Bareilly: The legal heirs of martyrs and ex-servicemen in Uttar Pradesh will now get the benefit of exemption in stamp duty while buying a new house, residential or commercial land as well as agricultural land if they are co-buyers. They will be able to avail this benefit on their share of property value up to Rs 20 lakh.The deputy registrar of Bareilly, Brijesh Kumar said, “Till now, the legal dependent was not able to get benefit of stamp duty exemption in cases of joint ownership. But now stamp duty will be exempted in such cases also.”Kumar said that 5% stamp duty and 2% development charges will be exempted on the heir’s share of land or house. An order to this effect has been issued by the principal secretary to the inspector general (registry and stamp) on June 20 and districts received the order on Saturday.According to the registry office here, every month around 20 cases come to them in which legal dependents of ex-servicemen or martyrs buy property in joint ownership.Registry officials said that now people have started buying property in joint ownership for several reasons. “Couples are purchasing property in joint ownership in case one of them passes away. Besides, it helps them save income tax if both spouses are employed. In most cases, property is being acquired with loan. This is again a reason to buy property as co-owners, as both earning members can avail home loans,” an official said.Earlier, for legal dependents of martyrs and ex-servicemen, stamp duty was exempted for purchase of up to 200 sq m of land. Since land cost in urban areas has shot up, the government has been sustaining substantial revenue loss.“In November 2016, the UP government issued a notification that stamp duty would be exempted on property that costs up to Rs 20 lakh. Besides, it will be given once and only to one legal dependent,” Kumar said.

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