GPA, Agreement of Sale and Notary Documents in Hyderabad: What the Law Says

This guide is for anyone holding, or being offered, a flat, plot or house on papers other than a registered sale deed: a general power of attorney (GPA), an agreement of sale, a notarised document, or a bundle of an agreement, a GPA and a will. It explains what the law says each of these documents does and does not do, what the Supreme Court said in Suraj Lamp and Industries v State of Haryana (2011), the Telangana clause, in force from 1 April 1999, that makes agreements of sale compulsorily registrable, and what a buyer holding such papers can do.

How a sale is made · Agreement of sale · GPA · Suraj Lamp · Notarised documents · Possession and part performance · What a buyer can do · Before you buy

How a sale of property is made

A sale of tangible immovable property of the value of one hundred rupees and upwards “can be made only by a registered instrument” (Transfer of Property Act, 1882, section 54). A document of this kind is presented for registration in the office of the Sub-Registrar within whose sub-district the whole or some portion of the property is situated (Registration Act, 1908, section 28). Subject to sections 24 to 26, a document other than a will must be presented within four months from the date of its execution (section 23); where the delay is owing to urgent necessity or unavoidable accident and does not exceed four months, the Registrar may direct acceptance on payment of a fine not exceeding ten times the proper registration fee (section 25). The persons executing the document, or their representatives, assigns or authorised agents, must also appear before the registering officer within the time allowed for presentation; where the delay in appearing is owing to urgent necessity or unavoidable accident and does not exceed four months, the Registrar may direct registration on payment of a further fine not exceeding ten times the proper registration fee (section 34(1) and its proviso). Where a document relates to the transfer of ownership of immovable property, the photographs and fingerprints of each buyer and seller are affixed to it (section 32A).

A registered document operates from the time from which it would have commenced to operate if no registration thereof had been required or made, and not from the time of its registration (section 47). A duly registered document of the kinds listed in section 17(1)(a) to (g) of the Telangana text, which include agreements of sale, takes effect as regards the property against every unregistered document relating to the same property, other than a decree or order (section 50(1)).

Agreement of sale

• It is not a sale: a contract for the sale of immovable property is a contract that a sale shall take place on terms settled between the parties. “It does not, of itself, create any interest in or charge on such property” (section 54).
• In Telangana it must be registered: the Registration Act as in force in Telangana adds clause (g) to section 17(1), making an “agreement of sale of immovable property of the value of one hundred rupees and upwards” compulsorily registrable. The clause was inserted by Andhra Pradesh Act 4 of 1999 with effect from 1 April 1999 and appears in the Telangana Registration and Stamps Department’s text of the Act. The central text lists only clauses (a) to (e).
• Effect of not registering: a document that is required to be registered but is not registered does not affect the immovable property it covers and cannot be received as evidence of any transaction affecting the property. It may, however, be received as evidence of a contract in a suit for specific performance, or as evidence of a collateral transaction that does not itself need a registered instrument (section 49 and its proviso).

General power of attorney

• What it is: the Powers-of-Attorney Act, 1882 says a power of attorney “includes any instrument empowering a specified person to act for and in the name of the person executing it” (section 1A).
• It is not a transfer: in the Supreme Court’s words, “A power of attorney is not an instrument of transfer in regard to any right, title or interest in an immovable property”, and “Even an irrevocable attorney does not have the effect of transferring title to the grantee” (Suraj Lamp, para 13). The Telangana Registration Department’s FAQ states: “It is wrong to say that ownership is transferred by getting General Power of Attorney. Persons purchasing property must get the sale deed registered.”
• An attorney can sign a sale deed for the owner: the same paragraph says an attorney holder “may however execute a deed of conveyance in exercise of the power granted under the power of attorney and convey title on behalf of the grantor”. The registered sale deed is what transfers the property, not the GPA.
• When the authority ends: an agency is terminated by the principal revoking the authority, by the agent renouncing the business of the agency, by the business being completed, by either the principal or the agent dying or becoming of unsound mind, or by the principal being adjudicated an insolvent (Indian Contract Act, 1872, section 201). Where the agent has an interest of their own in the property that is the subject of the agency, the agency cannot, in the absence of an express contract, be terminated to the prejudice of that interest (section 202). Whether a particular GPA falls under section 202 depends on its terms and the facts.

