Mumbai authorities will seize everything except your wife’s gold if you don’t pay property taxes


  • According to the new policy, BMC can seize everything except stree dhan — gold gifted to women at her marriage.
  • The officials can also auction the property. Apart from this, the policy also allows the body to freeze bank accounts.
  • The rule will be implemented soon, as the municipal authority is frustrated with swelling defaulted amounts.
The Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC) might seize every movable property including television, refrigerators, computer, furniture, air-conditioners — if people fail to pay taxes on time.

As per the new policy, BMC can seize everything except stree dhan — gold gifted to women at her marriage. The officials can also auction the property. Apart from this, the policy also allows the body to freeze bank accounts.

These harsh punishments are a result of BMC’s growing frustration with the number of defaulters which is at a massive 3.2 lakh who owe as much as ₹3,681 crore.

Right now the punishments are benign where defaulters lose water connection for three weeks. BMC also seizes lifts and entrances of properties to recover dues. But the new policy allows them to enter homes to collect dues.

“First, we are targeting commercial properties, then we will move to residential and individual properties. We will seize valuables, including furniture, from defaulters if they fail to pay their dues,” Sangita Hasnale, assistant municipal commissioner told the Indian Express.

BMC’s assessment and collection department rolls out property tax bills every May. People have to pay half the tax in August and the other half in December. Before 2016, BMC used to levy huge penalties on tax defaulters. However, it had to look for an alternate way to penalise tax defaulters after the Bombay High Court ordered the civic body not to do so.

BMC had suffered a massive fall in revenue and it was forced to truncate its budget by 15-20%. It has initiated an awareness drive to communicate the new policy to people. It is planning to cover 24 wards of the city in the next seven days.

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