How to Verify a Plot Before Buying: Title, Approvals and Encumbrance

A flat comes with a society, a builder and neighbours who will happily tell you what is wrong with it. A plot comes with a fence at best. That is why plots are where buyers lose the most money to bad paperwork, and why you should verify a plot before buying in a fixed order, on paper first and on the ground second. Skip a step and you can end up owning a dispute instead of land.

This guide walks through the checks a careful buyer (and a careful agent) should do, in the sequence that saves the most time. It is general guidance for India; land law and revenue records are state subjects, so terminology and portals differ. Always confirm current rules with a local property lawyer and your state's authority.

Step 1: Establish who owns the plot today

Before anything else, you need to know that the person selling is the person who owns, and owns all of it.

• Ask for the latest sale deed (or allotment letter and conveyance deed if it is an authority plot). The seller's name on it must match their ID.
• Pull the land record. In Punjab and Haryana this is the jamabandi and the mutation (intkal); in other states it is the 7/12 extract, khata, patta, RTC or similar. Many states now publish these online. The record should show the seller as owner for the exact khasra or survey number.
• Check the number of owners. Inherited land often has several co-owners. Every one of them must sign, or you need a registered power of attorney from those who cannot attend.
• If a company or trust is selling, ask for the board resolution or trust deed authorising the sale.

If names do not match, or the mutation is still in a dead ancestor's name, stop here until it is fixed. Do not pay a token on a promise that "the mutation will be done later".

Step 2: Trace the title chain

A clean owner today can still sit on a broken chain. You want to see how the plot passed from hand to hand.

1. Collect every sale deed, gift deed, partition deed, will or court order for roughly the last 30 years, or back to the original government allotment.
2. Check that each transfer was by someone who had the right to transfer: the seller in deed 3 should be the buyer in deed 2.
3. Look for gaps: a year where ownership changed without a registered document, a minor's share sold without court permission, agricultural land sold to someone the state did not permit to buy at the time.
4. Ask a lawyer to issue a title search report. Banks insist on this before sanctioning a plot loan, which is a useful test: if a bank will not lend on it, ask why.

For agricultural land there are extra questions about who may buy and convert it; our guide on buying agricultural land in India covers those.

Step 3: Get the encumbrance certificate

The encumbrance certificate (EC) from the sub-registrar's office lists all registered transactions on the property for the period you ask for, typically 13 or 30 years. You are looking for:

• Mortgages or charges in favour of a bank or lender that have not been released.
• Earlier sale agreements or sales that conflict with the current seller's claim.
• Court attachments or lis pendens entries.

Two cautions. First, an EC only shows registered transactions; an unregistered agreement to sell, a family settlement or an unregistered lease will not appear. Second, an EC tied to the wrong survey number is worthless, so match the number character by character. Alongside the EC, search the local civil court records (often online) for litigation in the seller's name.

Step 4: Verify the layout and the approvals

A plot is only a residential plot if someone with authority said so. This is the step buyers of "affordable" colonies most often skip.

• Layout approval. The colony or sector layout must be approved by the competent authority (the development authority, town planning department or municipal body, depending on the state). Ask for the approval letter and the sanctioned layout plan, and find your plot number on the plan.
• Change of land use (CLU). If the land was agricultural, there must be a CLU or conversion order permitting residential use. Without it, construction permission can be refused.
• RERA registration. If the developer is selling plots in a project above the size threshold, the project generally needs RERA registration. Check the state RERA website for the registration number, the approved plan and the promised completion date. Remember that what RERA protects is disclosure and delivery, not the underlying title.
• External development charges and completion. Ask what infrastructure (roads, sewer, water, electricity) is complete and who is paying for the rest. Completion certificates, where issued, are worth asking for.
• Unapproved colonies. Some states run regularisation schemes for these. Until regularised, you may not get a building permission, a water connection or a bank loan. Price the risk accordingly, or walk away.

Step 5: Check that the plot on paper is the plot on the ground

Papers pass, then the buyer discovers a neighbour has built a wall two feet inside the boundary.

• Demarcation. Ask the revenue office (patwari or equivalent) or a licensed surveyor to mark the plot and measure it against the sale deed. Dimensions in the deed and in the layout plan should match what is measured.
• Road width. Measure it. Brochures round up.
• Possession. Is anyone occupying the plot, farming it or parking on it? Possession by a third party is a red flag regardless of what the papers say.
• Access. Confirm the road to the plot is a public road or a road within the approved layout, not a path across someone else's land.
• Encroachment and easements. Look for drains, electricity poles, pipelines or high-tension lines crossing or adjoining the plot; they can restrict what you can build.
• Flooding. Visit after rain if you can, or ask neighbours where water collects.

Step 6: Dues, taxes and the final paperwork

Before you sign:

• Ask for receipts of property tax, development charges and any colony maintenance paid to date; unpaid dues usually follow the land.
• Confirm the stamp duty and registration charges for your state and buyer category. Rates differ and change, so check current rates rather than relying on a friend's figure from last year.
• If the purchase price crosses the threshold where the buyer must deduct TDS, factor that in; the rules and rate change, so confirm with your CA.
• Insist on a registered sale deed, not a notarised agreement or a general power of attorney. Courts have been clear that a GPA is not a sale.
• Get the mutation done in your name after registration and keep a certified copy.

How an agent can make this easier (and win the deal)

If you are the agent, you can turn this anxiety into trust. Put the approval letter, the layout plan with the plot highlighted and the RERA number on the listing itself, as a brochure PDF next to the photos. On a Pages plan from My Property Pages each plot gets its own page where those documents sit with the dimensions, road width and facing, so a serious buyer can do half of this checklist before calling you. Buyers who can see the papers ask fewer suspicious questions and book site visits sooner. For a fuller treatment of how to present plots, read our guide to plot listings done right.

Frequently asked questions

How many years of title documents should I check for a plot?

Most lawyers and banks ask for a 30-year chain of ownership, or back to the first government allotment if the plot is in an authority-developed scheme. Shorter chains are acceptable only when the origin of title is a clean allotment.

What is an encumbrance certificate and why does it matter?

It is a record from the sub-registrar listing all registered transactions on the property for a given period, including mortgages and sales. It shows whether anyone else has a registered claim on the plot. It does not show unregistered agreements, so it is necessary but not sufficient.

Is a RERA-registered plot automatically safe to buy?

No. RERA registration means the promoter has disclosed the project and is bound by its rules, which is valuable, but you still need to verify the individual plot's title, the layout approval and that the seller actually owns what they are selling.