Buying Home/Land - Legal documents

Owning a house is an important thing in ones life. However, one needs to be careful while buying land/ house to avoid falling into legal hassles. A lot of care is needed from the beginning- right from site seeing till the registration of the land.

The legal status of the land is one of the first issues that you should address before confirming a property. Don't give any advance before getting confirmation about the legal status of the property.

Before buying a land, a number of checks needs to be done to confirm that the land has a clear and marketable title. The first thing is to find out the tenure, legal right of the holder of the land in government records.

The tenure or possession right could be free hold, leasehold or may be held under a government grant or 'sanad'. Freehold land is always most preferable. The seller should provide all the necessary documents to the buyer.

Title deeds

The first step is to see the title deed of the land which you are going to buy. Confirm whether the land is in the name of the seller and that the full right to sell the land lies with only him and no other person. Don't be satisfied with the Xerox copy of the title deed. Insist on seeing the Original Deed.

Sometimes the seller may have taken a loan by pledging the original deed. It also needs checking whether the seller has permitted any entry/access to others through this land and whether any other fact has been suppressed/left undisclosed by the owner of the land. It is better to get the original deed examined by a lawyer.

Along with the title deed, the buyer can also demand to see the previous deeds of the land available with the seller.

Tax receipt and bills

Property taxes which are due to the government or municipality are a first charge on the property and, therefore, enquiries must next be made in government and municipal offices to ascertain whether all taxes have been paid up to date.

The owner should also possess the latest tax paid receipts, which you may inspect. Enquiries should also be made in various departments of the municipality to ascertain whether any notices or requisitions relating to the property have been issued and are outstanding and not yet complied with.

While inspecting the property tax receipt, it can be noted that there are two columns in the tax receipt. Make sure that the name entered in the owner's column is correct. The second column will be for the name of the one who paid the tax.

Sometime the owner may not have the tax receipt with him, in such cases, contact the village office with the survey no. of the land and confirm the original owner of the land. If you are buying a house along with the property, then the house tax receipt should also be checked.

Also ensure that the electricity and water bills are up-to-date and if there any is balance payment to be made, ensure that it is made by the seller.

Encumbrance Certificate

Before buying any land or house, it is important to confirm that the land does not have any legal dues. It is available as a certificate called encumbrance from the sub registrar office where the deed has been registered, stating that the said land does not have any legal dues and complaints.

The encumbrance certificate for the past thirteen years should be taken or for more clarification, you could demand 30 years encumbrance certificate to be checked. If you still have anymore doubts, you can take a Possession Certificate of the ownership of the particular land, which is available from the village office.

Pledged land

Some people may have taken loan from the bank by pledging their land. Ensure that the seller has paid back all the amounts due. Don't get satisfied with the receipt of the payment made. A release certificate from the bank is necessary to release all the debts over the land legally.

You could buy a land without the release certificate. But if you want to take a loan in future, the release certificate is a must.

Measuring the land

It is advisable to measure the land before registering the land in your name. Ensure that the measurements of the plot and its borders are accurate. You can do this with the help of a recognized surveyor. This will avoid a lots of problems in the future. You could also take the Survey Sketch of the land from the Survey Department and compare for accuracy.

More than one owner

In some cases, the land will be owned by more than one people. So before registering, check if there is more than one owner, and if there is, get release certificate from the other people involved.

Buying land from NRI land owners

A person staying abroad can also sell his land in India by giving a Power of Attorney to a third person authorising him the right to sell the land on his behalf. But in such cases, the power of attorney should be witnessed and duly signed by an officer in the Indian embassy in his province. There is no legal support for Power of attorney signed by a notary public.

Agreement

Once all the matters, financial/otherwise are settled between the parties, it is better to give an advance and write an agreement.

This ensures that the owner does not change his word regarding the cost as well as make a sale to someone else who offers more money. The agreement should be written in 50 Rs stamp paper. The agreement should state the actual cost, the advance amount, the time span within which the actual sale should take place and how to proceed in case of any default from either parties, to cover the loss.

The agreement can be prepared by a lawyer and should be signed by both the parties and two witnesses. After signing the agreement if one of the parties make a default, the other party can take legal action against him.

Registration

The land can be registered in a sub registrar office, after preparing the title deed including all the relevant information. You could get the title deed written by a government licensed Document writer. Even lawyers can prepare the deed, but the document can only be computer printed or typed, not handwritten. Handwritten documents can be prepared by only those who hold the scribe license.

A draft should be prepared before actually writing the document in stamp paper. Make sure all the details mentioned are accurate. If there is incorrectness in the document after registering, a secondary document with the correct details has to be registered and depending on the incorrectness, the registration expenses will be repeated.

Make sure that the deed is registered within the time limit mentioned in the agreement. Original title deed, Previous deeds, Property/House Tax receipts, Torence Plan (optional) etc plus two witnesses are needed for registering the property.

Torence plan is a detailed plan of the property prepared by a licensed Surveyor which will have accurate details of the measurements including width, length, borders etc. This plan is needed only in some specific areas.

