Check kit · Title · CHECK 4-min read

Is the title actually clean? The papers to demand before you pay

The title deed, the 30-year chain, and why a GPA 'sale' transfers nothing. What to demand, what a break in the chain looks like, and the one document people mistake for ownership.

For anyone about to pay a token on a flat or plot who wants to know the seller can actually sell it.

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One number, never sold.

30 years

of title chain banks and lawyers ask for — hold yourself to the same bar

Zero

ownership transferred by a GPA, Agreement-to-Sell or Will

≈ ⅔

of India's civil cases are land or property disputes

The 30-second version

A registered sale deed is what confers title — but it transfers only what the seller actually held.

That is the whole reason you check the chain BEFORE you pay. If the seller's own title was defective, your registry inherits the defect. India runs on presumptive title, not guaranteed title: the sub-registrar records the transaction and checks identity and stamp duty, he does not adjudicate whether the seller truly owns it.

Mutation (khata / dakhil-kharij) is a separate thing again — it updates the revenue record and the tax bill. Get it done after registry, but never accept it as proof of ownership.

What to demand

1
The current registered sale deed in the seller's name
Names on the latest deed must match the person selling to you, and their ID and PAN. If a family member is signing 'on behalf', stop and read the next item.
2
The 30-year chain, with no gaps
Every transfer, every owner, traced backwards at least 30 years — and every transfer in that chain must be a REGISTERED document. Banks insist on a 30-year search before sanctioning a loan; hold yourself to the same bar even if you are paying cash. A missing link, an unregistered transfer, or an inheritance with no succession papers is how a clean-looking property becomes a 20-year court case.
3
An independent lawyer's title search
Not the builder's lawyer, not the seller's. A title search at the sub-registrar by someone who works for you.

The red flag: a 'GPA sale'

Title transferred only via a General Power of Attorney, an Agreement to Sell, or a Will. The Supreme Court settled this in Suraj Lamp & Industries v. State of Haryana (2011) — these do NOT transfer ownership. Roughly 40 lakh people in Delhi's ~1,731 unauthorised colonies hold property on GPA, and banks will not lend against it.

If a POA must be used at all, insist it is LIMITED in scope and REGISTERED — and treat it as a red flag, not a shortcut.

Not legal or tax advice

General information to help you ask the right questions — not legal or tax advice. Rules, rates and procedures vary by state, property type and date. Confirm your specific case with an independent property lawyer and, for tax, a chartered accountant before you pay anything.

Sources & citations›

GPA / Agreement-to-Sell / Will convey zero title; ~40 lakh on GPA in ~1,731 Delhi unauthorised colonies: Supreme Court, Suraj Lamp & Industries v. State of Haryana, 2011.
A registered sale deed confers title but passes only what the seller held; India runs on presumptive (not Torrens) title — hence the 30-year chain check. Mutation updates the revenue record and the tax bill; it is not ownership. (Transfer of Property Act; Registration Act.)
Property and land disputes ≈ two-thirds of civil cases; a land case can run ~20 years.