Society Dues, Property Tax, and Khata: The Remote Owner's Bill Stack

Every flat in India carries a stack of recurring obligations that exist whether or not anyone lives there: society maintenance, municipal property tax, utility bills, and the ownership records behind them. Rent stops when a tenant leaves. The bill stack never stops. For an owner abroad, the stack is also the early-warning system: a lapsed bill is often the first visible symptom that nobody is watching the flat.

Society maintenance charges

Housing societies bill members for upkeep: security, lifts, common-area power, water, sinking fund, repairs. Billing is periodic, set by the society's general body, and the demand goes to the member, meaning you, the owner, not your tenant. Many owners pass the charge to the tenant through the rent agreement. That works as a private arrangement, but the society's claim stays against you. A tenant who skips eighteen months of maintenance leaves you, not the tenant, facing the society's interest charges and recovery process.

Maharashtra societies add a wrinkle for landlords: non-occupancy charges, billed when the member does not occupy the flat. A state government circular caps them at 10% of the service charges component, a cap the Supreme Court upheld. If your Mumbai or Pune society bills more, query it in writing.

Practical rules from a distance: get the society to email bills to you, not just drop them in the flat's letterbox; pay from your NRO account so the trail is yours; and reconcile the society ledger once a year, because misposted payments are common and surface at the worst time, the sale.

Property tax: pay it on the city portal, in your name

Municipal property tax is the owner's liability, payable each year, deductible against your rental income when you pay it. The metros run online portals; verify the URL before paying, since lookalike sites exist:

Pune, Chennai, and Gurgaon run equivalent portals through PMC, GCC, and MCG. The pattern is the same: a property identifier, an online ledger of dues and arrears, and digital receipts. Download every receipt the day you pay. Your CA needs it for the deduction, and a buyer's lawyer will ask for several years of them. See our NRI rental income tax guide for how the deduction works.

Khata and mutation: the records that say you own it

The sale deed proves you bought the property. The municipal record showing you as the person liable for property tax is a separate thing, and it does not update itself.

In Bengaluru this record is the khata. After a purchase, inheritance, or gift, the khata must be transferred to your name, online through the BBMP e-Aasthi portal at bbmpeaasthi.karnataka.gov.in or at the ward office. Without it, you cannot pay tax in your name and a future sale gets harder.

Elsewhere the same process is called mutation: updating the municipal or revenue record after ownership changes. Mumbai, Hyderabad, Chennai, and Gurgaon each run it through their corporation or revenue offices, with more of the process online each year.

Owners abroad skip this because the flat "works fine" without it. It works fine until it does not: a khata or mutation pending for years means tax receipts in a dead parent's name, a stalled sale, and a buyer who walks. Inherited flats are the worst case. The mutation needs death certificates, legal heir documents, and signatures, and every year of delay scatters the heirs further across the world.

Electricity and water: get the name and the contact right

Utility connections carry the name of whoever held them last, often the builder or the previous owner. Transfer the electricity connection to your name with the local distribution company: BEST or Adani in Mumbai, MSEDCL in Pune, BESCOM in Bengaluru, TGSPDCL in Hyderabad, TNPDCL in Chennai, DHBVN in Gurgaon. Water follows the municipal body or the society, depending on the building.

Two reasons to bother. A connection in your name with your email gets you the bill and the disconnection warning; a connection in a stranger's name tells the stranger. And at sale, a mismatch between the deed, the tax record, and the utility records turns a two-week closing into a two-month one.

If the tenant pays utilities, keep the account in your name and the e-bill on your email. You want to see the zero, not assume it.

What happens when bills lapse

The stack is patient, and it compounds:

The pattern behind all of it is the same. The owner left, the bills kept arriving at the flat, and the person who promised to check the letterbox stopped checking. Nobody announces that they stopped. The first announcement is a disconnection notice or an NOC refusal, years later.

Where this goes wrong

FAQ

Who pays society maintenance when the flat is rented, owner or tenant? The society's claim is against the owner. You can pass the cost to the tenant in the agreement, but if the tenant defaults, the arrears and interest are yours.

Where do I pay property tax online for Mumbai, Bengaluru, and Hyderabad? Mumbai: ptaxportal.mcgm.gov.in. Bengaluru: bbmptax.karnataka.gov.in. Hyderabad: onlinepayments.ghmc.gov.in. Use the official portal and keep every receipt.

What is a khata and do I need to transfer it? The khata is Bengaluru's municipal record of who holds the property for tax purposes. Transfer it after any purchase, gift, or inheritance, through the BBMP e-Aasthi portal or the ward office. Other cities call the equivalent process mutation.

Can a society refuse an NOC when I sell? A society owed dues will withhold its no-dues certificate, and most transfers in society buildings need one. Clear arrears before you list the flat, not after you find a buyer.

What are non-occupancy charges? Charges some Maharashtra societies levy on members who let out their flats, capped by government circular at 10% of the service charges component. Bills above that are challengeable.

Should utility accounts be in my name or the tenant's? Yours, with bills on your email, even when the tenant pays. You need to see the zero balance, and you need the disconnection warning to reach you, not a stranger.

The bill stack, watched and receipted

66 MG Road tracks and pays society dues, property tax, and utilities for NRI owners in Mumbai, Pune, Bangalore, Hyderabad, Chennai, and Gurgaon, with itemized statements and receipts at actuals for every payment. See bills and utilities.

Saurabh Garg, founder, 66 MG Road

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