Understanding Sale Deed in India

Sale deed also called as Conveyance Deed is one of the most primary and fundamental documents in any property transaction.  Sale deed is a document through the seller of a property transfers his ownership/right in a property to a purchaser who subsequently gets absolute ownership of the same. A buyer before purchasing a property has to establish that the seller is having clear title and a sale deed is one of the most crucial documents evidencing ownership title held by the seller if the property was acquired by him through purchase.

The sale deed acts is prima-facie the main legal document for evidencing the sale and transfer of ownership of property between the buyer and the seller. It is the primary document which is verified to establish the proof of ownership.

Sale Agreement

A sale agreement and a sale deed are 2 separate documents. A Sale agreement precedes the sale deed. Sale agreement is putting in writing the terms discussed between the buyer and the seller based on which the sale deed is prepared. It is usual practice to opt for a sale agreement before going for a sale deed.

Contents of a sale deed

A sale deed is usually drafted by a legal expert or a lawyer and the onus of registration and payment of stamp duty on the property lies on the purchaser of the property.

Sale deed contains details of the land in case of sale of land, land and building in case of sale of an existing/finished house, in case of new apartment the Undivided Share of Land is conveyed in the sale deed and the details of the apartment are registered in the construction agreement.

The sale deed contains the

i. Details of the buyer, seller such as name, age, address, fathers name/spouse name, authorized representative in case either the buyer or seller is not an individual, for eg., like a company. Details of the power of attorney, if any,

ii.Details and description of the property such as measurements, address of the property, the village name, the survey numbers, details of the Sub-Registrar office under whose jurisdiction the property comes under

iii. Size of the land / building / UDS/ Apartment sizes

iv. In case of the building then UDS details (if apartment), number of floors in the building/which floor the apartment is in a project etc

v. The price for which the property is being bought by the buyer and sold by the seller and the payment schedule.

vi.                Clause stating the property is unencumbered and that the seller is transferring absolute ownership to the buyer. A few examples of encumbrances on a property are existing loan on the property which is unpaid, loans taken against the property, society charges, water taxes, property taxes etc.

vii.              Sale deeds also contain an indemnification clause where the seller indemnifies the buyer from any pending charges in this regard.

viii. Also usually contained in the sale deed are details of the parent documents, to evidence the proof of ownership and how the seller has become the owner of the property,

ix. Approval numbers, if any, from the local bodies, for the building/land.

x. At the end of the sale deed there is a schedule which clearly indicates the details of the property in terms of size, measurement, location, village/survey number/sub registrar office and the bounded details (details of property on all sides of the property being transacted.

xi. The sale deed is to be signed in the presence of 2 witnesses who shall also occupy the parties to the transaction while registration of the property.

Registration

Once the above sale deed has been executed, that is, signed by all the parties (buyer and seller) in all pages, it is then registered in the registration office where the property is located and Stamp duty shall be payable as per the Indian Stamp Act. All parties either themselves or through their power agent have to go to the registration office along with 2 witnesses to register the sale deed. For registration it is be ensured that the title of the seller is clear and that there are no encumbrances on the property being registered. In case a mortgage is taken for the purchase of the property then upon registration the original registered sale deed will remain in the custody of the mortagee until the mortgage is paid in full. Any mistake in the sale deed is to be rectified through a rectification deed.

For more details on registration, visit: https://www.mypropertyboutique.com/blog/all-you-need-to-know-about-registration-of-a-property