Many Bengaluru projects do not start with a builder who owns the land. They start with a landowner who does not want to build, and a developer who does not own land. The joint development agreement, or JDA, is the contract that joins the two: the landowner puts in the land, the developer puts in the construction, and the finished building is split between them in an agreed ratio.
You are not a party to that contract. But it decides things that matter to you directly: whose name goes on your agreement, who has the right to sell you your flat, and whose consent your sale deed needs. Our documents guide covers the JDA as one entry in the land layer of a title check. This guide goes into the agreement itself: the shares, the power of attorney, what Karnataka charges to stamp both, what the law makes the landowner responsible for, and what can go wrong.
What a joint development is
Karnataka’s state auditor has described the structure in one sentence: “Joint Development is an arrangement between a Developer and a Land Owner, where the Developer forms a layout or builds apartments on the land belonging to the Owner. As per the arrangement, the developed layout or the apartments are shared between the Owner and the Developer in agreed ratios and the Developer is entitled to sell his share in the developed property.”
The ratio is usually struck one of two ways. An area-sharing JDA gives the landowner a fixed share of the finished flats – a certain number of units, or a percentage of the saleable area, decided in advance. A revenue-sharing JDA instead gives the landowner a percentage of what the project earns as flats are sold, paid out as sales happen rather than as flats handed over. Both are common; the ratio and the model are set out in the JDA itself, and neither is visible from the brochure.
Whose share is your flat in
Holds title before the JDA, and keeps an agreed share of the finished building afterwards. Signs the JDA and, almost always, a power of attorney so the developer can build, market and sell.
Gets the right to build on the land and to sell its own share of flats on its own account once the JDA and the approvals are in place. Usually also markets and sells the landowner’s share, acting under the power of attorney.
A JDA project therefore has two pools of flats on sale, even when the brochure shows one project with one sales office. Which pool your flat is in decides who you are really contracting with. A schedule attached to the JDA sets out, block by block and often flat by flat, which unit falls in which share.
Annexed to the joint development agreement dated 14-03-2022, document no. 0000/21-22 1, between [Owner name] (“Owner”) and [Developer] Pvt Ltd (“Developer”) 2
Project: [Project name], Sy. No. 00/0, [village], [hobli] · sharing ratio 42:58, Owner : Developer, by saleable area 3
| Tower | Flat no. | Floor | Share |
|---|---|---|---|
| A | A-101 | 1st | Owner’s share |
| A | A-102 | 1st | Developer’s share |
| A | A-201 | 2nd | Owner’s share |
| A | A-202 | 2nd | Developer’s share |
| B | B-101 | 1st | Developer’s share |
Every flat in the project appears once, in one share only 4. This schedule is as registered with the JDA; a later document can change it 5.
- The document number. The same number the JDA itself was registered under, at the same sub-registrar – check it matches what you are shown.
- The two parties. Real names and registration details, not initials. This is who your flat’s share legally belongs to before it is sold to you.
- The sharing ratio. Fixed in the JDA itself. It tells you roughly how many flats in the project are the landowner’s to sell, and how many are the developer’s.
- Find your own flat’s row. Before you book, ask which share it is in, and get that in writing.
- A later document can change the schedule. Karnataka’s auditor found a real case where a supplementary deed, registered after the project was complete, enlarged the owner’s share beyond the original JDA figure (more on this below). Check the encumbrance certificate for anything registered after the JDA itself.
Who signs your documents
Karnataka’s model agreement for sale – the form every RERA-registered project must use – names only two signing parties: “the Promoter” and “the Allottee”. The landowner appears only in the recitals, as background. Whoever is selling your flat is, for the purpose of your paperwork, the Promoter, whether that is the developer or the landowner in person. That is why the share your flat falls in changes who actually signs what.
| Document | Landowner’s share | Developer’s share |
|---|---|---|
| Allotment letter | Usually the developer, marketing under the power of attorney | The developer, on its own account |
| Agreement for sale | Whoever is named as Promoter for your unit – check which, on the RERA filing | The developer, as Promoter |
| RERA registration | Both listed as joint promoters, jointly liable to you | Both listed as joint promoters, jointly liable to you |
| Sale deed | The landowner, in person or by a still-valid registered power of attorney | The developer, as the party the JDA lets sell that share |
The RERA row does not change with the share: Karnataka RERA’s rules require the promoter’s filing to disclose the JDA whichever share you are buying into, which the section below covers. The sale deed row is the one to read most carefully, because it is the row that decides whether the person handing you the keys actually had the right to.
The GPA to the developer
The document that lets the developer act for the landowner – market both shares, sign allotment letters, and often execute the sale deed – is a general power of attorney, or GPA. It is a separate document from the JDA, usually executed and registered on the same day as it, and it is what turns “the landowner agreed to this project” into “the developer may sign on the landowner’s behalf.”
