Let’s understand today how to make Power of Attorney for NRI to sell property in India
Due to the covid pandemic in India, people worked from home, and the rental market dried up, so my friend Ramesh decided to sell his apartment in Noida, Delhi. Since it was hard to travel to India, Ramesh and his wife decided to get power of attorney from Australia and send it to India. So what exactly is Power of Attorney for NRI to sell property in India
What is a Power of Attorney?
Back in my childhood days, my first introduction to the Power of Attorney (and its evils!) was from the movie Baazigar. It was amazing to see how such a simple document destroyed two families. So lets learn what the hack is “Power of Attorney for NRI to sell property in India”
Anyway, what exactly is the Power of Attorney?
According to Wikipedia, a power of attorney (POA) or letter of attorney is a written authorization to represent or act on another’s behalf in private affairs, business, or some other legal matter. The person authorizing the other is called the principal or the donor, whereas the person authorized to act is called the agent or the donee.
There are two main types of Power of Attorney – General and Special (also called Limited) Power of Attorney. The General Power of Attorney is like signing a blank cheque, i.e., giving complete control of all your matters to the agent. On the other hand, a Special Power of Attorney limits the authority to only specific events or issues defined by the document.
After consulting a legal representative, Ramesh decides to get a special power of attorney. Lets follow the journey of Ramesh and learn how to make Power of Attorney for NRI to sell property in India
Steps to create Power Of Attorney in Australia
Here are the broad steps to creating Power of Attorney.
- Prepare a draft of the Power of Attorney
- Notarise the Power of Attorney
- Legalization or Apostille from DFAT (applicable only if you are an Australian citizen)
- Send Power of Attorney to VFS for attestation
- Send Power of Attorney to India for further formalities
Let’s look at each step in detail to make Power of Attorney for NRI to sell property in India.
- Prepare a draft of the Power of Attorney (Power Of Attorney for NRI to sell property in India)
Cost: INR 6,000
Time: 2 weeks
Since it is a legal document, it is advisable to contact a lawyer in India to prepare a draft version of it. However, it is better to involve a lawyer for two reasons.
Firstly, depending on your situation, you may want to include or omit certain clauses. Also, the content of the Power of Attorney can vary slightly from state to state. So it is a good idea to contact a local lawyer to prepare one based on local requirements.
Secondly, you will need a lawyer later to put the Power of Attorney on a stamp paper, so why not involve them from the start? Plus, when you involve a lawyer, you will have a piece of mind.
In Ramesh’s case, they had to make a joint Power of Attorney as he and his wife jointly own the flat. Hence, Ramesh contacted a lawyer who sent me an email draft version of SPoA.
- Notarize the Power of Attorney (Power Of Attorney for NRI to sell property in India)
Cost: $180
Time: 2 weeks
Once the draft was printed and we affixed our photos, the next thing was to submit the Power of Attorney to the VFS for attestation by the Indian Consulate.
As per the Document Attestation checklist on VFS, the document, i.e. Power of Attorney, can be attested by either Justice of the Peace or Notary for everyone except NSW residents. For some unknown reason, NSW residents must only notarize the document.
In Ramesh’s case, he and his wife are Australian citizens.
VFS states that if you are a foreign national i.e., not an Indian citizen, the Power of Attorney must be apostilled by the DFAT. DFAT, in turn, can only apostille the document if it is notarized.
So Ramesh booked an appointment with the notary. The attorney then put the notary seal on the last page, and it was finally ready for the next step.
- Apostillation by DFAT
Time: 6 days
Cost: $85 + postage
Once notarized, the attorney gave us the document legalization request form (which can also be downloaded from the SmartTraveller website). The form is pretty straightforward. You need to enter your details (only one of the applicants in case of jointly owned documents), type of document i.e. Power of Attorney, how many copies you want to be apostilled and your debit or credit card details. Even though the form asks for credit card details, if you have MasterCard or Visa debit card, you can safely use that too.
You also need to specify how you want the apostilled document back. The easiest option is to provide a self-addressed and AusPost stamped envelope when sending the document for apostille. Apart from this form, you only need to send the document, i.e. notarized Power of Attorney.
Ramesh got the apostilled Power of Attorney back in just six days.
- Sending the Power Of Attorney (Power Of Attorney for NRI to sell property in India) to the VFS
Time: 7 days
Cost: $58.87 + one-way postage
Now that Ramesh has the apostilled Power of Attorney, the next step is to send it to the VFS for attestation. According to the document attestation checklist by VFS, the following documents need to be submitted:
- Duly filled out Miscellaneous Services form since the Power of Attorney was co-signed, Ramesh filled out two miscellaneous services forms, one for each applicant. Also, as per the instructions on the form, Ramesh affixed a passport-size photo on each application and signed with half the signature on the form and the rest on the photo.
- Original Indian passport(s)VFS needed an original Indian passport, and a certified copy of the passport won’t work. So Ramesh had to provide an original Indian passport for both.
- Copy of valid passports attested by JP (Notarised copies for NSW residents, sorry folks, VFS doesn’t trust your JPs). Given that they asked for our Indian passports, it only made sense to give them a copy of our Indian passports. So Ramesh provided JP with certified copies of Indian passports.
- Notarised or Apostilled Power of Attorney document. You must mention your Indian passport number under your signature on the PoA. The signature, full name, and passport number should match your Indian passport details.
- One passport-size photograph though Ramesh had affixed the photograph on the Miscellaneous Services form, he still provided an additional photograph for each, though extra photo was not required. ower of Attorney for NRI to sell property in India
- Signed Document Attestation checklist both Ramesh and his wife signed the checklist. Ramesh filled in the debit/credit card details and signed them. Also, it provided the Indian passport numbers on the second page of the checklist.
Next, Ramesh went to the local post office and sent the document set to the VFS via Express Post and got it back within a week.
- Sending the Power Of Attorney (Power Of Attorney for NRI to sell property in India) to India
Cost: 86$
Time: 5 days
Now that all the formalities were done, Ramesh sent a scanned copy of the Power of Attorney to his India lawyer for verification and asked for the next step. Once he was happy with the copy, he asked Ramesh to send the Power of Attorney and self-attested copies of the Indian passports to his office. Once received, he would affix the stamp paper to it and get the agent’s signatures, i.e. the person Ramesh gave authority to through the PoA.
Ramesh sends the SPoa via DHL Express.
On the fifth day, Ramesh got the email confirmation that the Power of Attorney (Power Of Attorney for NRI to sell property in India) was delivered to his lawyer’s office in India. It can take up to three months from start to finish to get the SPoa made. Hope you enjoyed the Ramesh journey and learned how to make
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