1. As the title of the property forms the foundation of proprietary rights it must be clear and free from any encumbrance. Before you buy a property, verify the title of the seller. A search of the records at the sub-registrar’s office may be carried out for documents that may affect the property and may have been registered .The report will show the recorded owner of title of the property and changes in the title of the property.

2. If the sale documents are being executed by a person holding power of attorney on behalf of the owner, the said power of attorney should be scrutinized closely. The person must not only possess the legal power to sell property, the power of attorney should also be validly executed before the appropriate authority. An agreement holder who also has a power of attorney to sell the land and/or building is normally a developer. Alternatively, a person may have paid the entire consideration to the owner and holds on to the property for some time to sell it at a later date for a profit. The sale will be effected by the power of attorney holder on behalf of the owner. Such power of attorney must be properly stamped and registered.

3. Always inspect the copy of the documents of the seller against the certified copies and read all the documents carefully before signing them.

4. Always verify documents of title to check payment of stamp duty. If the ownership of property has changed hands more than once, examine all the documents for payment of stamp duty by the predecessors.

5. Last but not least, engage a lawyer to carry the above process of due diligence.

1) ask seller to produce original agreement with builder

2) issue of share certificate by society

3)building completion certificate or OC issued by BMC

4) NOC from society for sale of flat

5) no dues certificate issued by society

Hi, Normally in the scrutiny of the documents we will verify the 30 years of the documents,

E.g, Previous sale deeds and other documents.

2. It is better you can get the opinion of the advocate and proceed further.

The documents were genuine, hence no fraudulent deals. So ask the seller to provide all original documents for perusal. Things you should check before buying a resale flat.

List of documents required

1. Sale deed (Present Title deed) in name of present seller.

2. Encumbrance Certificate from date of purchase till date

3. Latest tax receipt and electricity bill & receipt for the said flat

4. NOC from the society for sale of the flat and Share certificates issued by the society if any.

5. Mother Deed’ or parent document

6. Agreement of sale & construction executed by developer in favour of seller(Ask to produce original agreement with builder)

7. Khata certificate & extract from BBMP

8. Sanctioned building plan

9. Possession/occupancy certificate from builder

10. Joint development agreement, GPA, & Sharing/supplementary Agreement, between land owner and builder

11. Power of attorney/s if any

Below is a list of documents that are required when you apply for a Home Loan for buying property from coopertaive society:

Certificate of the registration of the society.

Copy of the byelaws of the society.

The latest receipts of taxes paid.

Allotment letter from the society in your name.

Original share certificate of the Society.

No objection certificate from the society.

Copies of stamped receipts of payments made to previous sellers

Copy of the lease deed, if executed.

Commencement certificate granted by Corporation.

7/12 extract or property register card in the society’s name. 7/12 extract is issued by the concerned land authorities giving details such as the survey numbers, area, date from which current owner is registered as owner etc.

Copy of N.A permission for the land from the collector.

Search and title report (with the details of documents) for the last 30 years.

Copy of order under the Urban Land ceiling Act.

Copy of the building plans sanctioned by the competent authority.

Original Agreement to assign / Deed of assignment.

A property with clear documentation and title commands a higher price in the market compared to one with a title defect. Ensure that you are dealing with the right seller and that the seller has discharged all his liabilities. Following is a checklist that helps you to buy a flat or property from a cooperative housing society.

Sale Deed ensure a Clear Title:

Sale Deed: One of the core legal documents that evidence the proof of property sale and transfer of ownership between the seller and the buyer is the Sale Deed. It is important that a Sale Deed should be registered and before it is executed, one should execute a ‘sale agreement’ and should ensure that all the conditions between the seller and the buyer are complied with. Also, before the sale agreement is executed, the buyer should check for a clear title and whether the property has any encumbrance charges on it.

This document will help you ascertain whether the flat in an apartment complex which you are buying, is on land belonging to the society/ builder/development authority in which the property is located. The first step is to see the title deed of the land which you are going to buy. Confirm whether the land is in the name of the seller and that the full right to sell the land lies with only him and no other person. It is better to get the original deed examined by experts. Along with the title deed, the buyer can also demand to see the previous deeds of the land available with the seller.

This is the most important aspect to be considered before buying a house. If you are buying a house on a leasehold land or land owned by government, do check for the non-objection certificate from competent authorities. To get such a certificate, you may have to pay prescribed fees which will further inflate the consideration for the property.The other most important thing is the entire history of agreements pertaining to that property.

Mother Deed( Previous document)

This document issued by the Sub Registrar's office mentions the names of the sellers & purchasers of the property, for which the document is registered. This is also known as the parent document, Mother Deed is the second most important document that traces and evidences the origin/antecedent ownership of the property from the beginning, in case the property has changed various hands. Mother Deed also helps in smooth selling of the property by establishing the current ownership. The document consists of the change of ownership of the property via sale, gift, partition or inheritance. All such changes will be traced from a transfer document through a uniform sequence in a chronological order without breaking the sequence flow. If there is a broken sequence, one should refer to the records from the registering offices, revenue records or the recitals (preamble) in other documents and should update the sequence until the present owner. However, if the original Mother Deed is missing, one should obtain the certified copies from the registering authorities.

Encumbrance certificate

Encumbrance means the charges or liabilities created on a particular property, whereby it is held as a security for any debt of its owner which has not been discharged as on date. An Encumbrance Certificate denotes the charges in the ownership or liabilities created on a property that is held against a home loan as security. The document consists of all the registered transactions pertaining to the property for a particular period/sought period. This certificate that is sought for a particular period evidences the property purchase/sale, the presence of any transaction or mortgage for that particular period.

