Gifting Property to Family: Registration, Acceptance, Revocation

To gift a house, flat or land to a family member in India, the owner (the donor) must sign a gift deed that is attested by at least two witnesses and registered with the sub-registrar, and the relative receiving it (the donee) must accept the gift while the donor is alive. Stamp duty is charged under State law, and many States offer lower rates for close relatives, but there is no single national rate. Once those steps are complete, the donor generally cannot take the property back, except in narrow situations the law allows.

This guide covers the rules that decide whether a family gift holds up: what the Transfer of Property Act requires, how acceptance works, whether a parent can keep living in the house, and when a gift can be revoked, including the special protection for senior citizens. If you are still deciding between a gift and a sale, read our comparison of gift deeds and sale deeds first.

What the law requires for a valid gift

Section 122 of the Transfer of Property Act, 1882 defines a gift as the transfer of certain existing movable or immovable property made voluntarily and without consideration by the donor to the donee, and accepted by or on behalf of the donee. Each part of that definition matters.

• Existing property: you can gift only what you own now. Under section 124, a gift that includes future property is void as to the future property.
• Voluntary: the donor must act freely. A gift obtained by pressure, fraud or undue influence can be challenged.
• Without consideration: if the donee pays money or takes on a price in return, the transaction is not a gift. Calling a sale a gift to save stamp duty invites trouble with the registration office and later with other heirs.
• Accepted: the donee, or someone on the donee's behalf, must accept. Section 122 says acceptance must be made during the donor's lifetime and while the donor is still capable of giving. If the donee dies before accepting, the gift is void.

Where one deed gifts to several people and one of them does not accept, section 125 makes the gift void only as to that person's share.

Registration and stamp duty

Section 123 of the Transfer of Property Act sets the form:

For the purpose of making a gift of immovable property, the transfer must be effected by a registered instrument signed by or on behalf of the donor, and attested by at least two witnesses.

Section 123, Transfer of Property Act, 1882

Section 17(1)(a) of the Registration Act, 1908 separately lists instruments of gift of immovable property as documents that must be registered. An unregistered gift deed of a flat or plot does not transfer ownership, however clearly it is written. Movable property such as cash, shares or jewellery is different: section 123 allows a gift of movables either by registered instrument or by delivery. For a cash or jewellery gift, a signed gift declaration letter is a practical record of the delivery and the donor's intention.

Stamp duty and registration fees are fixed by each State. Several States charge a reduced or flat duty when the donee is a close relative, but the list of relatives who qualify, the rate and any cap on the concession all differ from State to State, and they change through State budgets and notifications. Check the current schedule on your State's registration or inspector general of registration website, or with the sub-registrar, before you fix the date. Some States also levy a surcharge or cess on top of stamp duty.

Section 129 of the Transfer of Property Act says the chapter on gifts does not affect any rule of Muslim law. A Muslim gift (hiba) follows its own rules on declaration, acceptance and delivery of possession, and specialist advice is worth taking if that applies to your family.

Acceptance: the step families forget

A deed that the donor signs and registers, but that the donee never accepts, is incomplete. The simplest protection is for the donee to sign the deed as an accepting party, with a clause recording that the donee has accepted the gift. If the donee is a minor, a parent or guardian can accept on the minor's behalf, since section 122 allows acceptance "by or on behalf of" the donee.

Be careful with gifts that carry obligations, such as a property with a loan on it. Section 127 treats these as onerous gifts. A donee who is not competent to contract, such as a minor, is not bound by an acceptance of property burdened by an obligation, though if the donee later becomes competent and keeps the property knowing of the obligation, the donee becomes bound.

Can the parent keep living in the house?

Yes. Many parents want to transfer the house to a child now but continue to live in it, or to keep the rent, for the rest of their lives. In Renikuntla Rajamma v K. Sarwanamma (2014), a three-judge bench of the Supreme Court upheld a registered gift deed in which the donor reserved to herself the right to possess the property and receive rents during her lifetime. The Court explained that section 123 makes a registered instrument mandatory but does not make delivery of possession an extra condition for a valid gift of immovable property.

There is indeed no provision in law that ownership in property cannot be gifted without transfer of possession of such property.

