Document checklist for property purchase – what you need to know before buying a resale property

by Ramesh Kumar | Sep 20, 2013 | 17 comments

Document checklist for property purchase

Buying a property, is not only buying a dream home but also your investment for life. But it doesn’t take much for it to turn into a nightmare.

Ready to move in with all facilities, which wouldn’t want that?

I have always wanted to buy a property, which will be ready and easy to move in. Who would want to wait for at least two years before the builder got his dream home ready. In the meanwhile he would have to continue paying rent on his current flat and Pre Emi’s.

Plus there was always the chance of the developer over-promising and then not delivering. Typically, every new project has a swimming pool and a clubhouse built into the design at the launch stage, and gradually such things disappear when the time to deliver nears. An old flat does not have any of these risks. “What you see is what you get”.

However, just before the day of registration was getting close, I was having sleepless nights a week before I was supposed to register the property in my name while purchasing an apartment in Bangalore. How would I know if the property was at all in the name of the person to whom I was going to hand over the money. Once this doubt had set in, there were thousands of other whys, where’s and how’s.

Hire A Good Lawyer

So I got in touch with a lawyer and asked his opinion. He gave me a list of documents that I needed to furnish from the seller, he would be checking them and give me a written opinion that the documents are in order and hence a go ahead to buy the property.

Here is the list of documents required:

Absolute sale deed in present seller’s name
Khata certificate & extract from BBMP
Latest tax paid receipt
If any loan outstanding on the property, latest statement from bank
Encumbrance Certificate from date of purchase till date
Agreement of sale & construction executed by developer in favour of seller
Latest electricity bill & receipt for the said flat
NOC from Apartment Association
Sanctioned building plan
Possession/occupancy certificate from builder
All title documents of land owner
Joint development agreement, GPA, & Sharing/supplementary Agreement, between land owner and builder
Whether originals are available for inspection if no loan is taken?
A Copy of all registered previous agreements (in case of re-sale property)
RTC (Records of Rights and Tenancy Corps) or 7/12 extract
Conversion Order issued by the concerned Authority
Registered development agreement (If in case of Joint Development Property)
Power of attorney/s if any
Photocopy of Society share certificate & Society registration certificate.

So what I was confirmed about after I got the property documents are:

The seller was the genuine owner of the property
The documents were genuine, hence no fraudulent deals

Few other things to ensure if you are buying a resale land are;

Ensure A Clear Title :

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, you need to obtain a no- objection certificate from the 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. “The entire chain of agreements should be made available to the buyer

Always insist on the ‘chain of documents’— all the agreements effecting ‘buying and selling of property’ till date since it was constructed.

Can I ever over emphasize the importance of checking the property documents? The answer is No. But can I confirm that I got a good night’s sleep after I got these documents from the seller? The answer is an emphatic Yes! So seek expert advice and make your decisions. “Be Diligent Before Becoming A Litigant”.

Ramesh Kumar

Ramesh Kumar has extensive experience in real estate in a career spanning over a decade. With his critical expertise in sales and marketing, he has successfully launched and closed out projects across a complete spectrum of properties like plots, budget apartments, comfort homes as well as luxury villas.

Ramesh Kumar holds a Post Graduate Diploma in Management from Bombay University and is currently serving as the Deputy General Manager – Marketing & Sales at Vakil Housing.

17 Comments

Narayanaswamy on September 25, 2013 at 8:15 pm

I am planning to buy a flat from Puravankara from their MSA project. Are they a clean builders, having clean legal approach.
Reply
- Nimmy Joseph on April 20, 2015 at 2:26 pm
  
  Hi Narayanaswamy,
  
  Thanks for writing to us, we cannot vouch for any builder . You need to have a proper research done on the documents provided by the builder and also you can hire a proper lawyer to help you with this.
  
