Title Deed 

Verifying the title of the seller is a very important and first task in your search for a property. Title is the legal way of saying you own a right to something. For real estate purposes, Title refers to ownership of the property, meaning that you have the rights to use that property.  Deeds, on the other hand, are actually the legal documents that transfer title from one person to another.

Title deeds are paper documents showing the chain of ownership for land and property. The seller or owner of the property may have acquired his/her title either by purchase, inheritance, partition, by way of Gift, by settlement etc., So, the different types of Title Deeds can be namely – Sale deed / Purchase Deed, Deed of Partition, Gift Deed, Settlement Deed, Release deed etc.,

Examples :

• If you are planning to buy a property from a seller who inherited this property from his parents then you need to check for ‘entries in Revenue records’ (local civic body offices like municipality, panchayat or corporation) and predecessor’s title.

• In case, the seller had purchased the property from a previous owner then you need to verify the Title through a Sale deed.

• In case, the current owner has received the property as a gift from his parents then you can ask for a Gift Deed.

If there were multiple transactions happened on the concerned property then you need to check all the Link Deeds and Mother Deed as well.  Mother Deed, otherwise known as parent document, acts as the main document for proving ownership of the property.  For tracing the ownership of a property, you need to begin the process with inspection of the earliest document i.e., Mother deed and then all the link deeds till the latest Sale deed (which is in the name of current seller/owner).

Encumbrance Certificate (EC)

One of the important property documents that you need to apply and verify is ‘Encumbrance Certificate’ or popularly known as the EC.

The dictionary meaning of the word encumbrance is, ‘a claim on property or assets’ or ‘a mortgage’. An encumbrance is a legal claim on a property that affects the owner’s ability to transfer the ownership of the property. Encumbrance means whether the properties have any lien on them, whether attached by the court, whether mortgaged or sold etc. by the owner of the said properties.

An encumbrance certificate is evidence that the property in question is free from any monetary and legal liabilities. An encumbrance certificate contains details of all transactions done on the specific property.

For example – If the property in question has a home loan on it then you can find this information when you take EC. If the current owner has acquired the property through a Gift Deed, you can verify these details in EC.

Encumbrance Certificate can be obtained from the sub-registrar’s office where the deed has been registered. (In some of the States an EC can be obtained online too). It is advisable to apply for Encumbrance Certificate from date of purchase till date. 

Important details that you need to check in EC statement

I have downloaded an online EC statement for one of my properties located in Andhra Pradesh. This property has been gifted to me by my Grandmother. Here, you can notice that the ‘Gift deed’ transaction details have been captured and recorded in EC.

Once you get the EC for the property, it is advisable to cross-check or verify some of the important details as below. Kindly note that EC format can vary from State to State, but the basic details may remain the same. 

1. You can get to know who has applied for the EC statement. If you have applied for it, you will find your name here.

2. The property details that you have provided in the Form 22 will be mentioned here.

3. You can notice the number of years for which the EC has been sought. I have searched for the encumbrances for the last 33 years.

4. EC will give you the complete property description as recorded in the Sale Deeds which are registered and recorded in the books of Sub-Registrar office.

5. You can get to know how many transactions have been done on the said property. The transactions are listed in a chronological order. In this example, there were two transactions done. 

6. In 1984, my grandmother bought this plot. In 2007, she has executed Gift Deed in my name. Like wise, if you are buying a property which has home loan on it , you can find ‘mortgage’ details instead of ‘gift settlement’ in this column. Another example can be – let’s say if partners of a firm mutually purchased the property and one of the partner wants to release his share from the property then in that case, Release Deed can be executed and registered. In this case, you can find ‘Release Deed’ details in EC.

7. You can find the name(s) of the buyer and the seller If the property is a jointly held one, you can find multiple owners.

8. If there are multiple transactions done, all of them will be inter-linked in the Registration Dept’s database. For example–  the first transaction has a Registered document number as 44/1984 and the same is linked to the second transaction (Gift settlement). So, if you see these kind of links in your EC, you can request for the copies of all Link Documents (including the Mother Deed) from your Seller/Builder. In this way, you can establish the continuity of parent documents with child documents.

An encumbrance certificate is important not only while buying a property but also when you are applying for a home loan or going in for a loan against the property.

Patta / Khatha / Mutation (Certificate / Extract)

Mutation is the change of title ownership from one person to another when the property is sold or transferred. By mutating a property, the new owner gets the title of the property recorded on his/her name in the land revenue department and the government is able to charge property tax from the rightful owner.

