Snag in online property registration, flat buyers hassled in Noida

NOIDA: After waiting for three-and-a-half years, Pooja Jaiswal, a resident of Delhi, was looking forward to moving into her new flat in a Sector 50 apartment. She arranged for the funds and paid the flat owner. She attempted to get her flat registered on October 19 since she wanted to do the transaction during Navratri. But her hopes were short-lived.

“Though the window showed my transaction had failed, Rs 93,000 got deducted from my account while doing the transaction. I had run out of money and could not pay again,” said Jaiswal, who was planning to hold a house-warming ceremony over the weekend.

Like her, hundreds of Noida residents have been struggling with online property registration. Half-a-dozen individuals are visiting the Sector 33 sub-registrar office in Noida to follow up after paying the stamp duty twice daily. Due to the pandemic, most homebuyers are avoiding a visit to the office and are trying to deposit the fees online. The service was initiated in February this year, but picked up pace in July.

“I too got the transaction failed message after the first attempt and made the payment again. I got the registry done but with a bitter experience. I did not feel like celebrating, “said Moumita Sarkar, another property owner who is following up for a refund of Rs 73,910. She had paid the same amount twice on September 29 for registration of her flat in a Sector 78 highrise society.

The department is aware of the issue and has raised it before Lucknow-based senior officials as well as State Bank of India, the bank designated on behalf of the department to collect payments.

Assistant inspector general of stamp and registration department of GB Nagar district, SK Tripathi, said, “Every Tuesday and Thursday, we have been following up on the status of pending payments with senior officials in Lucknow and SBI in Hazratganj.”