According to Black’s Law Dictionary the meaning of real estate includes land, and anything fixed, immovable or permanently attached to it such as buildings, walls, fixtures,renovations, roads, etc. To put in simpler words, “realty” as it is popularly termed, is nothing but property, which includes land, and building upon it along with natural resources such as crops minerals and water.
The real estate sector in India has undergone major change since the advent of liberalisation and has experienced tremendous growth in recent years. The demand for commercial and residential spaces in major cities has seen a steady rise due to unemployment of masses of population, which has resulted in large-scale migration of people from villages and towns to big cities in search of better opportunities.
Here are the legal challenges that property owners should be aware of.
1. One should be aware of the status of a property. It should be clear whether it is freehold where the whole title of the property has been transferred in the name of a buyer and which is further freely transferable without any encumbrances or whether it is leasehold where there are restrictions on usage or transfer of property. A freehold property has much more marketability potential.
2. Whether the owner possesses the title to the property
3. To determine whether the property is free from encumbrances, litigation or charges. If not, the buyer may have problems in future.
4. Another major challenge is to verify the property in all aspects as to whether it faces any kind of encumbrances or government action.
5. One has to verify documents to ascertain whether registration, mutation is completed, whether the property papers are original, whether the property is in the name of the seller.
The author is managing partner, Maheshwari &co. Law Firm. Views expressed here are personal
