Khata, EC and Title Deeds: What to Check Before Buying in Bangalore

1. Khata — who the municipal record says is liable

I get asked about Khata more than almost anything else, because it's the one document that quietly decides whether your purchase goes smoothly or turns into a two-year headache. A Khata is simply the municipal record of who's liable to pay property tax on a holding — BBMP's own register, in effect. In Bangalore it comes in two forms, and the difference matters far more than most first-time buyers expect. An A Khata property complies with BBMP's layout and building rules from the day it was built. A B Khata property is on the same register, but it's carrying a deviation behind it — an unapproved layout, a floor built without sanction, or land converted from agricultural use without the paperwork to prove it. I've had buyers tell me a B Khata is ‘basically the same, just needs upgrading later’ — that's usually the seller talking, not the facts. The two documents look almost identical at a glance — same BBMP letterhead, same format — which is exactly why people get caught out. Ask to see the actual Khata certificate, not a photocopy someone hands you across a table, and check the category printed on it directly rather than trusting what you're told. BBMP has slowly moved Khata records online through its own e-Khata portal, and where a property is covered, you can verify the classification yourself instead of relying on the seller's word. If it isn't online yet, a visit to the local BBMP ward office with the survey number will get you the same answer. It takes an afternoon. Skipping it can cost you months later, when a bank's legal team runs the same check and comes back with questions you should have asked first.

The difference shows up hardest the day you apply for a home loan. Most banks lend readily against A Khata property; with B Khata, some lenders decline outright and the ones who don't lend at a lower loan-to-value ratio. It also narrows who you can sell to later, since your buyer will hit the same wall. If you're shown a B Khata property, don't take ‘it can be converted’ at face value — ask exactly which deviation caused the classification, whether BBMP currently has a regularisation window open for that category (these schemes open and close over the years, they're not permanent), and get a property lawyer's opinion in writing before any advance changes hands. A few thousand rupees in legal fees is cheap insurance against a property you can't finance or resell. Registration is where a lot of this gets tested for real, not just on paper. The sale deed gets registered at the jurisdictional Sub-Registrar's office, stamp duty and registration charges are paid on the higher of the sale value or the government guidance value for that area, and the Khata transfer to your name is a separate step afterwards — people often assume registration alone makes the Khata theirs automatically, and it doesn't. Budget for that follow-up trip to BBMP once the deed is registered; a property sitting registered in your name but still showing the previous owner on the Khata is its own, smaller version of the same problem, and I'd rather you close that loop in the first month than discover it's still open when you go to sell.

3. The title chain: sale deed, mother deed and conversion order