Leave and License Agreement Online (Maharashtra IGR)

You can register a leave and license agreement online in Maharashtra through the IGR e-registration portal: draft the agreement, pay stamp duty (0.25% of a rent-and-deposit formula) and the registration fee (about Rs 1,000 in municipal areas) online, then complete Aadhaar-based biometric verification yourself, at a Sub-Registrar office, or at your doorstep.

Maharashtra runs the most developed leave and license agreement online system in India. The Department of Registration and Stamps, headed by the Inspector General of Registration (IGR), lets landlords and tenants prepare, sign and register the document without standing in a queue. This guide covers the full e-registration flow, the three ways to complete the biometric step, the fee formula with a worked example, the documents you need and a realistic timeline, plus the mistakes that most often delay approval.

Why leave and license agreement online registration is mandatory in Maharashtra

In most states, an 11-month rental can be left unregistered. Maharashtra is different. Section 55 of the Maharashtra Rent Control Act, 1999 requires every leave and license agreement to be in writing and registered, whatever its duration, and places the responsibility on the landlord. A landlord who does not comply can face a fine and, in principle, imprisonment for up to three months, and if the agreement is unregistered, the tenant's version of the terms is presumed correct in a dispute.

Registration itself happens under the Registration Act, 1908, and the stamp duty is charged under Article 36A of the Maharashtra Stamp Act. The e-registration system is how the state makes this obligation practical for the huge number of rentals in Mumbai, Pune, Thane and Navi Mumbai. If you are still deciding between a licence and a lease, our comparison of leave and license vs rent agreement explains the legal difference.

Three ways to complete e-registration

All three routes use the same IGR system and produce the same registered document. What changes is who captures the biometrics and how much help you get.

The doorstep option is what most people in Mumbai choose. The department has authorised doorstep service for leave and license documents on all days, including Sundays and holidays, which makes it easy to schedule around work. Whichever route you pick, you can start with our leave and license agreement generator to settle the terms before anyone logs in.

Step-by-step: the IGR e-registration flow

1. Create a login. Open the e-registration section of the IGR Maharashtra portal and register as a citizen user (or let your service provider do this).
2. Enter property details. District, taluka, village or locality, building name, flat number, area and the property's municipal or survey details as they appear in ownership papers.
3. Enter the parties. Licensor (landlord) and licensee (tenant) names, addresses, PAN and Aadhaar details, plus the two witnesses.
4. Enter the commercial terms. Licence period in months, start date, monthly rent (and any increase schedule), refundable deposit and any non-refundable amount.
5. Pay stamp duty and registration fee. The portal calculates both and you pay through GRAS, the state's Government Receipt Accounting System, using net banking or a card.
6. Review the draft. The system generates the agreement in the standard IGR format. You can view it and modify it until execution.
7. Execute with biometrics. Each licensor, licensee and witness is authenticated against Aadhaar, with a thumbprint and a live photograph.
8. Submit to the Sub-Registrar. The completed document goes to the jurisdictional Sub-Registrar for scrutiny.
9. Download the registered copy. Once approved, the registered agreement with its document number can be downloaded as a PDF and is usually emailed to the parties.

The software was developed by the National Informatics Centre in Pune. Portal screens change from time to time, so the button names you see may differ slightly.

Stamp duty and registration fees, with a worked example

For a residential leave and license agreement, stamp duty is 0.25% of a base that combines the total licence fee for the whole period with an amount for the deposit. For a refundable deposit, the IGR calculator adds a notional interest component (commonly worked out at 10% a year for the licence period) rather than the full deposit; any non-refundable amount is added in full. Some online calculators apply 0.25% to the whole deposit, which overstates the duty. Trust the figure the IGR portal generates at payment time.

Worked example: an 11-month flat in Pune

If the same calculation were done on the full deposit, the stamp duty would come to about Rs 1,200, which shows why the method matters. Rates and rounding are set by the state and can change, so treat these figures as illustrative.

Documents and who must be present

The Aadhaar authentication step depends on the fingerprint matching the UIDAI record. Elderly people and manual workers sometimes fail fingerprint matching; iris or OTP-based options, where available, or updating biometrics at an Aadhaar centre beforehand, avoid a wasted appointment.

Timeline: how long leave and license agreement online registration takes

End to end, most agreements are registered within a few working days. Delays usually come from a party being unavailable or a biometric mismatch, not from the portal.

Choosing a doorstep service provider safely

Doorstep registration is convenient, but you are handing your Aadhaar, PAN and property details to a private business, so a few checks are worth the time. Search results are full of agents, and not all of them are authorised by the department.

• Confirm authorisation. Ask for the provider's IGR registration details and check that the person visiting can show identification linked to that provider.
• Separate government charges from service fees. Stamp duty and registration fee should be paid through GRAS, and you should receive the challan. The service fee should be quoted separately and in writing.
• Read the draft before biometrics. Once the thumbprints are captured and the document is submitted, changes are no longer simple. Check names, flat number, rent, deposit, period and the start date on the generated draft.
• Keep the registered PDF yourself. Do not rely on the agent to store it. The registered copy, with its document number, is your evidence if a dispute ever reaches court.
• Be wary of "no Aadhaar needed" offers. Aadhaar-based authentication is central to the e-registration system, and a service that claims to skip it is not using the official route.

If a mistake is found after registration, it usually has to be corrected with a separate rectification document, which means another round of fees and signatures. Ten minutes of checking the draft is far cheaper.

After registration: police intimation and renewals

Registration is separate from tenant verification. In Mumbai, landlords must give tenant information to the Mumbai Police, which can be done online through the police citizen portal; other cities have their own police procedures. Keep the registered PDF, the GRAS receipts and ID copies together, because banks, passport offices and employers may ask for them. A renewal or extension is a fresh agreement with fresh stamp duty and registration, not an amendment of the old one. For the national picture on the police step, see our tenant police verification guide.

Common mistakes that delay approval

• Property details that do not match the ownership record exactly.
• A witness whose Aadhaar is not linked to a working fingerprint.
• Entering the start date after the execution date without meaning to.
• Paying stamp duty on a manual calculation instead of the portal's figure.
• Assuming an 11-month term is exempt from registration in Maharashtra; it is not.

For the official description of the service, see the IGR Maharashtra e-registration page. Fees and procedures are set by the state and may change, so confirm them on the portal before paying.

This article is general information, not financial, tax or legal advice. Figures are approximate and change over time — always verify with a qualified professional or the official source before making a decision.

Written and reviewed by the Rent Agreement Generator editorial team. Facts checked against primary sources; see the reference above.

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