How to give power of attorney from abroad to sell property in India?

“Power of Attorney is a legal document that grants authority to an agent to act on behalf of Principal”

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Power of Attorney short form is POA. Sending a POA from abroad to sell property can be daunting, but it is possible with right planning and execution. Let me guide you through the process:

We need to plan two important factors. They are:

1. The agent you appoint in India
2. POA Attestation

First and foremost, the agent you appoint must be trustworthy. The agent can be your family member, lawyer, broker, colleague or friend. Preferably choose your agent from your close family member because stamp duty is less for blood relatives and family members are considered trustworthy.

• Stamp Duty for blood relative is Rs. 500 per executant
• Stamp Duty for non-blood relatives is 5% of selling price or guidance value, whichever is higher

In Karnataka, the stamp duty is Rs. 500 when POA is given to following family members

• Father
• Mother
• Brother
• Sister
• Husband
• Wife
• Children (aged above 18 years)

In some other states in India, in-laws and nephews are considered for lower stamp duty hence check the regulation in the jurisdiction of the property

(In case you want to appoint non-blood relative as your agent. Prefer Special Power of Attorney (SPOA) instead of POA because the Stamp Duty for SPOA is Rs. 500 per executant irrespective of blood and non-blood relative)

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The POA Attestation from Notary Public or Consulate General of India is compulsory to authenticate the POA in India. We can plan the POA attestation based on the county and cost

For example: If you live in USA, Canada, Europe, Australia or New Zealand, notary attestation is more convenient than Consulate General of India for following reasons

• Dual expense for attestation: Notary public attestation in POA is mandatory before we get an attestation from consulate general of India. It means we need to get an attestation from both Notary Public and Consulate General of India which incurs dual expenses of around $10 for notary public and $25 for consulate attestation. We can avoid the dual expense if we opt only for notary public.
• Travel time and cost: Some of my clients in USA traveled for 2–3 days to get an attestation from Consulate General of India which incurs travel time and additional expenses for trip. In comparison, the notary public is more easily accessible than consulate General.

In USA, Canada, Europe, Australia or New Zealand: attestation from Notary public is convenient and cost-efficient. As per my knowledge, Karnataka and Maharashtra accept attestation from notary public to authenticate the POA in India. However, few other states in India mandate the consultant General Attestation to authenticate the POA

If you live in Singapore or Japan, attestation from Consulate General of India is more convenient than notary public for following reasons:

• We can travel and get consulate attestation within a day.
• In Singapore, consulate attestation costs around S$17 whereas the notary public cost around S$100. Notary is expensive than Consulate attestation
• In Japan, consulate attestation costs around JPY 3000 whereas the notary public cost around JPY 17,000. Notary is more expensive than Consulate attestation.

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Let me share my experience of sending POA from abroad to sell property in India:

My client, wife (Mrs.Sheetal) & husband (Mr. Pankaj) are OCI status holders, living in Parramatta, Australia. They jointly own a 2BHK flat in Bangalore and being in abroad made it difficult for my client to manage the flat remotely. Hence my client decided to sell the property and we found the buyer for the consideration of Rs. 55 Lakhs

The wife was not able to travel to India for sale deed registration. hence she granted General Power of Attorney to her husband to represent her for the sale deed registration in Bangalore, India. We followed the below procedure to execute General Power of Attorney (GPA):

• Drafted the GPA in Word document and we emailed it to my client to Australia
• My client printed the draft on A4 size paper
• My client made an appointment with Notary public in Australia
• My client signed the GPA in front of notary public and notary public attested the GPA. The notary cost in Australia is $AUD 50
• My client couriered the GPA and self-attested ID proof to us in India
• In India, we got the GPA Adjudication in District Registrar's office. Refer to below GPA Image

(The husband's presence in India is not required to adjudicate the POA/GPA. We got the above GPA adjudication based on the self-attested ID proofs sent by husband and wife)

We booked the sale deed registration slot and informed the registration schedule to my client 15 days in advance. Immediately my client booked the flight ticket and planned to arrive one day before the registration date

On the registration day, husband reached the sub-registrar office, signed the sale deed and collected the final settlement cheque from buyer.

Husband Mr. Pankaj used the above GPA to represent his wife Mrs. Sheetal in sub-registrar office for sale deed registration. We highlighted the GPA representation in below sale deed for your reference.

We provide assistance to execute POA. Please WhatsApp to +91-97424-79020

Thank you for reading…