Legal & tax
Bengaluru e-khata: A-khata vs B-khata and what each means for your home loan
A khata is a tax record, not a title. What the A and B labels mean in law, what BBMP has told the Karnataka High Court about B-khata, why banks hesitate, and what converting a B-khata could cost.
Apartment owners' association vs cooperative society in Karnataka: which one you'll have
RERA leaves the choice to state law. How Karnataka's Apartment Ownership Act and the cooperative route differ, what the High Court held for an all-residential Bengaluru project, and how your maintenance and corpus share is worked out.
Getting your rent deposit back: when it is due, what landlords can deduct, and where tenants can go
When the deposit falls due under Tamil Nadu's tenancy law and the Model Tenancy Act, which deductions are a tenant's liability and which look like normal wear, how Maharashtra's registration rule helps a tenant, and the forum for a dispute, worked through on a ₹25,000 flat.
Paying rent above ₹50,000 a month? A tenant's guide to TDS under section 393 and Form 141
Under the Income-tax Act, 2025, a salaried tenant paying more than ₹50,000 a month must deduct 2% and pay it in Form 141, once a year, without a TAN. When to deduct, how much on a ₹60,000 rent, the no-PAN cap, and the interest and fees for missing a step.
Leave and licence in Maharashtra: compulsory registration, Article 36A stamp duty and police intimation
Why Maharashtra treats a licensee differently from a tenant, why even an 11-month agreement must be registered, how stamp duty on licence fee and deposit is worked out (with the official rate still to be confirmed), what late stamping costs, and how police intimation works in Mumbai.
NRIs buying a flat in India: what FEMA allows, how to pay, and what you can't buy
What the 2019 Non-debt Instruments Rules and the RBI's property Master Direction let NRIs and OCI cardholders buy, why farmland, farmhouses and plantations are off-limits, which accounts you can pay from, and a ₹1 crore NRE-plus-NRO example with the buyer's 1% TDS.
Selling an inherited flat: your cost, holding period and tax under the Income-tax Act, 2025
An inherited flat carries the previous owner's cost and years of ownership. How sections 73, 2(101) and 197 of the 2025 Act work together, the open question on indexation for heirs, and a worked example with three tax figures.
Gifting a flat to family: stamp duty, and tax under the Income-tax Act, 2025
Who counts as a relative under section 92, why the person receiving the flat pays no tax now but takes on the donor's cost and dates, how clubbing hits gifts to a spouse, and what the gift deed costs in stamp duty, worked through on a ₹90 lakh flat.
RERA or consumer commission: where a delayed-flat complaint should go, and why you usually get one shot
Both forums can hear a buyer whose flat is late. What the RERA Act and the Consumer Protection Act each say, how the Supreme Court has read them from Imperia Structures (2020) to its February 2026 order in Kabra and Associates, and which consumer commission tier a ₹1.2 crore flat falls in.
Two self-occupied homes, then deemed let-out: how the Income-tax Act, 2025 taxes a third house
Only two homes you live in get a nil annual value under section 21(7). Any other house is taxed on the rent it could fetch, even if it stands empty. How sections 20 to 22, 109 and 110 work together, and a three-flat example showing why the choice of which two to nominate can change taxable income by over ₹2 lakh.
Builder insolvency: how homebuyers vote in the committee of creditors, and why not voting counts
Flat buyers are financial creditors when a builder goes into insolvency. How your class picks its authorised representative, how your vote is weighed and cast as a block, the thresholds for key decisions, and a worked example.
Probate is no longer compulsory in Mumbai, Kolkata and Chennai: what changed for your flat
Section 213 of the Indian Succession Act, which made probate a must for many wills in the three old presidency cities, was omitted by the Repealing and Amending Act, 2025. What changed, what did not, and a worked example of why the will itself matters more.