Title verification is the single most important — and most skipped — step in a property purchase in Maharashtra. It answers one question: does the seller actually have the legal right to sell you this property, free of hidden claims?
The 7/12 extract (Satbara)
This land record shows current and past ownership of the land. For flats, the underlying land record still matters, especially in areas where the building sits on land that was originally agricultural or CIDCO-allotted.
Index II
This is the government record of the registered sale deed for the property, confirming the last registered transaction and the stamp duty paid on it. Mismatches between what the seller tells you and what Index II shows are a red flag worth investigating before you proceed.
Encumbrance certificate
This shows whether the property has any registered loans, mortgages, or legal claims against it. A property with an active, undisclosed loan against it can leave a buyer in a very difficult position after payment.
Why a lawyer alone is not always enough
A property lawyer will confirm these documents are in order, but they are working from what is handed to them. Independent research — visiting the sub-registrar's office, cross-checking society records, speaking to neighbours about the seller's history with the flat — catches things paperwork alone sometimes misses. This is the exact groundwork we do for every buyer client before an offer goes in, because a title problem discovered after registration is far more expensive to fix than one caught before.