Property Registration (Sale Deed) in Bihar

What is property registration in Bihar?

Property registration in Bihar is the act of presenting a sale deed; locally called a kewala, before the Sub-Registrar of the registration office having jurisdiction over the land, paying the stamp duty and the registration fee, admitting execution before the registering officer, and having the deed copied into the permanent record. Section 17 of the Registration Act 1908 makes registration compulsory for any sale of immovable property worth more than Rs 100, so effectively every land or house sale in Bihar must be registered. Until it is, the buyer has paid money but has not acquired ownership.

The Registration wing of the Prohibition, Excise and Registration Department, Government of Bihar, runs the system. Its citizen-facing portal is Bhumi Jankari at bhumijankari.bihar.gov.in, which carries the Minimum Value Register (MVR) for every circle and thana, online data entry of the deed before the visit, e-stamp services and the search facility for registered deeds. Bihar separates this from the land-records side: jamabandi, Land Possession Certificates and dakhil-kharij live on the Bihar Bhumi platform of the Revenue and Land Reforms Department, and you will use both during a purchase.

Who can register a sale deed in Bihar, and who cannot?

Any adult of sound mind who lawfully owns the property can sell it, and any person legally entitled to hold property in India can buy it. The seller must be able to show a jamabandi or Register-II entry and current rent receipts in their own name: Bihar registration offices are strict about this, because much of the state's litigation comes from sales by people who were never recorded as raiyat.

The following cannot apply without first clearing an obstacle:

• A seller whose name does not appear in the jamabandi cannot register the sale until the earlier inheritance or purchase has been mutated through dakhil-kharij.
• A minor cannot execute a deed as seller; a guardian must act, with court permission where the law requires it.
• Land recorded as gair-mazarua aam, gairmazarua malik, bhoodan, or otherwise government or public land is not eligible for private sale registration.
• Land under a title suit, attachment or stay order cannot be registered while the order stands.
• A property mortgaged to a bank cannot be registered free of the charge without the bank's release and no-dues.
• A person who cannot attend and has not executed a registered Power of Attorney cannot complete execution, because photographs and biometrics of each party are captured at the counter.
• A foreign citizen who is not an NRI or OCI cannot buy immovable property in Bihar without Reserve Bank of India approval.

What does registering a sale deed cost in Bihar?

Bihar charges stamp duty and a registration fee, both computed on the chargeable value of the property. The chargeable value is the consideration stated in the deed or the MVR value of the plot, whichever is higher. The MVR is published circle-wise and thana-wise on bhumijankari.bihar.gov.in, expressed as a rate per decimal or per square foot depending on the land category; agricultural, homestead, commercial or residential — so the same khesra can carry different rates for different portions.

Bihar's schedule also distinguishes the direction of the transfer, treating a sale from a man to a woman differently from a sale from a woman to a man. Because those rates are set by state notification and get revised, take the exact percentages from the Registration wing's published schedule or the calculator on Bhumi Jankari before you buy the stamp, and get the office to confirm the figure for your specific deed. Under-buying the stamp is the single most common reason a Bihar deed is impounded for deficit duty and penalty.

Looking up the MVR, doing the online deed data entry and searching registered deeds on Bhumi Jankari are free. A deed writer or advocate may charge for drafting, and a Common Service Centre or Vasudha Kendra may charge its notified service fee for the data entry. Nobody is entitled to money for "passing the file", "arranging the date" or "settling the MVR". Those payments are not going to the Bihar government and buy you nothing that the law will honour.

How to register a sale deed in Bihar (step by step)

1. Verify the seller's record. Pull the jamabandi and Register-II entry for the khata and khesra on the Bihar Bhumi portal, get the Land Possession Certificate, and check that current rent receipts stand in the seller's name.
2. Check the MVR. On bhumijankari.bihar.gov.in, select the district, registration office, thana and land type and read off the MVR rate for the plot. Multiply by the area to get the government's minimum value.
3. Search the earlier deeds. Use the deed search on Bhumi Jankari for the plot and for the seller's name over the last 12 to 30 years to spot an earlier sale, gift or mortgage.
4. Draft the deed and do the online data entry. Have the kewala drafted with khata, khesra, thana number, area, chauhaddi, consideration and payment mode, then complete the online deed entry on Bhumi Jankari so the registration office already holds your details when you arrive.
5. Pay the stamp duty and registration fee. Buy the e-Stamp certificate or generate the challan for the calculated amount in the buyer's name and keep the receipt.
6. Attend the registration office together. On the appointed day the seller, the buyer and two witnesses appear with original Aadhaar, PAN, the deed, the payment proof, the LPC and the rent receipt. The office captures photographs and thumb impressions of all four.
7. Execute, then apply for dakhil-kharij. After the Sub-Registrar endorses and returns the registered deed, apply at the Circle Office or on the Bihar Bhumi portal for mutation so the jamabandi is opened in your name.

Is there an offline route in Bihar?

Yes, and in practice most rural registrations are a mix. MVR rate lists are displayed at registration offices, deed writers sitting at the office complex draft the kewala, and e-Stamp certificates are sold by authorised vendors. If you cannot do the Bhumi Jankari data entry yourself, a Common Service Centre or Vasudha Kendra will do it at the notified service charge. Execution itself is always physical; Bihar has no route by which a sale deed is registered without the parties appearing before the registering officer.

How do I check status and confirm the registration?

The registration office returns the registered kewala with the deed number, book and year endorsed on it, usually within a few working days of execution. Confirm it afterwards by searching for the deed on bhumijankari.bihar.gov.in using the registration office, year and deed number. Then track the dakhil-kharij application on the Bihar Bhumi portal, the Circle Officer's order opening a new jamabandi in your name is what actually completes the transfer for revenue purposes. Keep the registered deed, the mutation order and the first rent receipt in your name together; that set is what banks and courts ask for.

Why do Bihar sale deeds get rejected or impounded?

• The consideration is below the MVR for that thana and land category, so the deed is under-stamped.
• The seller has no jamabandi entry or no current rent receipt, so possession and title cannot be established.
• The land is gair-mazarua, bhoodan, or otherwise not privately transferable.
• The chauhaddi in the deed does not match the plot actually being sold, or the khesra number is wrong.
• An earlier registered sale of the same plot shows up in the deed search.
• One of the four persons required at execution did not attend.
• The deed was presented at a registration office that has no jurisdiction over that thana.

Where do I complain about a registration problem in Bihar?

Take the first complaint to the Sub-Registrar, and escalate to the District Sub-Registrar and then the Inspector General of Registration, Bihar, who supervises the Registration wing of the Prohibition, Excise and Registration Department. Refusal to register is appealable to the Registrar under the Registration Act 1908, and the Sub-Registrar is required to record the reason for refusal in writing, ask for it. For delay, an unlisted demand or misbehaviour, use the Bihar Lok Shikayat Nivaran Adhikar (Right to Public Grievance Redressal) route, which gives a time-bound hearing before a designated officer. If an undervaluation notice arrives afterwards, respond with your MVR computation rather than paying anyone privately to settle it.