LEGAL REQUIREMENT BEFORE PURCHASING A PROPERTY.

The following are the basic requirement before purchasing a property.

I. Tracing of title for a Minimum period of forteen years,

Examples.

a) A purchaser intends to purchase a property at Alwarpet. The vendor of the property purchased the same in the year 2000. In this case, it is required to verify the title Deeds of the previous vendors tracing from 1993 or above. In case, the previous title deed is in the year 1888 then the same should be verified.

b) One Ramasamy purchased the property in the year 1964. He died leaving behind his wife and 2 sons and a daughter. The legal heirs of Ramasamy sold the property to Krishnan in the year 2001, the said Krishnan as vendor intended to sell the property to our client. In this case, Sale Deed as of 1964, Legal heirship certificate of Ramasamy and Sale Deed dt. 2001 should be verified.

II. Encumbrance Certificate:

a) An upto date NIL EC for a Minimum Period of 14 yrs is required.

It is required to check whether any Mortgage or charge reflects in EC, if so check whether the same has been discharged.

In case of existing mortgage, the vendor and the purchaser of the property can enter into an agreement for discharge of mortgage out of the sale consideration to be paid to the vendor by the purchaser.

In case of Equitable Mortgage also known as Mortgage by deposit of title Deeds with the Bank or any individual, check whether the mortgage has been discharged and the original title documents are in the hands of the vendor. Entry of equitable mortgage will not reflect in EC unless a Memorandum of entry for deposit of title deeds is registered in five thousand Rupees non-judicial stamp paper registered in concerned Sub-Registrar Office.

b) In case of attachment of property by order of court reflects in EC then, check whether the same has been raised. If not it is not advisable to proceed further.



III. Revenue Records:

Check whether Patta, Chitta, Adangal and other revenue records are issued in the name of the vendor. Patta is the essential document. The extent mentioned in the patta should match with the extent mentioned in title documents.


IV. Property Tax Receiept:

In case of house property or resale of a flat, It is required to verify whether the property tax receipts stands in the name of vendor and no tax dues were pending.

V. Approvals:

In case of land to be purchased, check whether Lay-out Approval for the subject property has been obtained from the concerned issuing authority.

VI. Building Plan Approval:

Building Plan Approval should be verified before purchasing a building. Check whether the seal of issuing authority and local authority is obtained. Example, The subject property is at Madipakkam, then, the approval of Tambaram Municipality and Madipakkam first grade Panchayat is required. In case of a property at Alwarpet – approval of CMDA and Corporation of Chennai is required.

VII. Acquisition Proceedings:

It is advisable to verify whether the subject property is under any acquisition or any proceedings for acquisition is pending. In case of property situated at coastal area, It is required to check whether the property does not affected by any of the provisions of coastal regulations.

VIII. Lis pendens:

“Caveate emptor” which means ‘Buyer should always beware’. The purchaser should verify whether the property intends to be purchased is under any litigation.


It is always predominant for every purchaser to verify that the subject property is a freehold property and free from encumbrances. It is required to verify all the original documents before purchasing a property and to visit the concerned SRO to enquire about the property, its location and its present guideline value.