On a Tuesday morning in April 2026, a software engineer buying a flat in Whitefield sat across a State Bank of India loan officer expecting one signature. Instead she was handed a fee sheet with a line she had never heard of: MODT, charged at 0.5 percent stamp duty on a sanctioned loan of Rs 80 lakh. That was Rs 40,000 she had not budgeted, on top of her sale deed stamp duty and registration. She paid it, because without it the loan would not disburse. Her surprise is the rule, not the exception.

The short answer. In Karnataka the Memorandum of Deposit of Title Deeds (MODT) attracts stamp duty of 0.5 percent of the sanctioned loan amount plus a registration fee of about 0.1 percent, roughly 0.6 percent in total, per home loan portals and the Karnataka Stamp (Amendment) Act 2023. On a Rs 80 lakh loan that is around Rs 48,000. The trade-off buyers forget: above a Rs 10 lakh loan Karnataka applies no upper cap, so the bill scales with loan size, and you must register a cancellation (reconveyance) deed after you close the loan to clear the lien.

Quick facts for Bengaluru borrowers: as of June 2026, Karnataka levies 0.5 percent stamp duty on MODT (raised from 0.1 percent by the Karnataka Stamp Amendment Act 2023, notified 3 February 2024), confirmed by legal advisory firm Mondaq and home loan portals NoBroker and CreditDharma. This article unpacks what that means at your registration appointment.

What exactly is MODT and why does my lender insist on it?

MODT is the registered document that turns your deposited property papers into a legally secured equitable mortgage. When you take a home loan in Bengaluru, you physically hand your original title deeds to the lender. The Memorandum of Deposit of Title Deeds records that deposit in writing and registers it at the Sub-Registrar Office, creating a public, enforceable charge on the property in the lender's favour.

Lenders such as State Bank of India, HDFC Bank, and ICICI Bank insist on it because an unregistered, verbal deposit is hard to enforce if a borrower defaults. A registered MODT appears in the Encumbrance Certificate, so any future buyer or second lender can see the property is mortgaged. It protects the bank, and indirectly it protects you from someone fraudulently selling a property that is already pledged. The cost of that protection lands on the borrower, which is why it belongs in your closing budget alongside the sale deed costs covered in our guide to Bangalore stamp duty and registration charges for 2026.

What are the exact MODT charges Bengaluru borrowers pay in 2026?

MODT charges Bengaluru borrowers pay are 0.5 percent stamp duty plus about 0.1 percent registration fee on the sanctioned loan amount, roughly 0.6 percent combined. The stamp duty figure is the one anchored to law: the Karnataka Stamp (Amendment) Act 2023 raised the duty on agreements relating to deposit of title deeds, pawn, or pledge from 0.1 percent to 0.5 percent, notified on 3 February 2024, as reported by Mondaq. For loans under Rs 10 lakh the duty is capped at Rs 500, but above that threshold the earlier ceiling was removed and the flat 0.5 percent applies with no upper cap.

The registration fee is cited by home loan portals at around 0.1 percent of the loan amount, with small scanning charges of roughly Rs 35 to Rs 50 per page on top. Treat the 0.1 percent as an indicative portal figure rather than a hard statutory number, because the exact registration head can vary by sub-registrar and instrument classification. The dependable planning number is the 0.5 percent stamp duty, which is the bulk of the bill.

How much does MODT cost on a typical Bengaluru home loan?

On most Bengaluru home loans the MODT bill runs into tens of thousands of rupees because there is no cap above Rs 10 lakh. The table below shows indicative totals using 0.5 percent stamp duty plus 0.1 percent registration on the sanctioned loan, before scanning charges. Your sanctioned amount, not your property value, is the base, so a higher loan-to-value pushes the figure up.

Contrast this with states like Delhi, where MODT charges are commonly capped around Rs 25,000 regardless of loan size. In Karnataka a Rs 1.5 crore loan can carry an MODT bill near Rs 90,000, because the percentage keeps running. That uncapped structure is the single most important thing for a high-value Bengaluru borrower to understand.

How is MODT registered through Kaveri and e-stamping?

MODT is registered at your jurisdictional Sub-Registrar Office after you pay the duty and fee online through Karnataka's Kaveri Online Services portal and the Khajane-II (K2) treasury system. In practice your lender's legal team or panel advocate usually drives the process. The stamp duty and registration fee are paid electronically, a challan is generated, and the parties attend the Sub-Registrar Office for the final registration, which is often completed within one to two working days of the appointment.

