Property disputes involving NRIs rarely begin with a forged document. They begin with absence — with records that changed quietly over years while the owner was in Toronto, Birmingham or Dubai, and nobody sent notice.

A title search establishes who legally owns a property, who is recorded as possessing it, and whether anything is attached to it. We conduct searches on agricultural, residential and commercial property across Punjab and Haryana, where the position is broadly similar in both states.

Why a search before purchase, not after

The most common way NRIs lose money on Indian property is straightforward: the fraud surfaces after the sale is registered and the payment has been made.

At that point the money has gone. Recovery means a civil suit against a seller who may have no assets, may not be traceable, and may have already disposed of the proceeds. Where forgery or impersonation is involved criminal proceedings follow, but a conviction does not return the money.

A title search before purchase costs a fraction of the price of the property. Conducted after, it becomes evidence in litigation that may run for years.

How the problems arise

Sale by someone without title. A relative or caretaker in possession sells property they do not own, using forged documents or a power of attorney that was revoked or never valid.

Sale by one co-owner. Inherited property is jointly held, but one sibling sells the whole as though it were theirs. The sale is voidable — unwinding it means litigation.

Concealed encumbrances. A property already mortgaged or under court attachment is sold as unencumbered. The charge follows the property, not the seller.

Encroachment. What the record describes and what stands on the ground differ. Common with rural land where boundaries have shifted over decades.

Where the dispute usually begins

For NRI-owned land, the trouble rarely starts with the ownership record. It starts with girdawari.

Girdawari records who is in possession and cultivating the land, updated seasonally by the patwari. When an owner is abroad and someone else works the land, entries can gradually be recorded in that person’s name. Nothing on the ownership record changes. No notice reaches Canada or the Gulf.

Once the owner’s name has been removed from girdawari, they hold title on paper but no documentary evidence of possession. The party in occupation then claims ownership by adverse possession, relying on those entries as proof of continuous possession.

The twelve-year period. Adverse possession requires twelve years of continuous possession, counted from the point at which possession turned hostile — when the occupier began holding the land against the owner’s interest rather than with permission. Girdawari establishes that timeline. A few years abroad without checking can be costly.

Tubewell connections. An electricity connection is issued in a particular name, and the holder is taken to be irrigating — and therefore cultivating — the land. This does not establish possession alone, but it corroborates girdawari, and where both point the same way the evidentiary position strengthens considerably.

Urban property: assessment and tax. The same principle, different documents. The municipal assessment record and property tax receipts stand in a particular name, and the person paying tax is taken to be in possession.

Why this matters. These are not administrative details. They are the documentary evidence of who possesses a property. An owner abroad who does not check may find a tenant, a caretaker or a relative has had their own name entered on some or all of them over a period of years.

The people who create these problems are rarely strangers. It is usually the tenant who has farmed the land for a decade, or the cousin left with the keys — the person trusted precisely because trusting them seemed obvious.

Builder projects

Buying from a developer carries a different set of risks, and a title search covers them.

Whether the builder owns the land. Projects are frequently launched on land the developer holds under an agreement rather than by title, or where the underlying title is itself disputed. A buyer purchasing in such a project may find their sale deed does not give them what they believed it did.

Whether the necessary permissions exist. Sanctioned building plans, licence for the colony, change of land use where the land was agricultural, and completion or occupation certificates. Construction without these can be subject to demolition or regularisation proceedings, and cannot be lawfully occupied.

Delayed possession. Projects stall, and buyers abroad discover this late. Where possession has been delayed beyond the agreed period, remedies lie for possession, refund with interest, or compensation.

For an NRI buying off-plan from abroad, none of this is visible from a brochure or a site photograph. It is visible from the record.

Acquisition compensation

Highways, industrial corridors, government building and commercial projects across Punjab and Haryana have meant substantial land acquisition, and with it substantial compensation.

Where the recorded owner is abroad, that compensation is at risk. Acquisition proceedings involve notices, objections and an award — all of which move on a timetable, and none of which reliably reach someone in Canada or the Gulf. Where possession or revenue entries stand in another name, that person is positioned to claim and receive the award.

The land itself cannot be recovered; it belongs to the state. What is in dispute is the money, and by the time an owner learns of it the compensation has usually been disbursed.

An owner whose records are in order is notified, can object, and can claim. An owner whose records show someone else is often the last to know their land was acquired at all.

Where compensation has been claimed by another party, the remedy depends on how it was obtained. Civil proceedings lie for recovery of the amount; where the claim was made through forged documents, impersonation or fabricated entries, criminal proceedings follow alongside. Which route applies turns on the nature of the fraud, and both are often pursued together.

What you can check yourself

Electricity connection records are available online through the state electricity board portals for both Punjab and Haryana. You can verify whose name the connection on your land stands in without needing anyone locally. It costs nothing and is worth doing periodically.