The Karnataka model agreement’s own recital shows this is the ordinary structure: where the promoter is not the landowner, it records that “the Owner and the Promoter have entered into a [collaboration / development / joint development] agreement dated ________ registered as document No. ________ at the office of the Sub-Registrar or / and in terms of the said […] agreement, the owner has executed the registered General power of Attorney dated…” A registered JDA paired with a registered GPA is the norm to expect, not an extra you have to ask for.
The Registration (Karnataka Amendment) Act, 2025 adds a new clause to the Registration Act, 1908, making “power of attorney authorising transfer of immovable property with or without consideration” compulsorily registrable. It received the President’s assent on 22 Jul 2025, but by its own commencement clause it takes effect only on a date the state government notifies in the Gazette. As of 10 Sep 2026 no such notification could be confirmed, so treat compulsory registration as proposed, not yet in force – and check the current position before you rely on it. Either way, ask for a registered GPA: it is already standard practice, and the stamp duty section below shows why registering it costs little extra once the JDA itself is stamped.
A GPA on its own, registered or not, does not make you the owner of anything. The Supreme Court held in Suraj Lamp & Industries v State of Haryana (2011) that no title to immovable property passes by an agreement to sell, a GPA or a will – only a registered sale deed does that. The GPA matters to you only as authority: it is what lets the developer sign a valid sale deed for a landowner’s-share flat. If the GPA was never registered, was limited to marketing rather than sale, or has since been cancelled, a sale deed signed under it is not good authority, whatever the developer’s brochure says.
Stamp duty on the JDA and GPA
Karnataka taxes the JDA and the linked GPA as a pair, under two articles of the Karnataka Stamp Act, 1957. Article 5(f) covers the JDA itself: an agreement “executed by and between owner or lessee…and developer, having a stipulation…that, in consideration of the owner or lessee conveying…the undivided share or portion of land…the developer agrees to convey…the proportionate or agreed share…of the constructed or developed building…to the owner.” The duty is “two rupees for every one hundred rupees…on the market value of such undivided share…of land…or on the market value of such share…of the constructed or developed building…whichever is higher” – 2%, on whichever side of the deal is worth more.
Article 41(ea) covers the GPA, in almost the same words, at the same 2%. Karnataka does not expect you to pay both in full: each article carries a proviso that once the duty is paid on one of the pair, the matching duty on the other “shall not exceed rupees two hundred.” In practice, the landowner and developer pay 2% once, and a flat ₹200 on the second document.
On top of the stamp duty, a registration fee applies, ad valorem, under Article III(a) of the Table of Registration Fees under the Registration Act, 1908. It doubled recently: a Karnataka notification of 29 Aug 2025 substituted “two rupee” for “one rupee” in Article III(a)(i) and (ii), with effect from 31 Aug 2025. The registration fee on a JDA and its GPA is now 2%, not the 1% it was before.
None of this is paid by you; it falls on the landowner and the developer. But the arithmetic shows why a registered JDA is worth insisting on rather than taking on trust. On an illustrative ₹4 crore – whichever of the land share or the built share the article values higher, a specimen figure, not a real project’s – the JDA’s stamp duty comes to ₹8 lakh, and the registration fee another ₹8 lakh: ₹16 lakh together, paid once between the two documents.
Karnataka’s state auditor has already found that this duty is often paid short. Testing 196 JDAs across nine sub-registrar offices for 2016–20, it found 70 of them – 36% of the sample – short-levied, mostly because the built-up area or floor area ratio behind the owner’s share was understated, or converted land was valued at agricultural rates. The shortfall across the sample came to ₹8.09 crore. In one case a supplementary deed, registered only after the project was finished, quietly enlarged the owner’s share without the extra duty being charged on the increase. None of that is something you can fix, but it is a reason to see the registered JDA yourself rather than a summary of it, and to check the sharing schedule against what you are told your flat’s share is.
Why the landowner is a promoter
RERA does not treat the landowner as a bystander. Its definition of “promoter” at section 2(zk)(v) already reaches “any other person who acts himself as a builder, coloniser, contractor, developer, estate developer or by any other name or claims to be acting as the holder of a power of attorney from the owner of the land on which the building or apartment is constructed.” The Explanation to the same clause goes further: “where the person who constructs or converts a building into apartments…and the person who sells apartments…are different person, both of them shall be deemed to be the promoters and shall be jointly liable as such for the functions and responsibilities specified under this Act.”
