Amendment to an existing sale deed

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Most of us want to execute a sale deed or any legal document without any errors. Even if a document is prepared carefully by an experienced person, mistakes do occur. This may cause unnecessary confusion or trouble for the parties involved in the transaction. Let’s see how such issues can be corrected.

What is Rectification Deed?
A rectification deed is a supplementary document executed between the buyer and seller to rectify the mistakes made in the original/principal deed with respect to factual and typographical errors. This is also known as the confirmation deed or correction deed.

Why is Rectification Deed required?
It is common knowledge that sale deed is an important legal document that transfers the ownership of the property from the buyer to the seller. Though prepared by an efficient lawyer with utmost care, errors may occur in a sale deed at times. Some of the common errors made in a sale deed are:

Incorrect description of the property such as its area and dimensions
Incorrect description of the parties such as their names and addresses
Incorrect location, address and survey number of the property
Incorrect description of revenue records
Incorrect information about prior title deeds
Incorrect details about ownership or power of attorney
Typographical errors
Any errors in sale deed, however minute or unintentional it may be, can lead to litigation and may result in the cancellation of the transaction. A sale deed is executed on a stamp paper of considerable value and it is not possible to execute different sale deeds when errors are detected. In such cases, a rectification deed can be executed to make the necessary corrections without affecting the transaction.

Now you may wonder whether a rectification deed is required if the mistakes are identified before registering the sale deed. In such instances, errors such as incorrect names and addresses of the buyer or seller, description of the property, etc. can be corrected in the sale deed itself, if they are identified prior to registration. The corrections can be authenticated by the involved parties (buyer and seller). A rectification deed is not required in such circumstances.

If a factual error pertaining to property measurement, terms of the transaction, etc, is identified, the particular page should be changed irrespective of the stamp cost on that page.

When to execute a Rectification Deed?
A rectification deed can be executed only when there is a factual error made in the original deed unintentionally and the original deed does not satisfy the requirements of both the parties involved. A rectification deed should be executed only if all the parties involved in the original deed agree with the addition, deletion or modification of any terms or information referred in the original deed.

Format of Rectification Deed
A rectification deed should be drafted in approved format and should include the following details:

Name and address of the rectifier/vendor and purchaser
Details of the principal deed
Details of the rectification to be made
Registration of a Rectification Deed
After both parties concur with the corrections to be made, the same should be transferred to a duly executed document. The concerned parties should pay the required stamp duty and registration charges for the registration of the deed according to the laws of the state. The rectification deed should be registered with the sub-registrar’s office where the principal deed was registered. The stamp duty and registration charges for general issues such as typographical errors are Rs.100 each. However, the charges as applicable for conveyance deed should be paid if the rectification deed deals with changes in the location, names of the buyers/sellers, survey number, or area and dimensions of the property. Sometimes the registration authority may implement additional stamp duty and charges based on the situation.

Advocate Siddhant Sharma LawRato