CHENNAI: Tamil Nadu has ushered in a change in property registration, making online, presence-less registration mandatory from Monday for first-sale plots and flats, aimed at cutting visits to sub-registrar offices and improving transparency.

Chief Minister C Joseph Vijay launched the system at the Secretariat on Monday. Under the first phase, first-sale documents for plots in layouts and first-sale flats can be registered only online.

The move, announced earlier by Commercial Taxes and Registration Minister D Logesh Tamilselvan, is part of the department’s transition to the STAR 3.0 ecosystem. “The move is intended to improve transparency, reduce physical interface with registration offices,” Logesh said.

Builders, developers and applicants can create a login on the Registration Department portal and submit documents without visiting a sub-registrar office. Executants, claimants and witnesses have to upload Aadhaar details and complete biometric authentication through fingerprint or iris verification.

The department said registering officers will process applications within 24 hours, either registering them, returning them for correction or rejecting them. Documents returned for rectification can be resubmitted within 30 days.

Registered documents will carry the sub-registrar’s digital signature and remain downloadable through the user account for 60 days. Each page will also bear a QR code containing registration details, while a dynamic five-colour endorsement and digital verification mechanism are intended to guard against forgery.

The department expects the shift to reduce footfall at registration offices. Tamilselvan estimated that online registration could cut the crowd by about 30 per cent, while saving citizens time and travel costs.