That joint liability is not a technicality. It means the landowner cannot say the RERA obligations – the 70% escrow on money collected, the five-year defect liability, interest for delay – are the developer’s problem alone. Both promoters answer for them. It also shows up at the point of registration: the promoter’s own declaration under section 4(2)(l)(A) must state “that he has a legal title to the land on which the development is proposed along with legally valid documents with authentication of such title, if such land is owned by another person” – an admission, on the record, that the developer is not the owner. Karnataka’s RERA rules then require the project’s published filing to carry, among the legal documents, “details of the land along with self attested collaboration agreement, development agreement, joint development agreement or any other agreement…entered into between the promoter and such owner and copies of title and other documents reflecting the title of such owner on the land.” Our guide to reading a K-RERA filing shows where this sits on an actual registration page.
Documents, in order
The land is assembled
The landowner holds clear title before anything else happens. The JDA and the GPA are negotiated against that title, not the other way round.
The JDA and GPA are registered
Both at the sub-registrar covering the land, with stamp duty paid on the pair as above – before the project is marketed.
RERA registration
The filing discloses the JDA and names the landowner as a joint promoter, whichever share you eventually buy into.
Your agreement for sale
Signed by whichever of the two is Promoter for your specific unit – the row to check on the sheet above.
Your sale deed
The landowner is a party – in person, or through a still-valid registered GPA – if your flat is in their share.
What can go wrong
- A dispute between the two of them. A JDA is a contract between the landowner and the developer, and disagreements over the ratio, delays or money owed happen. RERA gives you some shelter from the fallout: section 15 bars a promoter from transferring majority rights in a project to anyone else without two-thirds of the allottees’ consent and the Authority’s approval, and specifically provides that such a transfer “shall not affect the allotment or sale of the apartments…made by the erstwhile promoter,” with the incoming promoter required to complete pending obligations on the original timeline. Your allotment does not evaporate if the developer is replaced; it is worth knowing that before you panic at news of a falling-out.
- The GPA is revoked. If the landowner cancels the power of attorney, the developer’s authority to sign on their behalf ends from that point. A sale deed for a landowner’s-share flat, signed under a GPA that was by then revoked, is signed without authority. A power of attorney is recorded in a separate register that an encumbrance certificate does not reflect, so ask the sub-registrar’s office for a certified copy of the GPA and a search for any deed cancelling it.
- Flats from the landowner’s share, sold on their own. A landowner who sells directly, rather than through the developer, is still a promoter under RERA and still bound by its rules – but the sales office, the payment schedule and the point of contact may be entirely separate from the project you think you are buying into. Confirm which entity you are actually dealing with before you pay anything.
- A mortgage on the land. The model agreement stops a promoter mortgaging your specific flat after your own agreement is signed – clause 18 provides that any such later mortgage “shall not affect the right and interest of the Allottee who has taken or agreed to take” it. That protects you going forward; it says nothing about a mortgage already on the land before you signed, which is what an encumbrance certificate is for. Our documents guide covers reading one.
What to ask for
- The registered JDA, in full – not a summary of it – with the sharing ratio and the schedule of which flats fall in which share.
- The registered GPA to the developer, and confirmation it has not been revoked.
- Your own flat’s row on the sharing schedule, in writing, before you book.
- The RERA filing, checked for the landowner listed as a joint promoter and the JDA disclosed as a legal document.
- The landowner’s consent or signature on your agreement and sale deed, if your flat is in their share – in person, or clearly through a still-valid registered GPA.
- An encumbrance certificate covering the JDA, checked for a later mortgage, cancellation or supplementary deed, and a certified copy of the GPA, which the EC will not show.
- A lawyer’s opinion on the chain of title and the JDA together, before you pay a booking amount.
Sources, checked 10 Sep 2026. What a joint development is, and the sharing arrangement: Comptroller and Auditor General of India, Compliance Audit for the year ended March 2021, Report No. 1 of 2023 (Government of Karnataka), Chapter III, paragraph 3.8 (CAG). Model agreement recital and clause 18: Karnataka RERA Rules, 2017, Annexure-A, notified 15 Jun 2020 (Karnataka RERA). Promoter, and joint liability of the landowner: Real Estate (Regulation and Development) Act, 2016, sections 2(zk)(v) and its Explanation, 4(2)(l)(A) and 15 (text). Website disclosure of the JDA: Karnataka RERA Rules, 2017, Rule 15(1)(F)(e), same source as above. Title: Suraj Lamp & Industries v State of Haryana (Supreme Court, 2011). Stamp duty on the JDA and GPA: Karnataka Stamp Act, 1957, Articles 5(f) and 41(ea) (DPAL), unchanged by the Karnataka Stamp (Amendment) Act, 2023 (Act 4 of 2024) (DPAL). Registration fee: Karnataka notification RD/46/MNMU/2025 of 29 Aug 2025 (Department of Stamps and Registration). Compulsory registration of the GPA: Registration (Karnataka Amendment) Act, 2025 (Act 42 of 2025), amending section 17(1) (DPAL). This is a general guide, not legal advice; a joint development’s paperwork is worth a lawyer’s own reading before you commit money.