The certificate can be obtained from the concerned Sub-Register Office on an application in a prescribed form provided by the authority’s .In the normal course it will take around 2 weeks for obtaining the certificate. Government Authorities and Financial Institution like bank, etc... Demand 13 years of encumbrance. There will be a nominal fee for obtain, it depending upon the number of years. In an emergency there is a provision for paying “double fees" for getting it immediately. This certificate will show the genuiness of owner’s title. The normal course the certificate will be full proof document, but there can be clerical errors from the Sub-Registrar Office, our vigilances can check this error. Therefore, it is always advisable to inspect the property personally and to verify and confirm that the original title documents are available with property owner. Some additional safeguards like paper notification, searching in jurisdictional courts for any pending cases would be useful.

Latest tax receipt

All the properties that fall under the BBMP attract property tax that has to be mandatorily paid to obtain a Khata in the owner’s name. The latest tax paid receipts are a proof that the property tax is paid up-to-date to the municipality.Proof of payment of all municipal taxes, society charges and electricity bills up to date to make sure there are no outstanding dues. However, a buyer should ensure to make enquiries with the Village /municipal authorities to see whether all the dues are cleared by the seller on the property. Also the buyer should demand for the latest original tax paid receipts and bills and check for the owner’s details, the tax payer’s details and the date of property tax payment on the receipt. In case the seller does not possess the tax receipt, the buyer can obtain one from the municipal body by providing the property survey number. Apart from this, the buyer should also check if other bills such as the electricity bill, water bill and other utility bills are paid up-to-date by the seller.

Khata certificate & extract from BBMP

Khata is nothing but a property account of a person. Khata consists of Khata Certificate and Khata Extract. The Khata Certificate is a crucial document needed at the time of registering a new property/transfer of a property. Furthermore the Khata is widely referred to as ‘A’ Khata and ‘B’ Khata (Revenue records extract). An ‘A’ Khata has properties listed under BBMP jurisdiction with legal property construction, whereas a ‘B’ Khata has properties under local jurisdiction with violated property constructions. It is always wise to buy properties with an A Khata as it denotes a legal construction, besides a B Khata can always be converted to an A Khata through various schemes and the payment of a penalty to the municipality. However, a Khata Extract is nothing but obtaining the property details from the assessment registrar and is important at the time of property buying and acquiring trade license.

Occupancy Certificate (for a constructed property):

An Occupancy Certificate is obtained after the completion of a project construction by a builder. It is given only after the authorities carry out an inspection on the property. The certificate evidences that the project constructed by the builder has met all the given norms. An Occupancy Certificate will be needed at the time of property buying, seeking a home loan, before taking the property possession and for Khata transfer. It basically confirms that the project is ready to be occupied.

Building approval plan:

Without a building approval plan, a building will be deemed as an illegal construction.It is important that the building owner gets the approved plan from the jurisdictional Commissioner/ an officer authorized by such Commissioner. The authorities sanction a building approval plan taking into consideration the zonal classification, road width, floor area ratio and plot depth. One can obtain a building approval plan by submitting a set of documents such as the Title Deed, property assessment extract, property PID number, survey sketch (from the Department of Survey and Settlement and Land Records), up-to-date tax paid receipt, earlier sanctioned plans (if any), property drawings,

Possession Certificate :

A Possession Certificate has to be mandatorily issued by the Builder / Developer to the first owner. A PC confirms proper construction and allows people to take possession of the property. This document is not reissued at the time of resale; however, it is passed on to the successive owner.

Conversion Order/ DC Conversion (agricultural to residential):

A Conversion Certificate or a DC (District Commissioner) certificate is acquired to change the property status from an agricultural land use to a non-agricultural land use viz., residential use or industrial use. The Conversion Certificate plays an important role especially in cities with vast areas of agricultural land. It is issued by a competent authority by requesting the department of Town and Country Planning to issue a NOC for the conversion of such a land. In order to get a DC Conversion Certificate, the land owner should submit various documents such as ownership documents, a photo copy of the land survey number, a photo copy of the revenue survey map of the village denoting the location of the land proposed for conversion and any other information required by the authority.

NOC from the society for sale of the flat ( to make sure the society is formed and is in existence)

Share certificates issued by the society.

Resale might require dealing with some mandatory expenses like registration fees, stamp charges, transfer fees, utility transfer fees and real-estate agent fees among many others.

Sometimes, the previous owner may not have cleared the dues with the society or building management, which would need to be doled out by the new owners. The other corollaries might include minor expenses allotted towards home makeover, parking/security charges, society membership fees and a couple of other overheads.

There are some areas that need attention when purchasing a flat from the resale market.

Checking the documentation carefully is the foremost thing that demands due consideration.

It is essential to check whether the seller is the true owner of the property.

It is also vital to ensure that the seller doesn’t have any dues to the society, building or against the house that you may have to pay later.

It is imperative to check the physical condition of the flat before investing your hard earned money into it.

If the flat is mortgaged with a bank, the owner needs to procure a document from the bank affirming that it agrees to give the documents to the buyer upon the full payment of the loan. As soon as you transfer the money to the seller’s account, whether in cash or through home loan, the bank will release the original documents immediately, along with a no-dues certificate.

The above are some of the standard verification to be carried out before venturing into the purchase of of resale flat, also ensure you have a legal opinion too.