Prohibition of charges for expenses on loans
33. Any agreement between a lender and a borrower or intending borrower for the payment to the lender of any sum on account of costs, charges or expenses incidental or relating to the negotiations for, or the granting of, the loan or proposed loan, shall be illegal, and if any sum is paid to a lender by the borrower or intending borrower as, for or on account of any such costs, charges or expenses, that sum shall be recoverable as a debt due to the borrower or intending borrower, or in the event of the loan being completed, shall, if not so recovered, be set off against the amount actually lent and that amount shall be deemed to be reduced accordingly:
Provided that nothing in this section shall debar a lender from recovering the costs of investigating title, of stamp duty and registration of documents and other necessary and incidental expenses in cases where the agreement includes a stipulation that property is to be given as security or by way of mortgage, or the costs of stamp duty and registration of documents in the case of unsecured loans, if both parties have agreed to such expenditure and the reimbursement thereof, nor from recovering such costs, charges or expenses as are leviable under the provisions of the
Transfer of Property Act, 1882, or any other law for the time being in force.