Rules, 1965. Two forms are issued, and the difference matters:
| Form | When it is issued | What it means |
|---|---|---|
| Form 15 | When the records do contain entries for the property | A positive EC. It lists, for each registered transaction, the description of the property, date of execution, nature and value of the document, the executants and the claimants. |
| Form 16 | When there are no entries for the property and period searched | A nil certificate. It confirms that nothing was found — which is not the same thing as confirming nothing exists. |
InterpretationThe Karnataka High Court has described an encumbrance certificate as merely “a list of references / extract of entries” and held that it is not itself a document of title. Both forms carry a departmental disclaimer for errors in the search.
So a Form 16 is proof that nothing was found in the registers searched, for the offices and period searched. Unregistered claims, pending litigation, tax dues, and anything outside that period or office do not appear on either form. Rule 152 specifically provides for a certificate where the records span more than one registering office — use it. ECs are obtained on the Kaveri portal (kaveri.karnataka.gov.in), which also handles registration, certified copies, valuation and, since 1 December 2025, digital e-stamps.
Sources. Karnataka Registration Rules 1965, rules 148–154; M. Ramakrishna Reddy v. Sub-Registrar, Rajajinagar, Karnataka High Court, 5 April 1999; National e-Governance Division, Government of India, Kaveri 2.0 directory entry (negd.gov.in). Verified 8 September 2026.6. Renting: the law, and the ten-month deposit
FactThe rent law is the Karnataka Rent Act, 1999 (Karnataka Act No. 34 of 2001), assented 22 November 2001 and in force from 31 December 2001. It repealed the Karnataka Rent Control Act, 1961. Note the name: the Act’s own short title is the Karnataka Rent Act, 1999, not the “Karnataka Rent Control Act”.
FactAnd, as in Delhi, the Act excludes almost every tenancy people actually have. Section 2(3)(e) says it does not apply to premises whose deemed or standard rent exceeds ₹3,500 a month in Part A areas, or ₹2,000 a month anywhere else. Section 2(3)(f) excludes any premises constructed or substantially renovated, before or after the Act, for fifteen years from completion.
InterpretationThose thresholds were never revised. In practice, essentially every market-rate Bengaluru residential tenancy falls outside the Karnataka Rent Act, and is governed instead by the contract, the Transfer of Property Act 1882 and the Registration Act 1908.
The ten-month deposit: what it is, and what it is not
It is not law. We read the Karnataka Rent Act in full and searched its text for “advance”, “premium” and “security deposit”. There is no deposit cap anywhere in the Act. Chapter III, headed “Deposit of Rent”, is about a tenant depositing rent with the Controller when a landlord refuses it — a different thing entirely.
Bengaluru’s ten-month deposit convention is exactly that: a convention, arising from private contract, with no statutory basis. And since the Act does not apply to most Bengaluru tenancies anyway, the deposit is purely a matter of what the parties agree.
Karnataka has not adopted the Model Tenancy Act, 2021, so its two-month cap is not law here either. A proposal to bar landlords from demanding more than two months’ advance has been reported as a prospective measure — prospective, not enacted.
One provision that is law and is worth knowing: where a landlord recovers possession under sections 27 to 31, he must refund advance rent for the unexpired portion of the lease within 90 days, and refund any other payment pro rata (s.28(2)).
Notice. For tenancies outside the Act — most of them — section 106 of the Transfer of Property Act, 1882 makes a lease for a purpose other than agriculture or manufacture a month-to-month lease terminable by fifteen days’ written notice by either side. Registration. Where the Rent Act does apply, section 4 makes writing mandatory and registration compulsory. Outside it, the general rule applies: leases exceeding one year are compulsorily registrable, which is why the eleven-month agreement exists.
Sources. Karnataka Rent Act, 1999, ss.2(3), 4, 27, 28 and 70, via PRS Legislative Research; Transfer of Property Act 1882, s.106; Registration Act 1908, s.17(1)(d); PIB / MoHUA, 25 July 2022, on Model Tenancy Act adoption (pib.gov.in). Verified 8 September 2026.7. Conversion, layouts and agricultural land
DC conversion, and why it decides your khata
FactSection 95 of the Karnataka Land Revenue Act, 1964 required the Deputy Commissioner’s approval to convert agricultural land to non-agricultural use — hence “DC conversion”.
InterpretationThis is the upstream fact that decides everything downstream. A building on unconverted revenue land is, in the express words of section 108A(3), a building “in an unauthorized layout or in a revenue land” — precisely the category that goes into the B Khata register, which confers no title and no right to regularisation. Conversion status determines whether a property can hold A Khata, get plan sanction, and be lent against. Ask for the conversion order, not a description of it.
SecondaryLaw firms report that the Karnataka Land Revenue (Amendment) Rules, 2025, inserting rules 106B to 106F, removed the separate conversion requirement for land within approved master plan areas in the Bengaluru Metropolitan Area, so that land is treated as converted as part of the building or layout approval process. Zoning, environmental clearance and planning approvals continue to apply. We could not obtain the notification number or commencement date, so treat this as reported. Outside approved master plan areas, section 95 conversion remains the requirement.