Renikuntla Rajamma (D) by LR v K. Sarwanamma, Supreme Court (17 July 2014)

If you want this arrangement, say it clearly in the deed: that ownership passes to the donee now, and that the donor keeps a life interest in possession or income. Vague wording about the property passing "after my death" can make the document look like a will, which is governed by different rules.

When a gift can be revoked

Section 126 of the Transfer of Property Act is strict. A gift can be suspended or revoked only in these situations:

• The donor and donee agreed, in the deed, that the gift would be suspended or revoked on a specified event that does not depend on the donor's own will.
• The gift could be rescinded on the same grounds as a contract, such as fraud, coercion, undue influence or misrepresentation, but not for want or failure of consideration.

Section 126 then says: "Save as aforesaid, a gift cannot be revoked." It also states that a gift which the parties agree can be revoked wholly or partly at the mere will of the donor is void to that extent. A donor who later falls out with the donee and registers a "cancellation deed" on his own usually achieves nothing on the strength of that deed alone. A challenge on grounds such as fraud or undue influence has to be proved, usually in a civil suit, and section 126 also protects people who later buy the property for value without notice of the problem.

Gifts by senior citizens: section 23 of the Maintenance Act

The Maintenance and Welfare of Parents and Senior Citizens Act, 2007 gives older donors a remedy that ordinary gift law does not. Section 23(1) says that where a senior citizen has transferred property by gift or otherwise subject to the condition that the transferee shall provide basic amenities and basic physical needs, and the transferee refuses or fails to do so, the transfer is deemed to have been made by fraud, coercion or undue influence and, at the transferor's option, can be declared void by the Maintenance Tribunal.

In Sudesh Chhikara v Ramti Devi (2022), the Supreme Court held that two things must be shown: that the transfer was made subject to such a condition, and that the transferee refused or failed to provide the amenities. In Urmila Dixit v Sunil Sharan Dixit (2 January 2025), the Court said these conditions must be read to further the beneficial purpose of the Act rather than strictly. It restored the Tribunal's order cancelling a gift deed where both the deed and a promissory note signed the same day recorded the son's promise to look after his parents, and held that Tribunals can order possession to be restored. A review petition and a curative petition against that judgment were later dismissed.

The practical lesson is to write the maintenance condition into the gift deed itself, in plain words, if the parent expects care in return. A senior citizen who wants to use this remedy, or to claim maintenance, applies to the Tribunal, and a senior citizen maintenance application sets out the facts in the form Tribunals expect. The process is explained in our guide to the senior citizens maintenance tribunal.

Step by step: making the gift

1. Confirm the donor's title: collect the registered deed, the latest tax receipt and an encumbrance certificate, and clear any mortgage or get the lender's consent.
2. Check the stamp duty and registration fee in your State for gifts to the relationship in question.
3. Draft the gift deed with the full property description, the relationship, a statement that no consideration is paid, the donee's acceptance and any life interest or maintenance condition.
4. Buy stamp paper or pay e-stamp duty in the amount required by the State.
5. Book an appointment with the sub-registrar where the property is located. Donor, donee and two witnesses attend with identity proof and photographs.
6. Collect the registered deed and then apply to change the municipal and revenue records with a khata transfer application or the land records equivalent, as our guide to property mutation and khata transfer explains.

Common situations and how to handle them

• Gift of a share in jointly owned property: a co-owner can gift his or her own share. The deed should describe the share precisely and the other co-owners need not sign, though their cooperation helps with later records.
• Gift by an NRI parent: the deed can be signed abroad and registered in India through a properly executed and stamped power of attorney or by presence on a visit. Rules on attestation abroad and adjudication of stamp duty vary by State.
• Gift to a daughter-in-law or son-in-law: whether a State's concessional stamp duty covers these relatives depends entirely on that State's list.
• Gift to avoid creditors: a transfer made with intent to defeat or delay creditors can be challenged by them, so a gift is not a shield against existing debts.

If other heirs are likely to contest the gift, or the donor is elderly or unwell, consider getting a doctor's note on capacity and keeping a video of the execution. For a contested family situation, you can ask a question in the property law section of Ask a Lawyer or consult a real estate lawyer.