Checklist For Selling A Property

Is the thought of selling your house giving you nightmares because you are anxious about getting an apt buyer for your property? Are you unsure about how you should deal with the buyer pertaining to your property documents? Well, here is a checklist of documents you need to keep ready while selling your property.

Documents you need in place before selling your property.

Property paperwork 21. Sale Deed: One of the core legal property buying documents is a registered Sale Deed that acts as a proof of sale/transfer of the ownership of a property from the last seller to you. You are required to present the sale deed drawn when you bought the property.

2. Mother Deed: Also known as the parent document, a Mother Deed is an important document that helps in tracing the origin or the former ownerships of a property (if the property has exchanged many hands). A Mother Deed is required at the time of selling a property as it establishes the sequence of sales or transfers leading to the seller’s ownership of the property. If you do not have an original Mother Deed, you should produce a certified copy from the registering authorities. The document will have all the ownership details of the property- be it through sale, inheritance, gift or partition. However, you should ensure that the Mother Deed records all the past references to the previous ownerships in a sequence that is continuous and unbroken. In case, if the sequence is broken, refer the records at the concerned registering office or revenue records or the recitals (preamble) in other documents. It is important that the sequence is updated until your ownership.

3. Latest Property Tax Paid Receipt: You should provide the latest property tax receipts to prove that the tax on the property is paid up-to-date to the municipality.

4. Khata Certificate: A Khata denotes your property account with all your property details. A Khata Certificate is an important legal document required for the registration of a new property and the transfer of a property.

5. Encumbrance Certificate (EC): Encumbrance Certificate consists of all the registered transactions of a particular property for the specific sought period. The term ‘ Encumbrance’ means charges in the ownership/ liabilities on a property that is held against a home loan as security. An EC can be sought for a particular period of time to view the property purchase/sale and the presence of any transaction or mortgage within that period. Always present the buyer with an EC up to the latest period possible.

Read this article to know more on how to procure an EC : http://blog.homeshikari.com/importance-encumbrance-certificate-ec-702/

6. Building approval plan: This certificate is sanctioned and issued by the BDA (Bangalore Development Authority), the BBMP (Bruhat Bengaluru Mahanagara Palike), the BMRDA (Bangalore Metropolitan Region Development Authority) or the BIAPPA (Bangalore International Airport Area Planning Authority). Any building without the approval from the above authorities will be termed as illegal as per the Karnataka Municipal Corporations (KMC) Act. It is mandatory that you get an approved plan from the jurisdictional Commissioner or an officer authorized by such Commissioner. A building approval plan will be sanctioned by the concerned authorities based on various factors such as- the zonal classifications, the floor area ratio (FAR), plot depth and the road width. It is very important that you appoint a registered architect to draw a plan that meets the given byelaws. A building approval plan can be obtained within 4 to 5 working days through the newly invented BBMP software- Automated Building Approval Plan (only if all the requirements are met). In order to obtain a building approval plan, one should submit the following documents:

  • Title Deed
  • Property drawings
  • Property assessment extract
  • Foundation certificate (if any)
  • Property PID number
  • Land use certificate issued by the competent authority (viz., Dy. Commissioner)
  • City survey sketch (from the Department of Survey and Settlement and Land Records)
  • Earlier sanctioned plans (if any)
  • Up-to-date tax paid receipt
  • 2 copies of demand drafts

7. Conversion Certificate (Agricultural to Non-Agricultural land): Since large parts of land in India are agricultural in nature, a property owner should acquire a Conversion Certificate to convert the agricultural land into a non-agricultural land. The certificate can be obtained from the competent revenue authority after a request sent by the same to the Department of Town and Country Planning to issue an NOC for the conversion of land for residential purpose. The documents to be provided in order to obtain a Conversion Certificate are- 3 copies of the R.T.C extracts, village map, land sketch, certified copy of the land tribunal, zonal certificate, Title deed, no dues certificate by village accountant and Mutation Records (MR) copy.

8. Power of Attorney (POA): In case you are not available during your property selling process you can legally give authority to another individual on your behalf. A POA can either be given as the Special Power of Attorney (SPA) or a General Power of Attorney (GPA) while transferring your rights over a property.

