Cancelled your Maharashtra flat agreement? The deadlines for getting the stamp duty back

Rules and rates as of 19 October 2026.

In Maharashtra the full stamp duty on a new flat is usually paid when the agreement for sale is registered, often years before possession. So when that agreement is cancelled, the duty does not come back on its own. You have to ask the state for it, and the law gives you two clocks to beat. Miss either and the Collector of Stamps can turn you down, even where the cancellation was not your fault.

This explainer covers the state's stamp duty only. What the builder may keep from your payments is a separate question, covered in our piece on forfeiture limits. Nothing here is legal advice; a property lawyer should look at your own documents and dates.

Which sections apply

The Maharashtra Stamp Act, 1958 calls a refund an "allowance". Section 47 lets the Collector, on an application made within the period set by section 48, make an allowance for stamps used on an instrument that, among other listed cases, "totally fails of the intended purpose". The allowance is subject to the state government's rules, and the instrument has to be given up for cancellation.

Section 48 sets the deadlines. For a flat buyer, the one that matters is the proviso to section 48(1), substituted by Maharashtra Act XX of 2015. In that text it applies where:

• stamp duty was paid under Article 25 of Schedule I on an agreement to sale of immovable property;
• the agreement was registered under the Registration Act, 1908;
• it was later cancelled by a registered cancellation deed, "for whatsoever reasons";
• the cancellation came before you took possession; and
• the cancellation happened within five years from the date the agreement was executed.

If all of that holds, the 2015 text says the application "may be made within a period of six months from the date of registration of cancellation deed".

The two clocks

Clock one: five years from the agreement. This runs from the date the agreement was executed, not from the date you decided to walk away. A cancellation deed signed in year six falls outside the proviso on its plain words.

Clock two: the application window after the cancellation deed is registered. This is where the sources do not agree, and you should know about it.

Where the sources conflict: six months or one year?

The 2015 amending text, the Supreme Court's 2025 judgment in Harshit Harish Jain v. State of Maharashtra, and Bombay High Court judgments of 2024 all reproduce the window as six months. The Supreme Court also recorded that before 24 April 2015 the window was two years from the cancellation deed.

But the Statement of Objects and Reasons to the Maharashtra Stamp (Third Amendment) Bill, 2026 (L.A. Bill No. XLV of 2026), signed by Revenue Minister Chandrashekhar Bawankule on 29 June 2026, describes the same proviso as allowing an application "within a period of one year from the date of registration of cancellation deed".

We could not find the amending Act that would have changed six months to one year, and the state's official portals did not load for us. Until that is settled, the cautious reading is to file within six months of registering the cancellation deed. Ask your lawyer to check the current text before relying on the longer period.

What the 2026 Bill would change

The Bill amends only section 48. It adds an Explanation saying the proviso does not apply to other instruments, including development agreements, that pay the same duty as an agreement to sale. Its stated reason is that the proviso was meant to give relief "to individual buyers", and that refund claims on development agreements, certificates of sale and lease agreements were being made under it. For a home buyer cancelling an ordinary flat agreement, nothing in the Bill takes the relief away. The Bill text has no commencement date, and we could not confirm whether it has been passed.

What the courts have done with late claims

Buyers whose builders defaulted often cannot cancel within five years, because the dispute is still before MahaRERA or a court. The courts have been willing to help in such cases, but each was decided on its facts.

• Satish Buba Shetty v. Inspector General of Registration (Bombay High Court, Writ Petition 9657 of 2022, 11 January 2024). The agreement was registered in November 2014, the builder failed to deliver, and the cancellation deed came only in March 2021 after MahaRERA proceedings and a settlement. The refund of ₹4,76,000 was rejected as outside five years. The court set that aside, holding the delay was not the buyer's default and that time spent "pursuing legitimate remedies" could not be held against him.
• Nanji Dana Patel v. State of Maharashtra (Bombay High Court, Writ Petition 1897 of 2019, 27 August 2024). On a cancelled development agreement, a division bench held that section 5 of the Limitation Act, 1963 applies, condoned the delay and sent the claim back for a decision on merits.
• Harshit Harish Jain v. State of Maharashtra (Supreme Court, 2025 INSC 104, 24 January 2025). The right to a refund arose when the cancellation deed was executed, before the 2015 cut from two years to six months, so the old period applied. The court ordered ₹27,34,500 refunded with 6% simple interest, and said the State "should not ordinarily rely on technicalities".

These are reasons a late claim may succeed after a fight, not a promise that it will. Filing on time avoids the fight.

Worked example: a cancellation close to the five-year line

Illustrative figures. You registered an agreement on 15 March 2022 and the challan shows ₹6,00,000 of stamp duty. The project stalls and you and the builder agree to cancel. You have not taken possession.

• Five-year limit for the cancellation: 15 March 2022 + 5 years = 15 March 2027.
• Cancellation deed registered on 20 November 2026: 115 days before that limit, so inside clock one.
• Application due, on the 2015 text: 20 November 2026 + 6 months = 20 May 2027.
• On the 2026 Bill's description: 20 November 2027. Treat this date as unconfirmed.

If the claim is refused and later allowed by a court with interest at 6% simple, as the Supreme Court ordered in 2025, interest on 18 months of delay would be ₹6,00,000 × 6% × 1.5 = ₹54,000. Interest is at the court's discretion, not a right under section 47.

Situation (₹6,00,000 duty paid)	Within the proviso?	Likely outcome
Cancelled in year 4, no possession, applied in month 3	Yes	Claim of ₹6,00,000 on time, subject to the rules
Cancelled in year 4, applied in month 9	Late on the 2015 text; on time if the one-year period is in force	Uncertain; ₹6,00,000 at risk
Cancelled in year 6 after a RERA case	No, on plain words	Collector may refuse; courts have allowed such claims where delay was not the buyer's fault
Possession already taken, then cancelled	No	Proviso does not apply
Agreement only notarised, never registered	No	Proviso does not apply

Paperwork that makes a claim possible

• The original registered agreement, which has to be surrendered for cancellation, and the stamp duty challan.
• A cancellation deed that is registered, not just signed. The window runs from its registration date.
• Proof that possession was not handed over.
• If the delay came from a MahaRERA or court case, certified copies of those orders, so the reasons are on record from the start.

Registration fees, the builder's charges and any loan processing fees are separate from the stamp duty and are not covered by the section 48 proviso as reproduced in these sources.