If you’re looking to buying a flat in India, there is a complete legal procedure that needs to be followed. Here is a brief look into the legal aspects of buying flats in India.
Authentication
- Verifying the title
The person about to buy the property will be responsible for checking and verifying the existence of the property. This also includes the verification of the person to who it belongs, which involves taking a look into the legal documents of the site.
- Authenticating the seller
Checking up his ID such as an Adhaar card would be good enough. Asking out people around that area to check the trustworthiness of the seller would also help.
- Verifying the documents on the use of land
It is important to verify the documents of uses of the land in concern is also an important aspect. You will need to check the legal documents to find out if the land on the site concerned is Non-agricultural among a number of other things.
General Surveys/ Checkups
- Checking construction approval
You need to check if the construction is done was approved by the government of India. Illegal constructions may be usurped by the government under no pretext. This will lead to a loss of your property that no one, not even your insurance company would be able to refurbish. A lot of builders in Kerala charge extra if they get it done for you.
- Certificate of occupancy
Getting yourself an occupancy certificate of the site is very important. An absence of such a certificate would mean possible risks such as demolition of the construction etc.
- Multiple Claims/ Disputes
Another important in buying an apartment is to make sure there are no disputes over the claim of the property. You could check up government websites for property listings. The involvement of a disputing third party may not be good for your home.
- General survey
Physically surveying the property will be quite important as well. Always check the property for damages and sturdiness before you agree to buy it. A close inspection or even hiring a civil inspector would do the job. Hiding flaws to increase the price of a real estate site is quite common. Hence, an inspection is advisable.
Checking Certification and compliance
- Getting No objection certificates
No-objection certificates aren’t as unimportant as deemed to be. You should ask the seller for multiple copies of such certificates provided by various departments such as the environment and traffic coordination department. NRI flat owners should make a point of doing that since an objection raised could lead to the demolition of the property.
- RERA compliance.
The last thing would be the compliance of the property with the Real Estate Regulatory Authority of India. You need to make sure that the property is registered with the RERA. This brings you a number of benefits such as knowledge and information about the veracity of the developer. The details about the legal aspects of the site, the complaints against the developer in the past, and so on.
Summary
Hiring a legal professional to take care of these issues would be a really good idea. Since buying a real estate property is a huge investment, it would be better to take things slow. A planned and securely done deal would be beneficial in the long run.