9. Completion Certificate: If you are selling an apartment, you should provide the buyer with a copy of the Completion Certificate issued by the municipal authorities. The municipal authorities issue the Completion Certificate to the builder stating that the project is in compliance with the approved plan and meets its commitment in terms of distance from the road and height of the building.

10. Occupancy Certificate: When selling an apartment, you should provide the buyer with an Occupancy Certificate that was issued by the municipal authorities. This certificate is issued by the municipal authority after carrying out an inspection to ensure that the builder has constructed the property as per the specified norms and states that a project is ready to be occupied.

Other important aspects of selling a property

1. Make your home presentable- The red coloured wall in your living room or the broken window in your garage might seem fancy and usual to you, but a buyer might find it unattractive and might think twice before buying the house. Therefore, to avoid losing the deal for mere flaws, prep your home in a simple manner by repairing everything around. Start inspecting your home from a buyer’s point of view. Clean and paint the property, trim the garden and arrange/ remove the furniture. Repair all those cracks in the wall, creaky hinges and leaky pipes. Remember to keep the maintenance intact. However, ensure to make your home smell fresh by keeping your home well ventilated and well lit.

* Ensure to create a welcoming entrance. If necessary spruce up the door rim with fresh paint, buy a new door mat and keeping the pathway clean.

* Remember that, the more money you spend in repairing the roofing, guttering, woodwork etc., the more you will get at the time of selling the house.

* Consider having your house professionally cleaned or hire an independent cleaner. Not to forget, if you have a pool, keep it sparkling clean.

* Never ignore areas such as the bathrooms and the kitchen as they seek more attention from a buyer. Scrub these areas and make sure they are clean. Remember to air these areas before you show them to the buyer.

* Whitewash the floors, dust the surfaces and clean the cobwebs in and around the house.

* Paint your living room with pastel / neutral colours

2. Self-selling/ hiring an agent- Although you can sell your home by yourself, it will involve double the work when compared to using a real estate agent. Most property owners dodge the real estate agents only to save the commission amount, but hiring a good real estate agent always proves to be worthy. An agent will help you in understanding the legalities and formalities of selling your property. The agent will also help you in getting a potential buyer by effectively marketing your property. Always hire a reputed, certified agent through references and interview him before hiring him.

3. Advertising your property- You might think that hiring a real estate agent or putting up a ‘for sale’ sign is all you have to do to sell your house. No doubt, doing just this might get you buyers, but might not fetch you greater returns from your property sale. To get a better selling price for your house, you should use all the marketing options available. It includes; internet advertising, classifieds, pamphlets, other digital marketing techniques and word-of-mouth.

4. Pricing your property- You can aptly price your property by seeking a real estate agent’s help. An agent will be well versed about the property prices and the prevailing trends. Apart from seeking the agent’s help you can do your own research about the property prices in the same locality. Consider all the property related factors and set a higher or a quick sale lower price.

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2 thoughts on “Checklist For Selling A Property”

  1. Please enlighten us more about the importance of mother document. We are living in apartment and the association which is not even registerd is harassing us if we ask for it. What is the action that I she take to find who is having it. Our bldg is 10 years old. \r\nAwaiting your reply\r\nKala srinivasan

    1. Kala Srinivasan\n\nThe mother deed gives a clear history of all the transactions that were recorded for the property in chronological order up to the last transaction before you purchased it. Normally this parent document is handed over by the builder (because he is the one who has sold the property) to the association because it is the rightful representative of all the occupants of the apartment. Since individuals cannot be given multiple copies of the original document, the original document is retained by the association and copies are given by the builder to the individual flat owners. The association if it has been formed should rightfully give you a copy. In some cases the associations have not bothered to collect it from the builder. The best person to ask this from is your builder or perhaps a friendly neighbor who has a copy. It is not necessary that you should have an original.\n\nWhy is this required? This is required to establish clear title if there is ever a question and it helps at the time of a sale because a prospective buyer could insist on seeing these documents.

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