What the Supreme Court said in Suraj Lamp (2011)

In Suraj Lamp and Industries Pvt. Ltd. v State of Haryana (SLP (C) No. 13917 of 2009, decided 11 October 2011), the Supreme Court described transactions in which the vendor receives the full price, delivers possession, and executes an agreement of sale, an irrevocable GPA and a will in the purchaser’s favour instead of a deed of conveyance. It held:

• “GPA Sales” and “SA/GPA/WILL transfers” are misnomers, “as there cannot be a sale by execution of a power of attorney nor can there be a transfer by execution of an agreement of sale and a power of attorney and will” (para 1).
• “An agreement of sale, whether with possession or without possession, is not a conveyance” (para 12).
• A will takes effect only after the testator’s death and can be revoked during the testator’s lifetime; “Registration of a will does not make it any more effective” (para 14).
• “Immovable property can be legally and lawfully transferred/conveyed only by a registered deed of conveyance.” Such transactions do not convey title or amount to transfer, cannot be recognised as deeds of title except to the limited extent of section 53A, and “cannot be relied upon or made the basis for mutations in Municipal or Revenue Records” (para 16).
• These transactions “can continue to be treated as existing agreement of sale”; “Nothing prevents affected parties from getting registered Deeds of Conveyance to complete their title”, and the documents “may also be used to obtain specific performance or to defend possession under section 53A” (para 18).
• Transactions entered into before the judgment may be relied upon to apply for regularisation of allotments or leases by development authorities, and where development, municipal or revenue authorities have already accepted such documents to effect mutation, those mutations “need not be disturbed, merely on account of this decision” (para 18). The Court said it had “merely drawn attention to and reiterated the well-settled legal position” that these transactions are not transfers or sales (para 18).
• The judgment does not affect “the validity of sale agreements and powers of attorney executed in genuine transactions”, for example a power of attorney given to a spouse, son, daughter, brother, sister or relative to manage affairs or execute a deed of conveyance, or a development agreement with a GPA in favour of a developer (para 19).

The Telangana Registration Department circulates this judgment under the heading “Sale Deeds should be registered to get sanctity of law”.

Notarised documents

A notary may verify, authenticate, certify or attest the execution of an instrument (Notaries Act, 1952, section 8(1)(a)). Notarisation is not registration: registration is done by the Registrar or Sub-Registrar under the Registration Act. If a notarised sale agreement or “sale deed” is a document the Registration Act requires to be registered and it is not registered, it does not affect the property and cannot be received as evidence of a transaction affecting the property, subject to the proviso to section 49 (above).

Possession and part performance (section 53A)

Section 53A of the Transfer of Property Act applies where a person contracts to transfer immovable property for consideration by a writing signed by him or on his behalf from which the terms necessary to constitute the transfer can be ascertained with reasonable certainty, the transferee has taken possession (or, already being in possession, continues in possession) in part performance and has done some act in furtherance of the contract, and the transferee has performed or is willing to perform their part. In that case the transferor and persons claiming under the transferor cannot enforce against the transferee and persons claiming under the transferee any right in respect of the property of which the transferee has taken or continued in possession, other than a right expressly provided by the terms of the contract. This does not affect the rights of a transferee for consideration who has no notice of the contract or of its part performance.

For a contract executed on or after 24 September 2001, the Registration Act requires the document to be registered for this purpose; if it is not registered, it “shall have no effect for the purposes of the said section 53A” (section 17(1A)). In Suraj Lamp (para 11) the Supreme Court quoted its earlier decision in Rambhau Namdeo Gajre v Narayan Bapuji Dhotra (2004): the protection under section 53A “is a shield only against the transferor” and “cannot be pressed in service against a third party”.

