Documents required for selling a property

If you own a property that you are planning to sell, then you should have certain documents lined up ready with you. These documents will be scrutinised by the potential buyers. The buyers often insist on checking the original documents even before finalising the deal. Following are the documents you need while selling a property;

Letter of allotment

The letter that confers allotment of the property to you from the relevant society or authority is a primary document you need to have in order.

Sale deed

The original conveyance or sale deed from the previous owners of the property is required when you are selling a property. In case you have lodged the original deed for registration with the Registrar, you need to provide a copy of the conveyance deed or sale deed along with a photocopy of the receipt from the Sub-registrar where the documents have been lodged for registration.

Sale deed is important as it traces the ownership of the property. It is necessary to prove the chain of previous agreements with past owners.

Sanctioned plan

You also need to have the copy of the approved building plan and occupation certificate issued by the competent authority.

Society documents

When you are selling your house, you must obtain the permission to transfer the property from a competent authority – development authority or society. The buyer is entitled to ask for the original stamped receipts of payments made to the builder or developer by the previous and present sellers.

The relevance and importance of society documents cannot be ignored. Suppose you want to sell a flat that you own. You should possess the copy of the share certificate issued by the apartment society in your favour. The share certificate shows your membership in the society. You also need to produce a certificate from the society certifying that you have no outstanding payments to the society. The society’s membership transfer form for transfer of ownership needs to be filled and signed, so that there will be no hurdles in transferring the property to the subsequent buyer.

Encumbrance certificate

The encumbrance certificate is used in property transactions to indicate free title. When buying an apartment, land or house, the buyer wants to make sure that the land or property does not have any legal dues.

Sale agreement

Once the documentation is cleared, both parties can then enter into an agreement to sell and confirm the terms and conditions. Subsequently, they can execute the sale deed based on the agreement to sell. Sale agreement is signed and executed by the seller and buyer on a non-judicial stamp paper.

Sale agreement is one of the most powerful documents in the transaction as it has legal value and can be produced as evidence. The agreement between the buyer and seller is the document in which the sale deed is drafted. Every document acting as an evidence of transfer of property by sale is preceded by an agreement to sell. It spells out in clear-cut terms the conditions under which the seller intends to sell the property and the buyer intends to purchase it.