Why your 2-year lease is legally invisible

Walk into a Rent Court with a two-year lease that was never registered and you'll hear a word you don't want: inadmissible.

The rule

Section 107 of the Transfer of Property Act 1882 — read with Section 17(1)(d) of the Registration Act 1908 — requires any lease of immovable property for a term exceeding one year to be executed by a registered instrument. Section 49 of the TPA makes the consequence brutal: a document required to be registered but not registered "shall have no effect for the purpose of proving any title" and is not admissible as evidence.

In plain language: your unregistered 2-year lease might as well not exist when a dispute arrives — unpaid rent, eviction, possession, all of it gets much harder to prove.

The trap owners fall into

• Handshake renewals after year one ("we've been fine for 5 years").
• Managers signing long leases without the owner knowing the registration requirement.
• Assuming the flat's original sale deed covers the tenancy.

The fix

1. Check every active lease over 12 months — does it have a registered instrument?
2. If not, execute a registered deed at the sub-registry office (stamp duty + registration fees apply).
3. Store the deed reference (office, number, date) — in KRTaker, upload it and the lease activates.

Bottom line

Registration isn't bureaucracy — it's your evidence. On KRTaker, the gate is built in, so "I didn't know" stops being a defense you need.

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