Mumbai Residents Struggle with Delayed Property Tax Bills as Deadline Looms
Mumbai: Chaos prevailed at the property tax payment counter at Bandra's H-West ward office on Tuesday as residents complained they received physical copies of their bills on July 28 — just a fortnight before the August 13 deadline. The delay in receiving these bills has caused significant inconvenience and frustration among the residents.
BMC blamed printing issues for the delay and indicated that they may extend the due date. “How can the physical copies be sent just a fortnight before the due date? These are bills for the period of April-September 2025, and it shows that the same was issued in May 2025. Considering this, it should have reached us much in advance,” said Madhu Poplai of the Pali Hill Residents Association (PHRA).
Poplai also pointed out that the earlier system of sending property tax bills to the housing society, rather than individual flat owners, was more efficient. “Then, the tax would be recovered from the maintenance bills, and the housing society would then pay BMC all at once, avoiding the kind of rush that the ward office has been getting now,” he added.
Another Bandra (W) resident noted that in the case of those who had submitted their KYC, the bills were uploaded online by the BMC. “The delay has been only in the case of physical copies reaching citizens,” said the resident. Maria Dsouza of the Mount Mary ALM mentioned that she received her bill only on Monday evening. “The bill amount has increased this year compared to past years. I plan to make the payment via NEFT through the bank,” she said.
Some residents reported being contacted by the assessment department to pay directly as the bills were still in transit. A resident from Manuel Gonsalves Road said their society manager received a call from the assessment department official about the delay in sending the physical copies and asked if they could come to the office and collect them. “But, our manager, who also works in another housing society on Rebello Road, said the flats there received the bills,” the resident explained.
A civic official stated, “A proposal has been submitted to the senior officers for permission to extend the due date for payment of property tax bills in the case of those to whom there has been a delay in issuing the same. There was an issue with the printing of the bills and later also during sending the same via post.” For the BMC, property tax is currently the biggest revenue source. In the year 2024-25, it collected property tax of Rs 6,198 crore.