Agricultural land
FactSections 79A, 79B and 79C of the Karnataka Land Reforms Act, 1961 — which since 1974 had restricted non-agriculturists from acquiring agricultural land — were repealed by the Karnataka Land Reforms (Amendment) Ordinance, 2020 (Ordinance No. 13 of 2020, dated 13 July 2020), later enacted. The non-agricultural income threshold went, and the section 80 bar on selling to non-agriculturists was lifted.
What remains: the ceiling on holdings under section 63, raised to 20 units for an individual or family, with 4 additional units per extra member above ten members and a cumulative cap of 40 units; category-specific transfer restrictions under section 80; and the section 81 restriction on mortgaging agricultural land, which remains limited to cooperatives, financial institutions and government-controlled companies.
One caution. Reinstatement of sections 79A and 79B has been publicly debated. We found no source establishing that any reinstating amendment was enacted or brought into force — and equally, we cannot tell you it will not be. Verify the current position before buying agricultural land.
Sources. Karnataka Municipal Corporations Act 1976, s.108A(3) (official Act text); Khaitan & Co, note on the Karnataka Land Reforms (Amendment) Ordinance, 2020 (khaitanco.com, secondary); law-firm notes on the Karnataka Land Revenue (Amendment) Rules, 2025 (secondary). Verified 8 September 2026.Guidance value
FactKarnataka’s circle rate is called guidance value. It is estimated, published and revised by a Central Valuation Committee constituted under section 45-B of the Karnataka Stamp Act, chaired by the Inspector General of Registration and Commissioner of Stamps, which is “the final authority for the formulation of policy, methodology and administration of the market value guidelines in the State”. Guidance value is looked up on the Kaveri portal.
The last revision we can confirm took effect on 1 October 2023, an average increase of 25 to 30% across the state. A revision proposed for 1 April 2026 was widely discussed, but every source describing it was a commercial property site, and at least one of those said it had not been notified as of late May 2026. We do not publish a 2026 revision as being in force.
8. What we could not confirm
Open questions on this page
- Whether the 2% and 3% slabs extend beyond the first sale of a flat or apartment. The statutory text we could read confines them; every secondary source says otherwise. This is the highest-risk figure here.
- The Act, section, rule or notification that legally authorises the B-to-A khata regularisation scheme, and the eligibility cut-off date. We read the obvious candidates and it is in none of them. We publish no statutory citation for it, and no cut-off date.
- What applies to B-khata conversion now that the 2% window closed on 22 August 2026, and whether the statewide scheme approved in January 2026 has commenced.
- Whether any cap exists on the registration fee. No official source we examined states one. Do not assume there is.
- Whether sections 79A and 79B of the Land Reforms Act have been reinstated.
- Any guidance value revision after 1 October 2023.
- The khata transfer fee. The figure of 2% of the stamp duty paid appears only on property portals, so we do not publish it. The KMC Act imposes the obligation but prescribes no fee in section 114.
- The officially guaranteed turnaround for khata transfer under the Sakala service-guarantee framework. The citizen’s duty (three months’ notice) is confirmed; the corporation’s obligation to you is not.
- An official BDA / BBMP / Greater Bengaluru Authority facility for verifying that a specific layout is approved. We found none, so we publish no “how to verify your layout online” procedure. What we can source: check e-Khata status on e-Aasthi, take the EC on Kaveri, obtain the DC conversion order, and rely on the section 114(5) consultation requirement for BDA and KHB property.
- The period an encumbrance certificate covers, and the year from which Kaveri’s online records begin. The applicant specifies the period; claims about a start year appear only on commercial sites.
- The current K-RERA Chairman and Members, and various notification numbers — for the 2017 RERA Rules, the 29 August 2025 registration fee change, the 1 October 2023 guidance value revision, the e-Khata mandate, and the 2025 Land Revenue Amendment Rules.
Sources
- Karnataka Stamp Act, 1957 — full text via PRS Legislative Research; Karnataka Stamp (Amendment) Bill, 2021.
- Karnataka Municipal Corporations Act, 1976 — official Act text, ss.108A, 114, 114A and 140.
- Greater Bengaluru Governance Act, 2024 (Karnataka Act No. 36 of 2025) — via PRS Legislative Research.
- Karnataka Rent Act, 1999 — via PRS Legislative Research.
- Karnataka RERA — rera.karnataka.gov.in, Karnataka Real Estate Appellate Tribunal.
- Government of Karnataka portals — Kaveri, e-Aasthi, BBMP e-Aasthi, Bhoomi land records.
- National e-Governance Division, Government of India — Kaveri 2.0 directory entry.
- Secondary sources, labelled as such above — Deccan Herald on the registration fee, Deccan Herald on B-khata conversion, Khaitan & Co on the Land Reforms Ordinance 2020.
How this page is sourced. Every figure on this page carries the document it came from and the date it was checked. Where a number could not be traced to an official document, the page says so in those words rather than repeating what other sites say. Nothing here is taken from a property portal, listing site or aggregator.
This is a personal site written by Mithun Srivastava. The views are his own. It uses no employer data of any kind and is not an official communication of any company. It is educational material, not legal, tax or financial advice — property decisions carry real financial and legal risk, rules change without notice, and you must verify anything here against the current official source and your own professional advisers before acting on it.