Continuing to pay property tax in your own name is itself a way of maintaining documentary evidence of possession.

Mutation: the step most often missed

Mutation is the entry of a change of ownership in the revenue record. It follows a transfer or an inheritance, and it is routinely left undone.

After a transfer. Transfer may be by sale, gift, release or exchange. The instrument effects the transfer, but until mutation is entered the record continues to show the previous holder. The property cannot be dealt with, and possession remains recorded in another name.

After a death. Inheritance vests by operation of law, but the record shows the deceased until mutation is applied for. Where an owner died years ago and mutation was never done, the land stands recorded in the name of a person no longer living.

For NRIs this is common. A father dies, the family does not attend to the revenue record, and years pass. Meanwhile girdawari continues to record whoever is on the land. Ownership on paper belongs to a dead man; possession on the record belongs to someone else.

Why online records are not a title search

Urban property. Records are largely available online, but access requires registered login credentials — not something a buyer abroad can simply look up.

Rural land. Records are partially online and rarely complete. Girdawari — the record of actual possession — is not online at all. It can only be obtained from the patwari holding the village record.

Online records also show the current entry rather than the history. A mutation never completed, a sale by someone without title, or a charge registered years earlier will not necessarily appear.

What we do

Obtain certified copies. Registered deeds, jamabandi, mutation entries, girdawari and municipal assessment records as applicable — certified, not photocopies provided by a seller or relative.

Inspect the record over a period. Not the current entry alone. We examine the chain across the relevant preceding years, because a snapshot will not show a mutation never completed, a transfer made without authority, or possession entries that changed hands gradually.

Physical verification. We inspect the property and compare it against the record — boundaries, actual possession, construction, encroachment.

Identify unauthorised transfers. Sales by someone without title, transfers under a revoked or forged power of attorney, disposal by one co-owner of jointly held property, and entries made in the revenue record without the owner’s knowledge.

Title Search Report. A written report setting out the ownership chain, the possession position, anything found against the property, and whether the title is marketable.

Where mutation has been missed or possession entries have already changed, we pursue correction before the revenue authorities; where a claim has been asserted, in civil proceedings. Caught early, this is a correction. Caught late, it is litigation.

Tracing property with limited information

Many clients abroad inherit land they have never seen and hold no documents for. A grandfather owned land in a village; the papers were never passed on, or were lost; nobody in the family knows the khasra number or the exact extent.

We can trace property from the owner’s name and the village or locality alone. Revenue records are searchable on that basis, and from the entries we can establish what was held, how it passed, and where it stands today.

Movable assets. Tracing is not limited to land and buildings. Where a family member has died and the family abroad does not know what was held, we also trace movable assets — bank accounts, fixed deposits, shares and debentures — and act on the succession and release proceedings that follow.

Common questions

Can I check my land records from abroad?
Partly. Electricity connection records are online through the state boards for both Punjab and Haryana, and you can verify whose name a tubewell connection stands in yourself. Urban records are largely online but require registered login credentials. Girdawari is not online and must be obtained from the patwari.

How long does a title search take?
It depends on the documents available, the nature of the property and its location. Rural searches generally take longer, since girdawari and older entries must be obtained physically. We give you a realistic timeline once we have seen the property details, and we keep you updated as the work progresses rather than leaving you to chase.

What do I need to send you to begin?
Whatever you have. Ideally the khasra or khewat number and a copy of any registered document, but many clients abroad hold neither. The owner’s name and the village or locality is enough to begin.

My father died some years ago and nothing was done about the land. Is it too late?
No. Mutation can still be applied for. The difficulty is not the delay itself but what may have happened meanwhile — possession entries may have changed, and those need checking alongside the mutation.

Someone else’s name is on the girdawari for my land. What now?
Correction is pursued before the revenue authorities. How straightforward that is depends on how long the entries have run and whether a claim has been asserted. This is worth acting on immediately rather than at your next visit.

Can my tenant claim ownership of my land?
Adverse possession requires twelve years of continuous possession from the point it turned hostile — held against your interest rather than with your permission. Girdawari entries establish that timeline, which is why they should be checked periodically.

Do I need to come to India for a title search?
No. The search requires no involvement from you beyond providing the property details.

Do you handle agricultural land as well as houses?
Yes — agricultural, residential and commercial. The checks differ for each, but the report answers the same question.

What does it cost?
Fees depend on the nature and location of the property, the period the records need to be traced across, and whether physical verification is required. Send us the property details and we will give you a figure before any work begins.

Starting a search

Send the property details by WhatsApp or email and we will tell you what is required and what it will cost before any work begins. If you do not have the khasra number or copies of the documents, that is not an obstacle — the owner’s name and the village or locality is enough for us to begin.

You will hear from us as the work progresses. Clients abroad should not have to chase for news of their own matter.

+91 94160 09800 | info@vaqeelsaab.com