Approved property: the documents and approvals to check before you buy

This is general information, not legal advice. Names, rules and offices differ by state and city, and they change. Have a lawyer read the documents for any purchase, and confirm each item with the issuing authority.

Two different questions sit behind every property purchase. First: does the seller really own it? Second: was it built or laid out with the permissions the law requires? Different papers answer each one, and a buyer needs both.

Papers that show who owns it

• The sale deed or title deed in the seller's name, and the earlier deeds that show how ownership reached them.
• An encumbrance certificate, which shows whether the property has loans or other claims registered against it.
• The property tax receipts and the local authority's own record of the owner, such as the khata or mutation entry.

Approvals that show the land is allowed to be developed

• Land use: the land must be permitted for the use you intend, and farmland needs to have been converted for residential use.
• Layout approval: for a plot, the layout should be sanctioned by the planning authority. Read about DTCP approved plots and BDA approved sites in Bengaluru.

Approvals that show the building is legal

• A sanctioned building plan, and a commencement certificate that allowed construction to start.
• A completion certificate and an occupancy certificate once the building is finished.
• For new projects, a RERA registration and the number that goes with it.

A simple order to work through

1. Ask the seller for copies of every paper above before you pay a token amount.
2. Check each approval with the authority that issued it, not only on the copy you were given.
3. Check that names, plot or flat numbers and survey details match across every document.
4. Have a lawyer read the title and the approvals, and ask what is missing.
5. Pay only after the agreement spells out what you are buying and what happens if a paper turns out to be wrong.

What approvals can and cannot tell you

An approval shows that an authority examined the plan or the building against its rules, which lowers the risk of buying something that cannot be built on, financed or sold. It does not prove that the seller owns the property, that the price is fair, or that the work is good. That is why the title papers and your own visit still matter.

Bhavano checks listings before they go live but does not verify land or building documents. Read how we check listings and what we don't verify. Then browse plots for sale or apartments for sale, and see our guides on buying a plot and on ready-to-move or under-construction homes.