The legal process for an NRI property purchase, run from abroad

What is the legal process for an NRI property purchase?

Eight stages, in this order. Most of the trouble we are asked to sort out later comes from taking them out of order: paying a large advance before the title is checked, or signing the agreement before the loan or the TDS position is settled.

The steps for an NRI to buy property in India from a builder and on resale are the same in outline. The differences show up at stages 5 and 7, explained below.

What do you need in place before you look at property?

Three things, and each takes longer from abroad than people expect.

• PAN. The Sub-Registrar, the bank and the TDS process all need it. Apply online well before you shortlist anything.
• NRI bank accounts. An NRE account for money you bring from abroad and an NRO account for income earned in India. Pay from these, not from a relative's account.
• The right property type. A flat, house, shop, office or non-agricultural plot is fine. Agricultural land, plantations and farmhouses are not, so read our post on whether an NRI can purchase land before you consider any plot outside a city.

Eligibility in detail, including OCI cardholders and foreign-citizen spouses, and the title search itself, are in our post on NRI rules for buying property and title verification. Until that search is done, pay nothing beyond a small token that the seller has agreed in writing to refund.

Can an NRI buy property in India without travelling?

Yes. A Power of Attorney lets a person you trust sign the agreement, pay stamp duty, appear before the Sub-Registrar and take possession for you. Make it a special Power of Attorney for this purchase, not a general one. It should describe the flat or plot by building, survey or CTS number and area, and list each act the attorney may do.

Signing it abroad

Section 33 of the Registration Act, 1908 lets a Sub-Registrar act on a Power of Attorney from someone living abroad if it was executed before, and authenticated by, a notary, a court or an Indian consular officer. That leaves two routes. You sign at the Indian Embassy or Consulate, or you sign before a local notary and add an apostille if your country belongs to the Hague Apostille Convention. Missions change their appointment systems and outsourced centres often, so check the current process before booking.

Using it in India

Once the original arrives, it has to be stamped under the state's Stamp Act within three months; in Maharashtra this is usually done by adjudication at the stamp office. The Sub-Registrar will want the original, your attorney's photo identity and, in many offices, a declaration that you are alive and have not revoked it. A scan will not do.

Our Power of Attorney drafting service, from Rs 7,500, covers the draft and the signing instructions for your country.

Can an NRI take a home loan to buy property in India?

Yes. The FEMA (Borrowing and Lending) Regulations, 2018 allow banks and housing finance companies in India to lend to NRIs and OCIs to buy a home. The loan is paid straight to the builder or seller in India. You repay it from your NRE, FCNR(B) or NRO account, by remittance from abroad, or from rent the property earns.

Banks usually ask for your passport and visa or residence permit, an employment contract or business proof, recent salary slips and overseas bank statements. Many also want someone in India holding a Power of Attorney for the loan paperwork, so draft one document that covers both the loan and the purchase.

Get the loan sanctioned before you sign the agreement for sale, so that the payment dates you agree are dates the bank can meet. The bank's legal check protects the bank. It is not a substitute for your own title search.

Agreement for sale: the clauses an NRI buyer needs

The agreement fixes the price, the payment schedule and the conditions the seller must meet. For an NRI buyer, three clauses carry more weight than usual:

• the conditions from your advocate's title report, each tied to a payment;
• the TDS clause, recording the seller's residential status, the rate you will deduct and any lower deduction certificate the seller will obtain;
• the account each payment goes to, which should be the seller's own account in India, named in the agreement.

On a new flat bought from a builder in Maharashtra, the agreement for sale is registered, carries the stamp duty and serves as your title document. Section 13 of the Real Estate (Regulation and Development) Act, 2016 bars the builder from taking more than 10% of the cost as an advance before that agreement is registered. On a resale flat, many buyers go straight to a registered sale deed once the title conditions are met.

Who deducts TDS on a property purchase from an NRI?

You do, as the buyer. The rate depends on the seller's residential status, not on yours.

When the seller is resident in India

If the price or the stamp duty value is Rs 50 lakh or more, deduct 1% of the higher figure and deposit it through the PAN-based challan-cum-statement on the income-tax portal, then give the seller the TDS certificate. This was Section 194-IA of the Income-tax Act, 1961, and the obligation continues under the Income-tax Act, 2025. No TAN is needed.

When the seller is an NRI or other non-resident

The duty is heavier. Under Section 393(2) of the Income-tax Act, 2025 (the provision earlier known as Section 195), you deduct at the rate that applies to the seller's capital gain, on the whole price rather than on the gain. There is no Rs 50 lakh threshold here. For property held more than 24 months the rate is 12.5% plus surcharge and cess; for a shorter holding the slab rates apply, so buyers usually deduct at the highest one. Only a lower or nil deduction certificate from the Assessing Officer, obtained by the seller, changes that.

From 1 October 2026 a resident individual or HUF buying from a non-resident can deposit this tax through a PAN-based challan without first taking a TAN. Companies and firms still use a TAN and file the quarterly return. If you are an NRI buying from another NRI, have your chartered accountant confirm which route applies to you before the payment date, because the forms changed in 2026.

If you deduct too little, the shortfall can be recovered from you with interest. So settle the seller's status and the certificate before the price is final and write both into the agreement.

Registration: what happens at the Sub-Registrar's office

The sale deed, or the builder's agreement for sale, must be presented for registration within four months of signing (Section 23 of the Registration Act, 1908), before the Sub-Registrar for the area where the property is. Stamp duty is paid before the appointment. In Maharashtra it is paid online through GRAS and charged on the agreed price or the ready reckoner value, whichever is higher.

On the day, the seller or the seller's attorney, your attorney and two witnesses attend with original identity documents. Each person signing is photographed and gives thumb impressions under Section 32A. Your attorney admits execution for you on the strength of the original Power of Attorney. The registered document usually comes back the same day or soon after, with the Index II extract that proves registration.

Stamp duty and registration fees are the same for an NRI as for a resident. Some states charge less where a woman is a buyer, so check the current rate before you decide whose names go on the deed.

Documents required for an NRI property purchase

After registration: mutation, society and tax records

Registration makes you the owner, but the records people check still show the seller until you change them. In Maharashtra that means a mutation entry on the 7/12 extract through the Talathi, or on the property card through the City Survey Office in urban areas. It also means the society's transfer of the share certificate and membership, the municipal property tax account and the electricity connection.

Your attorney can do all of this, but someone has to chase it, and NRI-owned flats are where it is most often left half done. An out-of-date record is how a fake mutation or a sale by an impostor gets started, as our post on NRI property fraud in India explains. If you plan to let the flat, use a registered leave and licence agreement from the first day, for the reasons given in our post on illegal possession of NRI property.

What to do next

From abroad, the NRI home ownership process runs most smoothly in this order:

1. Check your PAN and your NRE and NRO accounts.
2. Shortlist, and pay only a small refundable token.
3. Have your own advocate run the title search.
4. Sign the Power of Attorney abroad and send the original to India.
5. Get the loan sanctioned, if you need one.
6. Sign the agreement with the title and TDS conditions in it.
7. Pay from your NRI accounts, deduct TDS and register.
8. Finish the mutation and the society transfer.

We run this process for NRI clients from our office in Sanpada, Navi Mumbai, by phone, WhatsApp, video call and email. Registration in Mumbai, Navi Mumbai and the rest of Maharashtra we handle directly through your attorney. For property in another state, we explain at the first consultation how the local steps will be carried out. See our NRI real estate legal services.