Patta and chitta online: how to check, and what it does not prove
Getting the record takes about two minutes. Understanding what it establishes — and the much longer list of things it does not — is what actually protects you.
Updated 6 September 2026
First, the two portals people mix up
Almost every problem with checking Tamil Nadu land records online starts here. There are two separate government portals, run by two different departments, and they hold different records.
| Portal | Department | What you get from it |
|---|---|---|
| eservices.tn.gov.in | Revenue / Survey and Settlement | Patta and chitta, A-register extract, FMB sketch, adangal |
| tnreginet.gov.in | Registration (IGRS) | Encumbrance certificate, registered document details, guideline value |
If you are looking for an encumbrance certificate, you want the second one. If you are looking for a patta, you want the first. Searching for “patta” on the registration portal is a common dead end, and vice versa.
How to check patta and chitta online
You need the property’s district, taluk and village, plus either the patta number or the survey number with its subdivision. The survey number route is the more useful one when you are evaluating a property somebody else owns, because a seller will quote you a survey number long before they hand over a patta.
- Open eservices.tn.gov.in and choose the patta / chitta view.
- Select the district, then the taluk, then the village. Village names repeat across taluks, so getting the taluk right matters.
- Choose whether you are searching by patta number or by survey number, and enter it. Include the subdivision if the survey number has one — 123/2B is a different piece of land from 123.
- Complete the verification code and submit.
- The extract that comes back names the holder, the survey number and subdivision, the extent, and the classification of the land.
Government portals get redesigned without notice, so treat the sequence above as the shape of the task rather than a fixed set of clicks. The inputs it asks for have been stable for years even as the screens have changed.
What each record actually is
These five names come up constantly and are routinely used as if they were interchangeable. They are not.
Patta
A revenue record naming the person the Revenue Department treats as the holder of a survey number, for the purpose of levying land revenue. It carries the survey number and subdivision, the extent, and the classification of the land.
Chitta
Historically a separate revenue record covering ownership and whether the land was wet (nanjai) or dry (punjai). Tamil Nadu merged chitta into patta around 2015, so a current search returns one combined patta-chitta extract rather than two documents. This is why looking for a standalone chitta tends to lead in a circle.
A-register extract
The village-level register holding fuller particulars for a survey number — extent, classification, assessment, and the recorded holder. It is the record to ask for when the patta and the deed disagree about extent, because it often shows how the subdivision came about. In town survey areas the equivalent is the Town Survey Land Register (TSLR).
FMB sketch
The Field Measurement Book sketch: the survey map showing the shape, measurements and boundaries of a survey number and its subdivisions. It answers a question no ownership record can — where is this land, and what shape is it — which is what you need when the plot you were walked around does not obviously match the extent on paper.
Adangal
A cultivation record, kept year to year, showing what was grown on the land. Relevant for agricultural land and for questions of who has actually been in possession; rarely decisive for an ordinary residential purchase.
What a patta does not prove
This is the part that costs people money, and it is the reason a patta in the seller’s name should reassure you far less than it usually does.
Specifically, a patta will not tell you:
- Whether the land is mortgaged. An undischarged mortgage does not appear on a patta. It appears in the encumbrance certificate, from the other portal.
- Whether the seller is the only person entitled to sell. Where land has passed by inheritance, several heirs may have rights while one name sits on the patta.
- Whether there is litigation. Court proceedings over a property leave no trace in the revenue record.
- Whether the chain of title behind the current owner is sound. A patta reflects the present entry, not how it was arrived at.
- Whether the document you were handed is genuine. Verify the record on the portal yourself rather than relying on a printout or a screenshot you were sent.
There is also a timing trap. Registration and patta transfer are separate steps: buying property transfers title, but changing the patta requires a further application to the Tahsildar. A patta still in the seller’s name weeks after a sale is ordinary. A patta naming somebody from two owners ago is a question worth pressing.
What does establish title
Title in Tamil Nadu, as elsewhere in India, rests on registered documents rather than revenue entries:
- The sale deed by which the current owner acquired the property, and the parent documents behind it — the chain showing how title arrived at them. Banks commonly want that chain traced back thirty years.
- The encumbrance certificate from tnreginet, listing registered transactions against the property over a period. Thirteen years is the common request, thirty where a loan is involved.
- Approvals — the layout or building approval, and planning permission where relevant.
- The patta, FMB and A-register as corroboration: they should agree with the deeds about who holds the land, which survey number it is, and how large it is.
Questions people ask
Is a patta proof of ownership?
No. A patta is a revenue record. It records who the Revenue Department treats as the holder of a survey number for the purpose of collecting land revenue. Title comes from registered documents — the sale deed and the parent documents behind it — and a patta can name someone who has no right to sell.
What is the difference between patta and chitta?
They used to be two separate revenue records, and Tamil Nadu merged them into a single record around 2015. Today the portal issues one combined patta-chitta extract, which is why searching for a standalone chitta usually leads back to the same document.
Is tnreginet the same as the patta chitta portal?
No, and confusing them is common. tnreginet.gov.in belongs to the Registration Department and is where encumbrance certificates and registered document details come from. Patta, chitta, FMB and A-register extracts come from the Revenue Department's e-services portal. Different departments, different records.
Do apartment owners get a patta?
Usually not an individual one for the flat. An apartment owner holds an undivided share of the land, and the patta relates to the land rather than to a unit built on it. Ask instead for the patta covering the project land and check that the undivided share in your sale deed is consistent with it.
How soon does the patta change after registration?
Not automatically and not immediately. Registration transfers title; changing the patta is a separate application to the Tahsildar, and the gap is commonly weeks to months. A patta still showing the seller's name shortly after a sale is normal — a patta still showing a name from several transactions ago is worth asking about.