Check the credentials of your new property

Steps to investigate the genuineness of the title deeds of the property are indicated below:

Invitation of Claims

The buyer advertises inviting any claims on the property in the form of a mortgage, charge, lease, lien, easement, gift, trust or any other claim. If the buyer does not get any response to the advertisement in the form of a claim within a certain number of days, he can assume that no claim exists on the property.

However, a genuine claimant may have missed the advertisement and merely advertising does not invalidate his claim. However, the fact that the buyer has advertised is proof enough about his being a genuine purchaser.

Search at the Sub-Registrar's Office

The buyer's lawyer engages a search clerk to conduct a search on all the registered records pertaining to the property with the sub-Registrar for the last 30 years, to find out if there are any past disputed claims on the property.

Enquiry at Municipal Corporation

The buyer should ensure that all municipal taxes such as water tax, municipality bills and other such items have been paid by the seller up to the time of sale. Such enquiry should be made from the concerned Municipal Corporation. It is imperative that the buyer makes these enquiries failing which, liability if any, will become his. He will have to pay the municipality for taxes due from the seller because such taxes have a first charge on the property giving the municipality the right to sell the property to collect its taxes.

Enquiry with the Ward office

Check out with the ward office where the property is situated whether:

If the owner of the property is deceased

In this case, the purchase must ask the seller for any will, whether probated or not, left by the deceased owner.

A clear title is a very important aspect in a home loan a property should be free for all encumbrances/encroachments (terms ) - Clear title, Encumbrance, Title deeds.