THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: The Kerala government's Tuesday cabinet meeting decided to give tax exemption to residential houses with a floor area of ​​up to 645 square feet. At present, houses up to 320 square feet (30 square meters) are exempt from tax. This benefit is available for houses in village panchayats and municipal councils. The benefit is not available for rented houses. The exemption does not apply to flats. Property tax on buildings has been increased by 5% from April 1 this year.

A rule was issued in 2018 to regularize buildings constructed in violation of building regulations in Kerala's cities and suburbs. According to the said rule, the buildings that started construction before July 31, 2017, can be regularized.

Accordingly, the deadline for submitting regularization applications has expired. In this situation, the government has decided to issue a rule with new provisions for the regularization of unauthorized buildings. On November 7, 2019, the Legislature approved an amendment, to bring up a law to regularize pre-construction buildings. As soon as the rule gets promulgated, the benefits will reach fruition.