In Gujarat, housing societies operate under cooperative laws, but the absence of specific provisions on transfer fees led to arbitrary charges by societies. To address complaints of excessive fees, the state government has amended the cooperative society law to regulate transfer fees and ensure fair practices.

On Monday, the state government introduced amendments to the Gujarat Co-operative Societies Act, 1961 and established certain regulations. According to these new rules, during the purchase or sale of a house in a housing or housing service society, the transfer fee cannot exceed 0.5% of the total transaction amount or a maximum of ₹1 lakh, whichever is lower.

This amount is the upper limit, and societies can reduce the transfer fee at their discretion. However, under no circumstances can they charge more than this prescribed limit.  

After receiving numerous complaints, the government decided to implement necessary regulations related to transfer fees to prevent overcharging in housing and housing service societies.  

Regarding this matter, Cooperative Minister Jagdish Vishwakarma stated that individuals will also receive significant relief from actions taken by society presidents, chairmans, and committee members for collecting transfer fees during the purchase or sale of properties.

According to these new regulations, if a legally rightful heir inherits a property without any monetary exchange, then no transfer fee can be charged. Additionally, societies will not be allowed to collect any amount under the guise of development charges, donations, or any other name during the transfer process.  

The move aims to bring bring more regulation to the functioning of societies and provide significant relief to the millions of members associated with them in the future.

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