Solvency Affidavit in Vadodara

e-StampNotary

Two documents, often confused

A solvency certificate is issued by an authority - commonly the Mamlatdar or the revenue office on an application supported by property records, or by a bank in respect of its customer. It is that body's own statement about your means.

A solvency affidavit is your statement about your means, made on oath before a notary. It is used to support an application for the certificate, or where the receiving body is content to accept the declaration itself.

If the tender asks for a bank or revenue solvency certificate, an affidavit will not do.

Read the tender document or the court's direction word for word. A requirement for a certificate from a scheduled bank, or from the revenue authority, is a requirement for that body's document. No notarial seal converts your own declaration into someone else's certificate. Check this before the bid date, because a certificate takes time to obtain.

Where a solvency affidavit is genuinely used

Standing surety. A surety in a proceeding, or for a bond, must show means. The court or authority takes the affidavit with the supporting extracts and decides whether the security offered is adequate.
Supporting an application for a solvency certificate to the revenue office, which will verify the particulars against the record.
Tender and empanelment, where the inviting authority asks for a declaration of net worth or of financial capacity rather than a bank certificate.
Guarantees and indemnities, where the institution wants the guarantor's assets stated on oath - as with the sureties on a death claim indemnity.
Educational or visa sponsorship, where a sponsor's means have to be shown, usually alongside bank statements and income evidence.

Evidence, not assertions

A solvency affidavit that lists round figures with nothing behind them is worth very little, and experienced officers treat it accordingly. Every item should be capable of being traced to a document:

Immovable property. Identify each property by its survey or city survey number, the village or ward, and the area. Attach the 7/12 and 8-A extracts for agricultural land, or the City Survey record for urban property. Extracts should be current - a printout from AnyROR taken years ago will be questioned.
Encumbrances. State the mortgages, charges and liens. Showing a mortgaged property as free is the fastest way to have the whole affidavit disbelieved, and it is easy to check.
Bank balances and deposits. Give the bank, branch and account, and attach statements or certificates.
Business assets. Tie them to the last balance sheet rather than to a valuation done for the occasion.
Liabilities. Set them out honestly. An affidavit of assets that is silent about borrowings is not a statement of solvency at all.

On valuation

Say how the value stated has been arrived at - purchase cost, a valuer's report, or the market value as assessed. Do not present a figure without a basis. Where the receiving body wants a specific valuation method, use theirs.

What gets these rejected

Assets listed with no supporting extract, or extracts that do not match the description.
Property shown in the deponent's name when the record shows joint or ancestral holding, or when the mutation was never made after an inheritance - see legal heir affidavit.
Encumbrances omitted.
The same property offered as security in more than one matter at the same time.
A declaration of net worth that contradicts the deponent's own filed returns.
An affidavit filed where a certificate was demanded.

What the notary certifies

Section 8(1)(e) of the Notaries Act, 1952 permits a notary to administer an oath to, or take an affidavit from, any person; section 8(2) makes it a notarial act only under the notary's signature and official seal. The seal certifies the swearing, not the value of your land or the state of your accounts. Anyone who tells you a notarised solvency affidavit proves your net worth is misleading you - see what a notary cannot do.

Stamp and fee.

Stamp duty as currently prescribed under the Gujarat Stamp Act, 1958 - confirmed at the counter. The oath is capped at ₹35 under Rule 10(1) of the Notaries Rules, 1956; true copies are ₹10 per page, minimum ₹20. Receipted, and entered in the register in Form XV.

What to bring

Title documents for each property to be listed
Current 7/12 and 8-A extracts, or the City Survey record for urban property
Bank statements, deposit certificates and the latest balance sheet
Details of every loan, mortgage or charge, with the sanction letters
Income tax returns for the last two or three years
The tender document or the court's direction stating exactly what is required
Aadhaar and PAN of the deponent

Income Affidavit — what it supports, and what it cannot replaceઆવક અંગેનું સોગંદનામું

Firm declaration affidavit

Affidavits filed in court proceedingsકોર્ટ સોગંદનામું

Death claim affidavit

Common questions

Is a notarised solvency affidavit the same as a solvency certificate?

No. A certificate is issued by an authority - commonly the revenue office or a bank - on its own verification. An affidavit is your own sworn statement, used to support the application for that certificate or where the receiving body accepts a declaration. If the tender or the court asked for a certificate, obtain the certificate; the affidavit will not be accepted in its place.

Must I disclose my loans in a solvency affidavit?

Yes. A statement of assets that says nothing about liabilities is not a statement of solvency, and any officer reading it will say so. List the borrowings, the mortgages and the charges against each property. Omitting an encumbrance is easily discovered from the record and, once found, it discredits every other figure in the affidavit including the true ones.

Can I offer the same property as security in two different matters?

Not without disclosing it, and usually not at all. The value of the security is what makes it acceptable, and offering the same land twice means the second authority is relying on something already committed. Say plainly in the affidavit whether the property stands as security elsewhere. Concealing it can expose the surety to consequences well beyond the loss of the security.

Solvency affidavit