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Procedure for locating a property
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Identification of property requires one to scrutinise documents and take the help of officials in the area, says R.L. NARAYANAN
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— Photo: N. Balaji
Landmark: Pillars help you identify your site.
Your grandparent could have owned a property. Subsequently, your parents migrated abroad. Since then, there have been only visits to India. You vaguely know that you or your family own a property. You have never found time to gather more particulars. You have heard that the property prices have shot up. May be, it is worthwhile to reconsider the probabilities of tracing the property.
Take another possibility. You have purchased a property when you are abroad. You have lost contact with the person who has helped you purchase the property. All you have is bits and pieces of information and papers. In many ways, it will be helpful to locate the property. You do not know how to go about it.
Take yet another instance. You have visited the property once. You have purchased from a real estate agent, who has closed down business. You know the rough location. You have some papers. Circumstances are such that the property can be used for an emergent purpose. You are not able to relocate the property because there is considerable development all around. What do you do in the circumstances?
Patience needed
Whatever the circumstances, the identification of a property, the exact location of which is not known, could be of considerable use to you. Let us see whether an unidentified property can be located. The possibilities of one locating a property like this are very high. However, a lot of patience, energy and endeavour are required.
You may have some paper or document with you. Try and first identify the village in which the property is located. In many States, several villages may have the same names. Hence, a broad location of the property is to be known.
Search records
If the village is identified, records of the Revenue Department pertaining to the village can be searched. These records could be in the nature of Patta, Chitta, Adangal extract, extract from Settlement “A” Register, etc.
The search has to be conducted for a number of years to date back to a little more than the time that you or your predecessors-in-interest first owned the property. The holdings against the names of these persons have to be checked.
It is quite possible that such persons had large holdings. All the same, information on such holdings has to be gathered to deduce a basic inference.
If you are able to have better information like Survey Number or the address, then you may be able to apply for an Encumbrance Certificate. This will typically cover the period in which the transaction may have happened. Often, information regarding boundaries of the property may be required.
One has to gather these data patiently. If a street name is known, it will be helpful. If a neighbour’s name can be remembered, even this may provide a clue. Practically, any bit of record, fact, detail or paper may help.
If, after applying for Encumbrance Certificate and obtaining the same, certain transactions are disclosed in the nature of entries relating to the Survey Number or property, certified copies of such documents can be applied for and obtained. These documents may be helpful, even though the document by itself may not be relevant or related to the property.
Of importance
The issuance of Patta or Chitta or Adangal in the name of the person concerned or a person who has had title to the property at any time prior to the transaction concerned may also be relevant.
The order relating to mutation of records and change of names for the purposes of tax collection would also be relevant. Issuance of fresh Patta, sub-divisions in the Survey Number, variance between Patta, Chitta and Adangal, information relating to land acquisition or a Court order as available in the records may all become matters of vital importance.
It will also be useful to check whether a Surveyor will be able to locate the land. Government officers such as Tahsildars and Deputy Tahsildars, and those who may have retired from such posts may have extensive knowledge of land holdings.
It may be useful to check with such persons or retired Village Administrative Officers on the aspects relating to the property. Any of these efforts may yield fruit.
If it is a built property and a known person was living in it, then enquiries can be made in the locality. Some people with good recollection may provide the clue. If the property has been entrusted to any family, the whereabouts of such family can be checked and possible information gathered.
If a tenant is in occupation of the property, his help can be sought. If a neighbour has become famous, even such information may be helpful in deciding the rough location from which further particulars can be worked out.
Proximity to places of worship, places of tourist importance, heritage buildings, houses of politicians or other famous personalities or such similar matters can help you narrow down the search.
Consistent follow up
It is also possible to have a search conducted in the office of the Registrar of Assurances to collect further information. Further particulars can be obtained from records relating to Property Tax, Urban Land Tax, Urban Land Ceiling, matters filed in court, opinions given by advocates, IT or wealth tax returns, books or information provided by professionals such as Chartered Accountants and other consultants, family doctors, eminent persons who have visited the property, etc.
Even after gathering all these information, it may still be difficult to locate the property straight away. It requires consistent follow-up. The available information at hand, in spite of application of all energy and labour, may still be very confusing and frustrating.
It may appear that you are nowhere near the mark. Yet, with persistence and creative thinking, it is possible in almost all cases to locate the property concerned.
(The author is partner, RANK Associates, Advocates, Chennai)
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