Gift Deed Checklist
Transferring property to family, with the record left clean.
Free, no sign-up. 5 sections, 37 checks. Edit it to fit your own transaction.
A gift deed transfers property without consideration, most often between parents and children or between siblings. It is registered like a sale, and the fact that no money changes hands makes people casual about it — which is why so many family disputes a decade later turn on a gift deed that was never registered, never accepted in the required way, or never followed by mutation.
Stamp duty on a gift is set by each state, and several states charge a concessional rate for transfers between specified relatives. That rate, the list of who counts as a relative, and the tax treatment in the recipient’s hands all vary and all change, so confirm them with the sub-registrar and a tax professional rather than relying on what applied to a cousin in another state.
Before drafting
- Confirm the donor holds clear, registered title to the property being given
- Check that no loan or mortgage is subsisting, and obtain the release if one was
- Confirm the property is not agricultural land subject to a transfer restriction in your state
- Establish whether the property is self-acquired or ancestral, and take advice if ancestral
- Identify every co-owner — a co-owner can gift only their own share
- Confirm the donor is of sound mind and acting without pressure, and can be seen to be
- Check the relationship qualifies for any concessional stamp duty, with the sub-registrar
What the deed should contain
- Full names, parentage, ages and addresses of donor and donee
- The relationship between them, stated expressly
- A clear statement that the transfer is made voluntarily and without consideration
- Complete description of the property with boundaries, area and identifiers
- Schedule of property attached, consistent with the title documents
- A statement of how the donor acquired the property, with the earlier deed referenced
- Express acceptance of the gift by the donee, during the donor’s lifetime
- A statement that the property is free of encumbrance, or disclosure of any
- Whether possession is delivered now or retained, and any right reserved by the donor
Conditions and reservations — decide deliberately
A reserved right is enforceable only if it is written down before registration.
- Whether the donor reserves a right of residence for life
- Whether the donor reserves the right to rent or income from the property
- Whether the gift is conditional, and what happens if the condition is not met
- Whether the donee may sell or mortgage during the donor’s lifetime
- What happens if the donee predeceases the donor
- Confirm with a lawyer that any condition you want is valid and drafted to work
Execution and registration
- Stamp duty computed at the rate your state applies to this relationship
- Both donor and donee present at the sub-registrar, or properly represented
- Two witnesses present with their identity documents
- PAN and Aadhaar for both parties, originals carried
- Photographs as the office requires
- Every page signed and initialled by both parties
- Acceptance by the donee recorded, not merely implied
- Receipt collected, with the document number noted
After registration
- Collect the registered deed and check the scan of every page
- Apply for mutation so the revenue record shows the donee
- Transfer electricity, water and any gas connection
- Update the society record and the share certificate
- Inform the insurer if the property is insured
- Take tax advice on the treatment in the donee’s hands before the return is due
- Keep the deed with the earlier title documents so the chain stays together
Acceptance has to happen while the donor is alive
A gift is completed by acceptance, not by the donor’s intention alone, and acceptance must occur during the donor’s lifetime. This is the single most common technical failure in family transfers: a deed executed and then left unregistered or unaccepted, which achieves nothing when the donor dies and leaves the family in exactly the dispute the deed was meant to prevent.
A gift deed is not a will
A gift takes effect now and, once complete, is generally irrevocable. A will takes effect on death and can be changed at any time before it. People sometimes execute a gift deed intending the effect of a will, and only discover the difference when they want the property back. Decide which instrument you actually want before drafting either.
Write the reserved rights down
If the donor intends to live in the property for life, or to keep the rent, that has to appear in the deed. An understanding within the family is not enforceable against a later purchaser and is difficult to prove against the donee. Saying it plainly in the document costs nothing at the drafting stage.
Common questions
Can a gift deed be cancelled later?
Once a gift is validly made, registered and accepted it is generally irrevocable, and it cannot be undone simply because the donor has changed their mind. There are limited exceptions, including a gift made conditionally where the condition fails, and separate statutory protections for elderly parents in certain circumstances. Take advice on the specific facts rather than assuming either that it can or cannot be reversed.
Is stamp duty lower for a gift to a family member?
Several states apply a concessional rate to gifts between specified relatives, but both the rate and the definition of who qualifies are set by the state and change from time to time. Confirm the current position with the sub-registrar for the property before budgeting for it — the concession in one state is routinely assumed to apply in another where it does not.
Does the person receiving the gift pay tax on it?
The treatment depends on the relationship between the parties and on the value, and the rules have changed more than once. Property received from certain close relatives is treated differently from property received from others. Speak to a tax professional before the relevant return is filed, rather than relying on general guidance found online.
Related templates
The papers a sale needs, mutation after it, and transfers within a family.
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