1. From HOUSE to HOUSEWARMING!
Legal Scrutiny Relating To Title Of The Land

2. • 1)Chain of conveyance/sale/partition/gift deed or will, by
which land was acquired.
These are documents by which the Title of a property is conveyed by the
seller to the purchaser. Conveyance is the act of transferring ownership of
a property from a seller to the buyer.

3. • 2) Urban Land Ceiling & Regulation Act (ULCRA) Clearance
Certificate if applicable (it has been repealed in some states) -
The ULCRA Act is a social legislation vide which the Government has set a
limit on the maximum permissible vacant land holding by a single entity in
an urban agglomeration. Depending on the location and zone
classification, this maximum limit varies from 500 sq. mt. to 1500 sq. mt..
The excess vacant land is liable for acquisition by the respective State
Governments. Any vacant land holding beyond this limit would require an
exemption under various sections from the ULC authorities, which is
governed by the Urban Development Department.

4. • 3)Property card extract (known by different names in
different States, for example forms 2 and 6, 7/12
extract/Adangal/ 10(i) extract/ Chitta, etc.).
This document shows the names of the owners of the property. It
contains details such as the Survey numbers, area, date from which the
current owner's names were registered as owners. The 7/12 extract is
issued by the Tehsildar or the concerned local land/revenue authorities.
Along with this, the corresponding record of rights in Form no.6 for last 30
years needs to be obtained/scrutinized.

5. • 4.Index II is a document issued by the office of the Sub- Registrar of
Assurances. It mainly mentions the names of the sellers & purchasers of a
property for which the document is registered.
• 5.Title Certificate and Search report is issued by an advocate after
conducting a search of the Title of the property, which is intended to be
purchased. The Title Certificate would state if the property is
unencumbered (an Encumbrance Certificate issued by the sub-registrar's
office should also be scrutinized) and has a clear marketable title. This
search report and Title Certificate can be obtained from one's own
advocate or if the search has already been conducted by the current owner
then one can have his/her advocate inspect these reports to ascertain the
title of the property. This search on the Title of the property is taken for a
minimum period of the last 13 years in continuity.

6. • 6)Safeguards in dealing with Minor property: A Minor is defined as a
person who has not completed the age of 18 years. If a property is
acquired by such a minor person, either by purchase or by inheritance,
then such property is termed as Minor property. The legislations which
deal with the concept of Minority are:
o Indian Majority Act
o Indian Contract Act
• Section 11 of the Indian Contract Act states that "every person is
competent to contract, who is of the age of majority according to the law
to which he is subject, and who is of sound mind and is not disqualified
from contracting by any law to which he is subject".

7. • Therefore, transactions in property belonging to a minor or person of
unsound mind would be null and void. For the same reason, minors and
persons of unsound mind cannot execute a valid Power of Attorney (POA)
in favor of another person and purchase and sale of minor property must
not be entertained through POA. However, Section 12 further clarifies that
a person is said to be of sound mind for the purpose of making a contract
if, at the time when he makes it, he is capable of understanding it and of
forming a rational judgment as to its effect upon his interests. The father
and mother are natural guardians of their minor children. However, simply
by virtue of being natural guardians, they do not have right to deal with
the Minor Property. An application has to be filed in the competent Court
for obtaining permission to deal with the minor property or to create
mortgage over the said property. Only after obtaining Court permission, it
is advisable to purchase a property owned by a minor person.

8. • 7. Non agricultural permission (N.A.):
If the land under consideration is agricultural land and if one intends to
develop the said land for residential/ commercial/ industrial use, then
such agricultural land has to be converted to non-agricultural land and an
N.A. order has to be obtained from the Collector of the District where the
property is located. Along with this, one needs to take the latest receipts
evidencing the payment of N.A. tax. In cases where the conversion from
agricultural use to N.A. use is not done within the stipulated period then,
there should be an order from the concerned authority extending the
period.

9. • 8. Clearance of the seller under section 230 A of the Income Tax Act,
1961.
After the receipt of the No Objection Certificate under and before
executing the Sale Deed, the Seller will be required to obtain clearance
certificates under Section 230-A of the Income Tax Act, 1961.The
Clearance Certificate under Section 230A of the Income Tax Act, 1961 is
required only if the sale consideration exceeds Rs.5,00,000.