Timing matters. The MODT should be registered within roughly four months of the document date, with the District Registrar able to grant an extension, after which validity lapses. For most buyers the bank schedules MODT registration around disbursal, so the cost hits at the same crowded moment as your sale deed registration. If you are switching lenders later, MODT recurs at the new bank, a point worth weighing in our guide to a home loan balance transfer in Bengaluru, since the fresh equitable mortgage means a fresh MODT cost.

What happens to MODT when I close the loan?

When you fully repay the loan, the MODT does not vanish on its own; you must actively cancel it. The lender issues a No Objection Certificate and returns your original title deeds, then a reconveyance deed, also called a discharge deed, is registered to release the bank's charge and clear the entry from your Encumbrance Certificate.

This is the step most borrowers forget, and it can come back to bite at resale. If the MODT lien still shows on the Encumbrance Certificate years after closure, a future buyer's lawyer will flag it and your sale can stall. Register the discharge deed through Kaveri at the Sub-Registrar Office, keep the NOC and the registered reconveyance copy safe, and confirm the lien is gone in a fresh Encumbrance Certificate before you consider the property truly unencumbered.

Is MODT worth it, and what are the honest trade-offs?

MODT is not optional, so the honest question is how to plan for it rather than whether to pay it. The benefit is a clean, registered title trail that protects both lender and borrower. The trade-offs are real and easy to miss. First, it is an upfront cash cost, typically tens of thousands of rupees, that buyers routinely leave out of their closing budget and then scramble to fund. Second, the uncapped 0.5 percent structure punishes large loans, so a Rs 1 crore plus borrower pays meaningfully more than a Delhi counterpart. Third, the cost is not one-and-done across your borrowing life: a balance transfer triggers a new MODT, and closure triggers a cancellation deed with its own fee and paperwork. Budget for the entry cost, and diarise the exit step.

1. Add MODT to your closing budget at the start, using 0.5 percent of the sanctioned loan as your stamp duty estimate plus about 0.1 percent registration.
2. Confirm your exact sanctioned loan amount, not property value, because MODT is charged on the loan you actually draw.
3. Ask your lender in writing whether MODT charges are bundled into processing fees or billed separately so there is no surprise at disbursal.
4. Check that MODT is registered within the roughly four-month window from the document date to avoid validity and penalty issues.
5. Keep the registered MODT, the payment challan, and your Encumbrance Certificate together in one closing file.
6. On full repayment, demand the No Objection Certificate and your original title deeds promptly, then follow up until you have them.
7. Register the reconveyance or discharge deed and verify in a fresh Encumbrance Certificate that the lender's lien is removed before any future sale.

Is MODT mandatory for every home loan in Bengaluru?

In practice yes for most home loans, because lenders create an equitable mortgage by deposit of title deeds and register it as MODT to make the charge enforceable and visible on the Encumbrance Certificate. A few lenders or loan types may use alternative security structures, but for a standard Bengaluru home loan you should assume MODT and its 0.5 percent stamp duty apply.

Is there a maximum cap on MODT charges in Karnataka?

For loans above Rs 10 lakh, no. The Karnataka Stamp Amendment Act 2023 removed the earlier ceiling, so the 0.5 percent stamp duty applies to the full sanctioned amount. Only loans under Rs 10 lakh enjoy a cap, where the duty is limited to Rs 500. Larger Bengaluru loans therefore carry proportionally larger MODT bills.

Can I pay MODT charges online in Bengaluru?

The duty and registration fee are paid electronically through the Kaveri Online Services portal and the Khajane-II treasury system, which generates a challan. However, the final MODT registration is completed in person at the jurisdictional Sub-Registrar Office, usually within one to two working days of the appointment, so it is not a fully remote process.

Do I get MODT charges refunded when I close the loan?

No. MODT stamp duty and registration fees are not refundable on loan closure. At closure you instead register a separate reconveyance or discharge deed to remove the lender's lien, which carries its own nominal fee. Plan for MODT as a sunk entry cost and the cancellation deed as a small exit cost.

Sources: Mondaq on the Karnataka Stamp (Amendment) Act 2023, NoBroker MODT charges in Karnataka, CreditDharma MODT charges guide, and the Karnataka Department of Stamps and Registration.

Last updated 2026-06-29. PropNewz Team.