Guidance for NRIs with real estate holdings in India

NRIs often maintain and support a full-spectrum portfolio across various asset classes like shares, mutual funds, FDs and real estate. Herein, when it comes to real estate, we all know that it’s not merely a high ticket purchase, but also an asset that requires regular care & maintenance. Hence, most NRIsoften rely on their resident friends & families for advice and execution around major property related tasks like purchase, sale, maintenance, tenant search & so on. However, professional advice on realty could prove highly beneficial to NRIs in reaping maximum benefits. Mr. Vijay Dixit, Chairman and Managing Director, SeniorBuilders Ltd. puts light on some important information to help NRIs maintain their property and leverage enhanced profit.

Market Research & Advisory
Comprehensive market research and discussions at the grass root level are a must before landing at the final decision of selling the property. But being far away from the country, this may not be possible for an NRI. Hence, apart from taking feedback from friends, internet reviews, news reports etc.; professional real estate advisory could help in making correct assessment of potential investments.

Tenant Management
The decision of renting the property brings forth various aspects to consider like monitoring the tenants as well as property while also ensuring the safety and maintenance. Hence, you can outsource tenant management to a professional firm to ensure periodic visit to the rented property, regular communication with tenants, timely rent collections, resolving the issues pertaining to safety or maintenance, and effect compliance with local taxation.

Taxation
An NRI is liable to pay capital gain tax on sale of a property. The taxation norms vary as per the possession duration of the unit before sale. So, it’s important to ensure full compliance with relevant tax laws. You can also opt for professional assistance in filing of tax returns, compliance of FATCA (as applicable), book-keeping, audit representations (IRS and Income Tax Department), audit per IFRS standards, and GAAP audit, formulation of contracts etc.

We hope that the above information shared by Mr. Vijay Dixit, CMD, Senior Builders Ltd. would prove helpful to the NRIs in making sure that their property is safe and maintained even while they are away from their home country.