NRI Property Buying

Hi
A NRI can certainly buy a property while not in India thrrough his representative/freind/family member/relative
You would have to follow certain norms which can make your property buying experience a pleasant one

1. Execute a Special Power of Attorney in name of the Person who will be signing the agreements and other documents on your behalf. The Power of attorney has to be signed in front of the consul officer in the Indian Embassy of the city n country where you are located. Affixing photograph and the left thumb impression alonwith your signature is essential. You can then send the POA to India, where it has to be adjudicated. After the adjudication process, the POA is ready for use in India for buying any property.

2. Payments for purchase of property has to be made from the NRE account which should reflect the remmitance made by you from abroad.


3. Engage a local lawyer to carry out due diligence on your behalf even if you have a housing finance company doing it for you already.

4. When buying from a builder, keep copies of all correspondences you do with the builder for your records. This can help you in future

5. Carefully read the fine prints of the Agreement for Sale and undertand your rights and remedies as a buyer

Hope this helps
For any more information, feel free to ask me

Re: Buying Real estate in India without being in India

Thanks for the information. I was told that POA can be taken on a simple plain paper and get it notarised through some US notary authority like a bank. Do we need to sign it in front of Consul officer in Indian embassy with photographs affix?? Kindly advice as I need to send one POA urgently to India in the name of my father.

Kind Regards,

Umesh

Hi Even i have purchased one flat for my relatives by obtaining a POA. Just go to ICICI bank website and checkout the POA format and instructions.. It is clearly mentioned that the POA grantor's signature should be attested by Indian embassy official or Notary public..

so going via the Embassy is optional.. but if u do it through the notary, it should be registered at the subregistrar's office where the POA holder resides.

Am currently dealing with ICICI Bank for a sale through POA and have been told by them that attestation at Indian Consulate is mandatory.

If you are in the UK and you are an NRI, then just an attestation at consulate gen office is required for the POA.

If you are an OCI/PIO, notarisation is also required. Just check the Indian embassy/consulate's website which should clarify the details for OCI/PIO.

@kingofms: more info is available here:

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Yes, it is compulsory to get the SPA attested by the Indian cosulate. I am in Singapore and I have got it done in the apst. BTW, getting it attested from Indian consulate is a very easy process. The problem is after getting the SPA here, the POA holder will ahve to take it to an Indian court where it will be registered. The process of registration is what takes more time and money as compare dto the process that I have to follow here.

Dear all

If someone pay by cheque with NRE & NRO both account ,is it any problem can arise in future as not having NRO account just now.can anyone give a clue about this.

Difference comes when you need to repatriate the funds:

If you purchased a property by taking a home loan, then repatriation cannot exceed the amount of loan repayment that has been done using foreign inward remittances or debit to NRE/FCNR Accounts.


If you purchased the property using balance in your NRO account, then the sale proceeds must be credited to your NRO account and you can repatriate to the extent of USD 1 million (including all other capital account transactions).

Source: NRI's guide to selling property in India - Times Of India