Thinking of undervaluing the figure on the deed? DON'T!

Many lawyers and property buyers try to play around by undervaluing the figure which is supposed to be placed on the title deed, so a lesser stamp fee is paid to the government.

In some cases, Lawyers also think they know better and advise good, genuine people too place a lower figure on paper.

The reality is that the government officials are not fools, they are way more smarter than we think and understand the game better. At the end of the day, it's the government official (Assessor) that makes the call whether the value is less, too less or just about right.

What happens if they find out you have undervalued? 

Have you ever thought of that?

Chances are that they would make a visit to the property, do a fresh valuation and then place the figure they think is the value of the property and then issue the stamp fee. For the first LKR 50,000/= it's 3% and then for the balance amount it's 2% and on top of that, there is a penalty / surcharge of 15%.

You have to pay that and then they seal the original document which means you have paid the required the stamp duty fee to register the property.

So be very careful and get it right the first time.