One needs to get mutation done and get the new owner details updated in the revenue records maintained by civic bodies like Municipalities, Panchayats or Municipal Corporations.

In case of Agricultural lands, mutation is must. Without mutation, the land title will not pass to the new owner.  Mutation should be entered in the revenue records.  The owner’s name which is recorded in the revenue records is referred as ‘Pattadhar’.

In case of non-agricultural lands, failure to mutate does not take away your right in the sale deed.  That is even though the mutation has not done, the purchaser’s title will not be affected.  He/she will remain the owner of the property. But the only problem of not mutating is that you may not get electricity connection, water connection and you cannot pay municipal tax.

In case, the property you are going to purchase has been inherited or acquired by way of gift by the current owner then mutation certificate is an important document to ask for ;

Sample mutation certificate:

• Below is a sample Khata certificate issued by BBMP 

  • Below is a sample Mutation certificate issued by a local municipality in Andhra Pradesh.

If you would like to check if a property has free title/ownership (or) whether it is mortgaged or not, you have to apply for  Encumbrance Certificate. You can also cross-check these ownership details by taking a Mutation Extract.

Once your name is updated in the revenue records, you may apply for Patta extract or Khata Extract or mutation extract to verify the details. Below is a sample Khata or Mutation Extract 

Property Tax receipts

If the property has been mutated and recorded in the local revenue records then the current owner might be paying applicable property taxes, betterment charges etc., to the local civic body . You can request for the last paid Tax receipt from the seller. Kindly make sure that there are no arrears and all tax dues till date of registration are cleared.

Layout Map/Location Map

If you are buying a property in a layout, you can ask for a copy of approved layout plan of the entire project.

One of my friends has recently bought a vacant residential plot in a layout. He later came to know that this plot has been ear-marked for an open space as per the layout plan. He has been requesting the builder to cancel the registration and refund the monies.

So, it is very important for you to check the entire layout map before buying a property.

Conversion Order

Most of the properties in densely populated areas and in prime locations have become unaffordable to buy. Hence, we see that many real estate ventures come up in sub-urban areas. In most of these cases, the builders buy agricultural lands and then convert them into residential or commercial layouts.

Kindly note that the property owner must obtain legal permission or conversion order to change the use of land from agriculture to non-agriculture purpose.

Besides the conversion order, the builder should have got approval from the local competent authority as well. For example : Any layout on the outskirts of State requires the approval of State Metropolitan Regional Development Authority 

Building Sanction Plan (For flats/independent homes)

In case you are buying an under-construction flat or home, you need to check whether there is any building sanction plan or not. If it is available then it should have the seal /approval of local sanctioning authority 

Upon the completion of the building construction, the builder or the developer of the apartment has to apply for the ‘building completion certificate’ with the local authorities 

If the building construction is completed as per the building approval plan and if it also meets other building standards like distance from road, height of the building, if rain water harvesting system is in place etc., the civic authorities will issue CC

Besides CC, you need to know if the project has received all the required NoCs from all the concerned authorities

Occupancy Certificate (for Flats)

Once the builder receives the Completion Certificate, they have to obtain Occupation Certificate from the civic bodies.

OC certifies that the building has complied with all the required building standards, local laws and it is safe to occupy. Occupancy certificate is issued by local municipal authorities or building proposal department that provides no objection to occupy the building under reference for its specified use. The OC is issued only once the building has been completed in all respects and can be occupied.

The legal possession of the Flat by the Owner is valid only with the Occupancy Certificate.

When there are blocks or phases of large projects to be developed with varying completion dates, the concerned authority can grant a partial occupancy certificate for the completed phases/blocks. After the completion of entire project, Partial OCs are replaced by final OC . Do note that it can be a tough task to get a home loan with a Partial OC.

My personal suggestion is not to buy a flat which does not have an occupancy certificate. 

Other Revenue records (RR/RTC/IL)

The property that you are intending to buy is say a Revenue land, in Panchayat area or a converted land then it is prudent to check different land and revenue records as below ;

• Pahani (RTC) is a very important revenue record, as it contains details of land such as owners’ details, area, assessment, water rate, soil type, nature of possession of the Land, Liabilities, Tenancy and Crops grown, etc. RTC stands for Record of Rights, Tenancy and Crops (RTC).

• RR stands for Record of rights. Issued by Asst. Tahsildar, RR or Record of Rights contains the details of the property, owners of the property along with the nature of the possession 

• IL stands for Index of Land. It contains details regarding the owners of the land and details about the land.

Important Documents Checklist when buying a Property in India