Reverse decision to hike guideline value: EPS

CHENNAI: Leader of the Opposition and AIADMK general secretary Edappadi K Palaniswamy on Monday asked the state government to reverse its decision to hike the guideline value by 33 per cent as it would burden the prospective property buyers.

In the debate on the demand for grants for Commercial Taxes, Registration Department and Information Publicity, he said that after hiking the guideline value, the government has announced a reduction of the registration fees to two per cent from four per cent.

"If a person was buying a property worth Rs 10 lakh, they would be paying a stamp duty and registration fees of Rs 1.10 lakh for it. Now with the increase in the guideline value and revision of the registration fees, the same person has to spend Rs 15 lakh together," he said.

Responding to it, Registration Department Minister P Moorthy said that the government has simply restored the guideline value prevailing in the State between 2012 and 2017 to help the property owners to avail of the bank loan as per the existing market value.

"The property buyers are facing difficulties in availing adequate bank loan. The bank sanctions the loan based on the guideline value. Since there was a huge gap between the GV and market value, the property owners were not able to get an adequate loan," he said, adding that hence the government has decided to increase the guideline value and reduce the registration fees to 2 per cent to lower their burden. He noted that in 2017, the AIADMK government reduced the guideline value by 33 per cent and increased the registration fees from 1 per cent to 4 per cent.