Documents to check before buying land or a flat in Chennai
Eleven documents, what each one actually proves, and — more usefully — what it means when one of them is missing.
Updated 19 September 2026
The list
Ask for all of these. A seller who produces them without fuss is telling you something useful; so is one who does not.
| Document | What it proves | If it is missing |
|---|---|---|
| Sale deed, and every parent deed | That title passed, at each step, to the person now selling | A gap in the chain. The single most serious thing on this list |
| Encumbrance certificate | Registered transactions — above all, an undischarged mortgage | You cannot know whether a bank still has a claim |
| Patta / chitta / A-register | Who the Revenue Department treats as holder, and the extent | No cross-check on extent, survey number or possession |
| FMB / survey sketch | The shape and boundaries of the survey number | No way to confirm the land shown is the land described |
| Layout approval (DTCP / CMDA) | The plot is part of an approved layout | Possible unapproved layout — affects loans and resale |
| Building approval | The structure was permitted as built | Deviation risk; banks may decline to fund |
| Property tax receipt | Tax was paid up to the date on the receipt | Arrears may follow the property to you |
| Water tax | Metrowater or local body charges paid to that date | Arrears, and possible difficulty transferring the connection |
| Sewerage tax | Underground drainage charges paid to that date | Same as above |
| Electricity bill | The TNEB connection and who it is billed to | Arrears; also a weak signal about who is really in possession |
| Litigation position | Nothing on its own — an EC is not a litigation search | This one is almost always incomplete. Assume it is |
The three that establish title
The first three rows do the real work, and they answer different questions. Treating them as interchangeable is the most common mistake buyers make.
- The deeds say how ownership arrived at the seller. Trace them backwards: the purchaser named in one deed should be the seller in the next. Banks commonly want that chain shown for thirty years.
- The encumbrance certificate says what claims were registered against the property — a mortgage above all. Check the period it covers before you read the result; a clean certificate over a conveniently short window proves very little.
- The patta says who the Revenue Department collects land revenue from. It is corroboration, not title, and a patta in the seller’s name is weaker evidence than most buyers assume.
Approvals
Layout approval and building approval decide whether what exists on the ground was permitted. They matter twice: a bank may decline to fund an unapproved structure, and an unapproved layout follows you to resale, when your buyer’s bank asks the same question.
Ask which authority approved it — DTCP, CMDA or the local planning authority — and check the approved plan against what is actually built. Deviations are common and range from trivial to unsellable.
Tax and utility dues
Property tax, water, sewerage and electricity sit at the bottom of the list because they are the least likely to sink a purchase and the most likely to be waved away. They still matter, for one reason:
The one nothing on this list covers
Litigation. An encumbrance certificate records registered transactions; a pending suit leaves no trace there unless something about it happened to be registered. Neither the patta nor the deeds will tell you either.
Ask the seller directly and in writing, ask neighbours, and have an advocate search the relevant courts before you commit. Treat any document set as silent on this question, because it is.
Buying a flat rather than land
Most of the list is the same. Four things differ:
- You are buying an undivided share of the land plus a constructed unit, so the patta relates to the project land rather than to your flat.
- You need the promoter’s title to the whole project land, not only your own sale deed.
- Building approval and the approved plan move from optional to essential.
- Check the undivided share stated in your deed is consistent with the total across all units — an over-allotted project is a problem you inherit.
The order to do this in
- Get the survey number and extent from the seller, in writing.
- Pull the patta and a free EC view yourself, before asking the seller for anything. Ten minutes, and it tells you whether the basics hold up.
- Ask for the full document set above.
- Read them against each other — names, survey numbers, extents, dates.
- Take the mismatches, and the list of what is missing, to an advocate.
Step four is the one people skip, and it is the one that finds things. You can see what a completed version looks like in the example report.
Questions people ask
What is the single most important document to check?
The chain of title — the current sale deed together with the parent deeds behind it. Everything else either corroborates that chain or describes liabilities attached to it. A defect anywhere in the chain can make an otherwise perfect set of documents worthless.
How many years of documents should I ask for?
Thirty years is the standard most banks apply before sanctioning a home loan, and it is a sensible benchmark even for a cash purchase. Thirteen years is a common shorter request but can step straight over an older undischarged mortgage.
What is different when buying a flat rather than land?
You are buying an undivided share of the land plus a constructed unit, so the patta relates to the project land rather than to your flat. Add the building approval, the approved plan, the promoter's title to the whole project land, and the undivided share stated in your own sale deed — and check that share is consistent with the total.
Do paid tax receipts mean nothing is owed?
No. A receipt proves a payment was made on a date. It does not prove that no further amount is outstanding, and arrears generally attach to the property rather than to the person who ran them up.
Can I do this check myself, or do I need a lawyer?
You can do a great deal yourself: gather the documents, read them against each other, and identify what is missing or inconsistent. What you should not do is skip an independent advocate before committing money. Self-checking is how you arrive at that conversation already knowing the questions.