  Regards,
  Nimmy
  Reply
HIMANSHU AGARWAL on February 27, 2015 at 2:21 pm

I HAVE TO PURCHASE RESIDENTIAL LAND IN DEVANHALLI KOLLAR ROAD. PRIMEROSE PROJECT BY KADAM GROUP. NEEDS TO IDENTIFY LIST OF DOCUMENTS REQUIRED AND VERIFICATION OF SAME.
Reply
- Nimmy Joseph on March 19, 2015 at 3:17 pm
  
  Hi Himanshu ,
  
  Kindly read this blog post http://www.vakilhousing.com/the-ultimate-checklist-before-moving-into-your-dream-home which will give you list of documents required when buying property .
  
  Hope this helps.
  Reply
ashish patil on May 23, 2015 at 2:43 pm

Dear sir/madam
I will plan to be buying lay out for my investment form land developer .so which document list required to be check for buying a land

Regards
ASHISH PATIL
Reply
- Nimmy Joseph on June 25, 2015 at 12:02 pm
  
  Hi Ashish ,
  
  There are list of documents that are important when you are buying a plot. Some are as below
  – Conversion Certificate
  – Encumbrance certificate
  – Parent Deed
  – Tax paid receipts
  
  To know more about these terms you can subscribe to http://easyhome.vakilhousing.com/easy-legals/ which will help you with all legal information you need in your buying process.
  Reply
Kanchan Poddar on May 31, 2015 at 1:34 am

Is all the documents must be Registered? such as joint venture deed, allocation deed between owner & Developer, Power of attorney . Please tell me urgently.
Reply
- Nimmy Joseph on June 25, 2015 at 12:11 pm
  
  Hi Kanchan ,
  
  Yes, everything needs to be registered as it is between two parties.
  
  Hope this helped!!
  Reply
Madhukar Bangia on November 19, 2015 at 12:31 pm

I intend to buy a flat in Malad East / Gokuldham, Goregaon East on 1st / 3rd resale respectively. What documents are needed from the present owner(seller) for ensuring a safe purchase . Any checks you may suggest. House at Malad East has an outstanding loan from Bank. For goregaon house loan has been repaid.
Reply
- Nimmy Joseph on December 3, 2015 at 4:37 pm
  
  Hi Madhukar,
  
  We would recommend you to discuss this with an local advocate , who will help you list out the documents required.
  
  You can also take help of the lawyers associated with the banks , to guide you on which documents will be required.
  
  Thanks
  Nimmy
  Reply
vasanthkumar on November 29, 2015 at 9:13 am

Greetings Team,
The detail shared is very useful, wanted to check as a seller , if i have these documents is sufficient right?, while selling do i have to pay or take any DD’s 2% of My prosperity value during the transfer process?.
can u please help in sharing any specific info, while doing sales, because my buyer is asking me to pay for this?.
best regards,
Vasanth
Reply
- Nimmy Joseph on December 3, 2015 at 4:30 pm
  
  Hi Vasanth Kumar
  
  May be you might have not transfer the Khatha in your name, if you have to transfer the khatha in your name you have to pay 2% DD in favour of “BBMP” on your sale deed value (I.e the sale deed in your name). If your selling the property and value is more than 50 lakhs then your buyer has to deduct 1% of sale value and pay TDS to Income Tax Department directly on your behalf and produce challan to you for your reference before registration.
  Thanks,
  
  Regards,
  Nimmy
  Reply
Jeetendra on March 9, 2016 at 4:11 pm

Hi,

Do you know of any lawyer in Pune area who could help out with the purchase of a resale flat?
Reply
- Nimmy Joseph on March 28, 2016 at 2:00 pm
  
  Hi Jeetendra,
  
  Appreciate you writing to us. However we do not have information of lawyers in Pune .
  
  Thanks
  Nimmy
  Reply
chintan on May 16, 2016 at 3:22 am

hello nimmy,
i would like to buy resale (its seconded resale) property in Ahmadabad,
could you please guide me for property document check list which one is most important

thanks
chintan
Reply
- Nimmy Joseph on May 20, 2016 at 3:50 pm
  
  Hi Chintan ,
  
  Apologies we are well versed with Bangalore Real Estate , and not Ahmedabad. As each place has different set of documents I will not be able to help you with this
  
  Thanks
  Nimmy
  Reply
Ganesh Godik on March 23, 2017 at 5:41 am

Helpful information
Reply