Buyer's guide · Gate Properties, Andagalur Gate · Updated Sept 2026

How to check patta, chitta and EC before buying land in Tamil Nadu

Most land disputes we see around Rasipuram and Namakkal could have been avoided with an hour of document checking before the advance was paid. This is the exact sequence our office follows.

1. Patta – who the government says owns the land

The patta is the revenue record issued by the taluk office listing the owner, survey / sub-division number, extent and classification (punjai, nanjai, natham). It is not a title deed, but a seller whose name is not on the patta is a warning sign. Get the current patta from the seller and cross-check it online on the TN e-Services (Patta / Chitta) portal using district, taluk, village and survey number. Confirm: the seller's name, the extent in hectares / ares matching what is offered, and that it is a single patta, not a joint patta with other family members who must also sign.

2. Chitta, adangal and A-register – the land's character

Chitta gives the classification and tax details; adangal (crop register) shows what was cultivated and by whom – useful to detect a tenant in possession. The A-register (village account) records the original classification and any conversion. If a "house site" is still punjai in the A-register, the conversion you were promised has not happened.

3. FMB sketch – does the map match the ground?

The Field Measurement Book sketch shows the shape and dimensions of the survey number. Walk the land with a licensed surveyor and the FMB: the four boundaries, the road shown on the map (a road that exists only on the ground can be closed by a neighbour) and the extent measured. A shortfall between the deed extent and the ground measurement is common and must be settled in the price before agreement.

4. Encumbrance Certificate – 30 years, not 13

The EC from the sub-registrar (available online on TNREGINET) lists every registered transaction on the survey number: sales, mortgages, releases, partitions, court attachments. Read it as a chain: does each sale lead to the current seller? Is every mortgage followed by a release? A 13-year EC is the minimum banks ask for; we insist on 30 years for agricultural land, because old family partitions and un-released mortgages surface only in the longer period. A "nil" EC for a long period on an old holding is itself worth questioning – the property may have been recorded under a different survey number after sub-division.

5. Parent documents – the title chain

Ask for the seller's sale deed and the deeds before it (parent documents) going back at least 30 years, or to the original government assignment. For inherited land: the death certificate and legal-heir certificate, and either a partition deed or the signatures of all heirs. Compare names and survey numbers across deeds, patta and EC – spelling variations of the same name are normal in village records but must be explained in the new deed.

6. Red flags that stop us from listing a property

• Seller offers only a photocopy of the deed and says the original is "with the bank" without a loan statement
• Patta in a deceased person's name with heirs "abroad" who will sign "later"
• Power of attorney that is unregistered, very old, or given by someone other than the patta holder
• Land shown as poromboke, water course or temple / wakf land in the A-register
• Pressure to pay a large advance "today" before documents are shown

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