All documents must be verified for a clear title before buying a property. A property without a clear title may attract many complications in the future and may even affect your very ownership of the property.

A property lacking a clear title may find it difficult to get a bank loan. It may prove to be complicated to transfer share certificates of the society to your name. Selling the property later to a third party would be difficult.

You must check, double check and recheck the following documents before buying any property:

1. Documents pertaining to Land
2. Documents pertaining to Project / Building
3. Documents pertaining to Premises
4. Documents pertaining to Flats

Stamp Duty:
Stamp duty must be paid as per the true market value as assessed by the registration office. This amount varies from state to state. Before the execution of an agreement, it needs to be unsigned and undated and stamps have to be affixed on the agreement by the stamp office. A stamp duty paid document is admitted as evidence in courts. All registration offices make available a Stamp Duty Ready Reckoner, which is a public document. All documents should be fully stamped as per the Stamp Duty Ready Reckoner and made sure that proper stamp duty has been paid.

Registration:
For the registration, one should go to the registration office assigned to your area along with all the related original documents and one complete set of Photostat copies.

The documents must be printed or typed on one side only and in black color. Photocopies should be taken on only one side of the page and the pages must be of 90 GSM thickness. There should be a butter paper between the two sheets of the photocopies.

Apart from properly executed and fully stamp duty paid documents, the following papers are also required to complete the registration process.

1. No Objection Certificate (NOC) under the Urban Land Ceiling Act if the area of the land transferred exceeds the maximum limit.
2. If the land belongs to a government or semi-government body or to a charitable trust then a No Objection Certificate from the government or that particular semi-government body or the charitable trust must be produced.
3. Property Card of the land on which the property is being registered is situated. This is required irrespective of whether the land is sold or the building is being sold or any other part of the building is being sold and also irrespective of whether the seller of the property is recorded as the owner on the property card or not. In other words, even the flat owners are expected to produce this paper at the time of registration. or not. In other words, even the flat owners are expected to produce this paper at the time of registration.
4. If the property being sold/purchased is in a old building and the benefit of depreciation is to be claimed on the market value, then any one of the following documents should be produced as the proof of the old construction:
   • Municipal Assessment Bill of the building
   • Building Completion Certificate
   • Original registered agreement between the builder and original purchaser of that flat or of any other flat in that building
   • If the building is very old and proper depreciation is not being given by the sub-registrar, then it would be better to get the document adjudicated, for which,
          a) Original stamp duty payment receipt should be produced,
          b) Two witnesses should be present, and
         c) Registration fees and computer service charges should be paid in cash to the sub-registrar at the time of registration.

For a hassle-free registration of the documents at the sub-registrar’s office:

1. Bring the complete list of documents along with other documents above.
2. Submit the documents along with the input form at the token window and get the token number.
3. Wait till the token number is announced.
4. On token number being announced, all parties to the document must present themselves before the sub-registrar to admit the execution of the document, to be photographed, thumb impression and signature taken on an additional sheet of paper in the presence of the sub-registrar.
5. Pay the required registration fees and computer service charges in cash as per the receipt (Computer service charges are @ Rs.20 per page).
6. The document will be returned within 30 minutes of getting the receipt.
7. Please deal only with the officers and the staff of the registration department who display government identity card with a government seal.