Buyer’s Checklist
The short version
- The document set differs sharply between an apartment, a plot, and a resale property. A generic checklist misses the ones that matter.
- Collect documents before the token advance. After it, your negotiating position is gone.
- Four documents do most of the work: mother deed, current sale deed, encumbrance certificate, khata.
- For under-construction property, add RERA registration, commencement certificate and approved plan.
- If the seller cannot produce a document, that itself is information. Note it rather than moving on.
Not sure what you should be asking for?
Share what the seller has handed over and we’ll help you work out what’s still missing.
Sellers and brokers hand over a folder and call it “all the papers.” It usually is not. What is in the folder is whatever the seller happened to keep — and the documents most likely to be missing are precisely the ones that reveal a problem.
This is the list, organised by what you are actually buying.
The four core documents
Whatever you are buying, start here. If these four are not available and consistent with each other, nothing further on the list matters.
| Document | What to look at | Red flag |
|---|---|---|
| Mother deed | Whether the property described matches the property you are buying | Not available at all; boundaries or measurements don’t reconcile |
| Current sale deed | Seller’s name, mode of acquisition, registration details | Seller’s name differs from the khata or the tax receipts |
| Encumbrance certificate | Entries over 30 years; any charge not shown as released | A mortgage entry with no corresponding release entry |
| Khata certificate + extract | Whose name it stands in; A khata or B khata | Still in a previous or deceased owner’s name |
Ask for the encumbrance certificate yourself rather than accepting the seller’s copy. Order it for the full 30-year period, not the two- or three-year extract that gets produced most often. A short EC hides exactly the history you are trying to see.
Buying an apartment
- Approved building plan — compare the sanctioned floors and layout against what actually stands. Deviations are common and consequential.
- Commencement certificate — confirms construction was authorised to begin.
- Occupancy certificate — the one most often missing in buildings older than about fifteen years.
- Land title of the project — the developer’s own title to the land the building sits on, not just your unit’s deed.
- Society or association documents — formation, share certificate where applicable, and the no-dues position.
- Maintenance dues statement — arrears attach to the unit and become yours.
- Parking allocation — check how it is documented, not just what you were shown.
Missing the occupancy certificate?
It’s common, and not always a dealbreaker. We can explain what it means in your situation.
Buying a plot
Plots carry more document risk than apartments, because there is no developer who has already been through an approval process on your behalf.
- Conversion order — proof the land was converted from agricultural to non-agricultural use. Absent this, everything built on it sits on a defect.
- Approved layout plan — the plot must appear in an approved layout, with its number matching.
- Survey sketch and measurements — check the actual dimensions against the deed. Discrepancies of a few feet are routine and matter.
- Revenue records — RTC / pahani entries showing the ownership history on the revenue side.
- Release certificate where the land was previously under any acquisition proposal.
- Betterment charges paid receipt where applicable.
- Physical inspection — boundaries on the ground versus boundaries on paper, and whether anyone is in occupation.
A plot marketed as being in a “DC converted layout” should come with the actual conversion order, not a verbal assurance or a broker’s listing. Ask for the order number and date. If it cannot be produced, treat the property as unconverted until proven otherwise.
Under construction
Buying from a developer before completion shifts the risk from title to delivery. The document set reflects that.
- RERA registration number — verify it on the Karnataka RERA portal yourself. Check the registered completion date against what the sales team told you.
- Commencement certificate — construction cannot lawfully begin without it.
- Approved plan for the whole project, not just a brochure floor plate.
- Developer’s title to the land and, where it is a joint development, the development agreement and the sharing arrangement.
- The agreement to sell itself — payment schedule tied to construction milestones rather than dates, and what happens on delay.
- Bank approval list — if no major lender has approved the project, ask why.
Resale specifics
Resale is where most avoidable problems live, because the chain is longer and nobody has examined it since the last transaction.
- Every intermediate deed, not just the seller’s own. A gap two owners back is still a gap.
- Where the property came through inheritance: the death certificate, the legal heirship position, and — critically — whether all heirs have joined the sale. One heir selling alone cannot pass full ownership.
- Where a partition happened: the partition deed, registered.
- Where the sale is through power of attorney: whether the POA is registered, still in force, and actually authorises sale rather than just management.
- Loan closure documents if the property was ever mortgaged — the release, registered, not just a bank NOC letter.
When to ask for what
-
Before you make an offer
Ask for the current sale deed, khata and a recent tax receipt. Three documents, five minutes to read, and they tell you whether the seller is who they say they are.
Early stage -
Before the token advance
Full document set and a verification. This is the last point at which walking away is still simple. Almost everyone gets this order wrong.
The critical step -
Before the sale agreement
Any gaps found should be resolved, priced in, or written into the agreement as conditions the seller must satisfy before registration.
Leverage point -
Before registration
Fresh encumbrance certificate covering the period since your first search. Confirms nothing new has been registered against the property in the interim.
Final check
Three expensive myths
“The bank checked it, so it’s fine”
The bank confirmed the property is adequate security for the amount it is lending. That is a narrower question than whether you are getting clean, transferable ownership. Banks fund properties with approval gaps routinely, because their exposure is covered by the margin.
“It’s a reputed builder, so there’s no need”
Developer reputation reduces delivery risk. It does not eliminate title risk on the underlying land, particularly in joint development projects where the landowner’s title is the foundation of everything above it.
“The EC is clear, so the property is clear”
An encumbrance certificate records registered transactions. Unregistered agreements, family arrangements and disputes that never reached the registry will not appear on it. A clear EC is necessary. It is not sufficient.
Common questions
The seller won’t share documents before I pay a token. Is that normal?
It is common, and it is worth pushing back on. A seller with clean papers has no reason to withhold them. If the position is firm, a small refundable token with a written condition that it returns in full if documents do not check out is a reasonable middle ground — get that condition in writing before paying.
How long does it take to collect all of this?
What the seller holds should arrive within a few days. Records you order yourself — encumbrance certificate, khata extract, revenue records — typically take three to seven working days in Bengaluru depending on the office and the period requested.
Is a B khata property worth buying?
Sometimes, at the right price. The constraints are real: most lenders will not fund it, building approvals are difficult, and resale is to a smaller pool of cash buyers. If you are buying to hold and use, and the discount genuinely reflects those constraints, it can be a rational decision. The failure mode is discovering it after registration.
Can I verify these documents myself?
You can obtain most of them yourself through the Karnataka government portals. Reading them against each other is the harder part — checking whether the property described in a 1994 deed is the same property described in a 2019 deed, or whether a release entry actually corresponds to the mortgage it is supposed to discharge.
Want a second pair of eyes on the paperwork?
We’ll help you understand what your documents show. Bengaluru and across Karnataka.
Rightium provides property document verification and due diligence reports. This article is a general checklist and is not a substitute for a verification report on your specific property. Requirements vary with property type, location and the condition of available records.