What a buyer holding such papers can do

• Get a registered sale deed: the direct route to title is a registered conveyance from the owner, or from an attorney holder acting within a valid power. Suraj Lamp (para 18) says nothing prevents the parties from getting registered deeds of conveyance to complete their title.
• Specific performance: where the seller does not execute the sale deed, the buyer may sue for specific performance of the agreement. Section 10 of the Specific Relief Act, 1963, as substituted with effect from 1 October 2018, says specific performance “shall be enforced by the court subject to the provisions contained in sub-section (2) of section 11, section 14 and section 16”; among other things, the buyer must prove that they have performed, or have always been ready and willing to perform, the essential terms of the contract on their side (section 16(c)). The suit must be filed within three years from the date fixed for performance or, if no date was fixed, from when the buyer has notice that performance is refused (Limitation Act, 1963, Schedule, Article 54).
• Later buyers of the same property: specific performance may be enforced against a person who claims under the seller by a title arising after the contract, except a transferee for value who paid in good faith without notice of the original contract (Specific Relief Act, section 19(b)).
• Unstamped or under-stamped papers: an instrument chargeable with stamp duty that is not duly stamped cannot be admitted in evidence, or acted upon, registered or authenticated; subject to all just exceptions, it may be admitted in evidence on payment of the duty or deficit together with a penalty of fifteen rupees or ten times the duty or deficit, whichever is more (Indian Stamp Act, 1899 as in force in Telangana, section 35 and proviso (a)).
• If the owner has died: an agency ends on the death of the principal, subject to section 202 of the Contract Act (above), and a will takes effect only after the testator’s death (Suraj Lamp, para 14). Who can now execute a sale deed depends on the documents and the facts. See our guides on the legal heir certificate and partition of family property.

Which of these is open in a particular case depends, among other things, on the documents in the chain, their dates, whether they were stamped and registered, who is in possession and whether the owner is alive.

Before you buy on a GPA or agreement

• Check the registered record: an encumbrance certificate is, in the Registration Department’s words, “a record showing registered transactions pertaining to a property”. The Department states that “unregistered transactions are not included in this certificate” and that an encumbrance certificate “cannot be taken as a sole criterion to buy a property or lend money”. A GPA or agreement that was never registered will not appear in it. See our guide on the encumbrance certificate.
• Check the power of attorney: the Department’s buyer advisory says: “Enquire thoroughly about bonafides of power of attorney and agent. There are several cases of forged power of attorneys including fabricated powers as if given by NRI principals.” It also advises a personal inspection of the property, enquiry about the vendor’s physical possession, and obtaining municipal or panchayat records to ensure ownership details are tallied.
• Check the prohibited list: the Registration Act as in force in Telangana prohibits registration of certain documents, including sale or agreements of sale of Government, endowment or wakf property by persons not empowered, and properties the State has notified (section 22-A). See our guide on the section 22-A prohibited property list.
• Mutation: under the Telangana Bhu Bharati (Record of Rights in Land) Act, 2025 (Gazette text as hosted by PRS Legislative Research), for non-agricultural or abadi land the document is registered with the Sub-Registrar under the Registration Act, 1908 and mutation is done under the Telangana Panchayat Raj Act, 2018, the Telangana Municipalities Act, 2019 and the Greater Hyderabad Municipal Corporation Act, 1955 (section 5(9)). Section 6 of that Act concerns agricultural land only: unregistered transfers to small or marginal farmers made before 2 June 2014, with possession for more than twelve years, where an application was made under the Telangana Rights in Land and Pattadar Pass Books Act, 1971 between 12 October 2020 and 10 November 2020; the Government may order, by notification, the processing of those applications for regularisation.

See also our property document checklist and common legal mistakes when buying property in Hyderabad.

Related guides: legal opinion on property, encumbrance certificate, section 22-A list, property disputes and illegal possession and encroachment.

For a legal opinion on a GPA or agreement-of-sale property with Musab Hashmi & Associates, call +91 89771 24916 or send an enquiry. Do not send identity numbers or copies of documents in the first message.

General legal information, not legal advice. Checked on 27 October 2026 against the Transfer of Property Act, 1882, the Registration Act, 1908 as in force in Telangana on 2 June 2014 (Registration and Stamps Department text) and its central text, the Powers-of-Attorney Act, 1882, the Indian Contract Act, 1872, the Notaries Act, 1952, the Specific Relief Act, 1963, the Limitation Act, 1963, the Indian Stamp Act, 1899 as in force in Telangana on 2 June 2014, the Telangana Bhu Bharati (Record of Rights in Land) Act, 2025 (Gazette copy hosted by PRS Legislative Research), the Supreme Court’s judgment in Suraj Lamp and Industries Pvt. Ltd. v State of Haryana (11 October 2011), and the Telangana Registration and Stamps Department’s FAQ and buyer advisory.