General vs Special Power of Attorney for Property (Karnataka)

When someone else has to act for you on a property — a sibling while you are abroad, a spouse who can attend the sub-registrar on a date you cannot, a friend you trust to close a deal — the question is not simply whether to give a power of attorney. It is which kind. A general power of attorney and a special power of attorney are built for different jobs, and choosing the wrong one is how a document meant to help you becomes a liability you have to unwind later.

The core difference: scope of authority

A General Power of Attorney (GPA) grants broad authority across a range of acts. A Special Power of Attorney (SPA) — also called a limited power of attorney — authorises one defined act and stops there. Everything else about how the two behave follows from that single distinction.

• Scope — GPA: a range of acts ('manage, let, mortgage and sell my properties'). SPA: one named act ('execute and register the sale deed for site no. X in favour of this buyer').
• Duration — GPA: open-ended, it keeps working until it is revoked. SPA: self-limiting, it ends once the named act is done.
• Risk — GPA: wide latitude, an agent can act in ways you never pictured. SPA: contained, the agent can do only the one thing.
• Typical property use — GPA: ongoing management of several assets, or affairs handled over a long absence. SPA: a single sale, purchase or registration.
• Revocation exposure — GPA: has to be actively cancelled and the revocation registered. SPA: needs no cancellation once the act is complete.

Special power of attorney: the safer choice for one transaction

For a specific property transaction — signing and registering a sale deed, presenting documents at the sub-registrar, completing a single purchase — a special power of attorney that names the exact property and the exact act is almost always the better instrument. It hands the holder precisely the authority the job requires and nothing more. If the holder tries to do anything beyond the named act, the deed does not support it, and the sub-registrar and any later buyer's advocate can see that on the face of the document.

General power of attorney: convenience with a wider risk

A general power of attorney earns its place where there is genuinely ongoing, multi-act management to delegate — an owner with several properties, a person living abroad for years who needs someone to deal with tenants, taxes and repairs, or an elderly parent handing routine affairs to a child. The convenience is real. So is the exposure: a broadly drafted GPA lets the holder mortgage, lease or purport to sell, and an unrevoked GPA in the wrong hands is the starting point of many property disputes. If you grant one, keep the powers as narrow as the purpose allows and revoke it the moment it is no longer needed.

Which one do you actually need?

As a working rule: for a single, identifiable transaction, use a special power of attorney. Reserve a general power of attorney for situations where continuous, varied management genuinely has to be delegated — and even then, draft the powers tightly rather than granting a blanket 'do everything on my behalf'. The narrower the instrument, the smaller the room for misuse and the easier it is for a counterparty to accept it.

Stamp duty and registration are not the same for both

The two also cost differently. Under Article 41 of the Karnataka Stamp Act, 1957, a GPA to a non-family member that authorises a sale or transfer is stamped close to a conveyance — in the order of 5% of the property's market value — while a limited or family power of attorney attracts only a nominal fixed duty. Since the 2025 Karnataka amendment, any power of attorney that authorises the transfer of immovable property must be registered, whether it is general or special. The full stamp-duty and registration walkthrough is set out in our note on power of attorney registration in Bangalore.

Neither one makes the holder the owner

Whichever you choose, remember what a power of attorney is not. It is authority to act on a property, never title to it. The Supreme Court settled in Suraj Lamp (2011) that a sale purported through a GPA passes no ownership. A buyer who is offered a property 'on a power of attorney', general or special, should treat the document as a red flag to verify, not as proof of what the holder claims to own.

If you are deciding which power of attorney to give for a Bangalore property, or checking one you have been handed before you rely on it, send the details over WhatsApp at +91 63637 45780 for a confidential review.