For land costing more than five lakhs, the seller should submit either his Pan card or Form Number 16 during registration.

The expenses involved during registration include Stamp Duty, registration fees, Document writers/ lawyers fees etc. The stamp duty will depend on the cost of the property and varies from Municipality to Corporation to Panchayat. In Panchayat the stamp duty will be 4% of the cost of the land whereas in Municipality it is 5% and in Corporation 6%.

Two percentage will be charged as the registration fees. Document writers fees also depend on the cost of the property and varies with individuals. There is a percentage prescribed by the government as Document writers fee and they cannot charge more than the prescribed limit.

After registration, the registered document will be received after 2-3 weeks, from the registrar office.

Changing the title in Village office:

The whole legal procedure of buying the property will be complete only if the new owners name is added in the village office records. An application can be made along with the copy of the registered deed to the Village office to get this done.

A home is where you live your life

A home is where you live your life, your own place to unwind and revive. Building your own home is a life time dream and once in a life time experience. It can be compared to the birds building their nests by gathering together smalls twigs and branches of trees.

Tremendous effort and thoughtful planning is needed for the same. Most of the people are not aware about how to go about building a house and from where to start.

A lot of things needs to be done like estimating costs and time, dealing with architects and contractors, locating and buying land, securing home loans - if the funds are insufficient, selecting building materials, overseeing construction etc.

Know your limits & Budget

Knowing your limits is essential before you build a house. A house is the biggest savings in a man's life. So it is important to invest money wisely for building a house. Discuss with your family about the needs. Consider your household, present and future.

You should also have a clear idea about your savings for the home and how much you can generate from the loans and other sources. Your needs and your budget should balance out. Friends/relatives who have recently built a house can help you a lot.

Select a good location

The first step to build a house is to find a good location and land. Before you can even begin to look at a plot you must have a clear idea about the style of the home that you are going to build and the facilities. Look at real estate classifieds or talk to agents. If you are putting an advertisement in classifieds, be specific about your requirements for the land to avoid confusion.

The size of the home you require, will have an enormous impact on the nature of the plot you will be looking for. It is best to get the land you are planning to buy, assessed by an expert or engineer.

You should also check out the civic amenities like drainage, sewerage, garbage disposal systems, roads and transport links, proximity to market, post offices, schools, medical facilities, power availability and even atmospheric pollution.

The access to the site is important as it can save a lot of money, if the building materials could be brought directly to the plot. It is advisable to look for less expensive land further away from the city centre to reduce land cost. Check whether the land is affected by any road widening scheme or any specific reservations for public amenities.

Planning the design

You need to determine exactly what you need and want in your new home. Consider the major elements you would like in your new home, the style, the number of floors, the total area, the number of bedrooms and baths, size of the sitting room, car porch, kitchen etc. You probably have a design in your mind. Discuss with your family and ask for their opinion.

You can discuss with the friends/ relatives who have recently build a house about their experience and the cost they incurred. From that you could get an idea whether your plan will fit your budget. It is a good idea to analyze the positive and negative features of the house you lived in before. You will also want to choose a plan that suits the area in which you're planning to build.

Selecting Architect /Engineers

A good architect can build your dream home within your budget. It is important to find a good architect when you start planning seriously to build a house. A good architect doesn't mean, a busy person who have lots of offices and built so many houses nearby your area.

Instead of that you have to find out the one who is able to and has the time to, listen to your dreams and wishes about your home, make you understand the errors in your design, consider your needs and create a cost affective aesthetic design based on specific needs.

He should be able to handle layout problems or budget problems by suggesting good alternatives and that is also within your budget and then overall he must be a person who is able to understand you well. Ask your friends/relatives who have recently built their own homes about the architects/engineers they engaged. If they were reliable in terms of time as well as expense they estimated and the overall construction was satisfactory, you could make a choice among them.

One you have decided on the architect, give the details of your budget and also about your plan about the floorings, bathrooms, bed rooms etc. Fix the rate and terms of the payment before work starts. If you have any future plans like extension, partitioning, renting out etc. discuss them with the architect. It is better to ask for 2-3 plans of your idea and choose the best from that.

Choosing contractors

After selecting the architect and finalizing the design, then comes the most important part of your house building. That is choosing a good contractor and starting the work. When each brick is laid with cement and mortar, you can see your dream taking shape in front of your eyes.

Choosing a contractor is as important as choosing an architect. When you choose a contractor it is important to know about his previous work, his responsibilities, materials supplied by him etc. Compare the rates and terms quoted to you with at least three other contractors. It is advisable to check the contractors registration. Visit the contractors present work sites and get satisfied with his work. Fix the rate and terms of the payment before work starts.

Usually most of the building contractors could get all your paperwork done - like plan approvals, approvals for power connection, water connection etc. Once the construction work starts, you have to ensure that you make timely payments and visit the site daily to make sure that no unpleasant surprises are in store for you later.

The architects and contractors should have a real understanding between them. That is important for the smooth functioning of the construction work. There are some architectural firms who have all the facilities to handle the construction also. In such cases, one does not need to look out for a separate contractor.