How to Protect and Maintain Your Property in India While Living in the U.S.

I have come across many Indians who are staying in the USA and having their property in India in the form of a house or land. I am also having my own house in India and I spend my most of the time here at the USA as I am USA resident. At times it becomes very tricky and difficult to maintain the property in India while staying here in the USA. I have tried to cover few very useful tips for all my AC friends having their own property in India. I am sure these tips will help them to maintain their valuable assets in India properly while residing in the USA.

First of all, make sure that your property is in your own name and the legal documents to this effect are very clear. Sometimes such property is in the name of some cooperative society, which can create problems for you in future. You must preserve all these legal documents of your property very carefully in your home country. The bank safe deposit box is one such location. You must keep at least one Xerox copy of these documents with you here at the USA. The next aspect is to arrange paying your all utility bills for the property regularly in time during your absence. The bills can be for electricity, cooking gas, Municipal house tax, water tax, telephone services, bank safe deposit box rentals, and the education tax. These bills come every month except for the Municipal house tax bills which come only once in a year. I would suggest paying these bills in advance while you are visiting India.

All the utility agencies are accepting the advance payment towards all these services. You may pay a lump sum amount to all the agencies based on your period of remaining out of India. Some of the agencies like Municipal Corporation also give 5% discount in case you pay your house tax for couple of years in advance. The next vital point is to inform all the agencies about your going out of country indicating the approximate period for which you shall remain out of country. This is very important as the utility agencies would know about your absence and the minimum billing for a long period would not surprise them. Some utilities like cooking gas may be stopped temporarily and kept in safe custody if you are going to remain out of country for more than 6 months on safety grounds to eliminate fire hazards due to leakage of LPG. The telephone connection can also be kept in safe custody with payment of only minimum charges like Rs.100 per month. All these services can be made active within a period of one week through the written application from your friend or relative in your name that stays in your home country. This would facilitate you to get all these utilities back in normal operation at the time of your returning back to India.

I would suggest not giving your property on rent during your absence as the Indian laws favor tenants largely as compared to the property owners. If you want to still rent your property, make sure to make the deed based on live and license for the period of eleven months. This deed is to be executed on the non judicial stamp paper of Rs.100 between the two parties. Such deed can ensure the vacating of your house on completion of the deed period. If both the parties wish to renew the deed, same can be done again by remaking the deed. You must arrange with the tenant so as the monthly rent is timely deposited in your bank accounts, which can again be controlled on line by you from the USA. Try to avoid keeping rather unknown house caretaker as the incidents of taking over the property by such temporary caretakers are on the increasing trend recently. You must nominate your close friend or relative to take care of all such aspects. Make sure to also inform local police station in your area about your being out of the country for the specified period, also informing the police about the caretaker you have nominated. This would help the police to take close care of your house in your absence. Put a written notice on the gate of your house to hand over all your mails to your nominated authorized person. The advance written application to this effect to your area post office would help a lot in this matter. Try not to reveal your period of absence to the unknown and unconnected people. When you are likely to reach back to India, inform your caretaker so as to take all the actions for reestablishing all the facilities prior to reaching to your home country.

I have myself moved to and fro from my home country of India since last so many years and have been able to maintain my property in up to date fashion by following the tips given in this article. So, just try to follow these tips and I am sure that will help you protecting your property nicely and safely in India.