Buying Land in Tamil Nadu? The Document Checklist: Patta, Chitta, EC and More

Land near Chennai, whether a residential plot in Chengalpattu or farmland in Maduranthakam, is one of the most rewarding long-term purchases you can make. It's also where buyers most often get hurt, because land titles in Tamil Nadu can pass through several generations, partitions and informal sales before they reach you.

The good news: almost every title problem shows up in a handful of documents, and most of them can be checked online. This is the checklist we run on every plot before we take a buyer on a site visit.

1. Patta: who the government says owns the land

A patta is the revenue record issued by the Tamil Nadu Revenue Department showing the owner's name, survey number, sub-division, extent and type of land (wet or dry). It's the single most important document after the sale deed itself.

• The name on the patta should match the seller, or the chain of owners should explain why it doesn't.
• The survey and sub-division numbers should match the sale deed exactly.
• The extent on the patta should match what you're being sold, not something larger or smaller.

You can view patta details online on the Tamil Nadu e-Services portal (eservices.tn.gov.in) by selecting the district, taluk, village and survey number.

2. Chitta and A-register (adangal)

Chitta is the village-level extract of land ownership and classification, maintained alongside the patta. The A-register (also called adangal) records the land's survey details, classification and, for agricultural land, its use. Together they confirm that the land is what the seller says it is: dry land, wet land or poramboke.

Watch for poramboke (government land) classifications. Government land cannot be sold privately, however convincing the paperwork looks.

3. Encumbrance certificate (EC) for at least 30 years

The encumbrance certificate lists every registered transaction on the property for the period you request: sales, mortgages, partitions, settlements and court attachments. A clean EC means no registered loan or claim is sitting on the land.

• Ask for an EC covering at least 30 years. Banks and lawyers commonly ask for 13 to 30 years; for land, longer is better.
• On the TNREGINET portal (tnreginet.gov.in) you can view EC records online from 1975 onwards. Older records need a request at the Sub-Registrar Office.
• Every entry in the EC should be explained by a document in the title chain. An unexplained mortgage or sale is a red flag.

Remember the EC only shows registered transactions. Unregistered agreements and family disputes won't appear, which is why the next checks matter too.

4. Parent documents: the full title chain

Ask for every sale deed, settlement deed, partition deed or will that brought the land to the current seller, going back at least 30 years. Read them in order. Each owner should have acquired the land from the person who sold it, with no gaps.

• If the seller inherited the land, look for a legal heir certificate and confirm that every heir is either selling or has released their share.
• If there was a partition, the partition deed should be registered and the extent should match.
• If someone is selling on a power of attorney, confirm it's registered, still valid and covers the sale of this land.

5. FMB sketch and a physical survey

The Field Measurement Book (FMB) sketch shows the boundaries and dimensions of the survey number. Compare it with what's on the ground. For larger plots and farmland, we recommend a licensed surveyor measures the land before registration. Boundary differences are one of the most common sources of later disputes.

6. Road access

Landlocked land is hard to use and harder to resell. Confirm that the plot touches a public road, or that a pathway right is written into the documents. A track that neighbours currently allow you to use is not access.

7. For farmland: water and land use

• Check the water source: borewell, open well or canal, and ask neighbours about groundwater levels in summer.
• For managed farmland, read the maintenance agreement: what the developer maintains, what it costs and for how long.
• Tamil Nadu doesn't bar non-farmers from buying agricultural land, but land-ceiling limits apply to very large holdings. Your lawyer should confirm this for your purchase.

8. Approvals for residential plots

If you're buying a plot in a layout to build a house, the layout should carry CMDA or DTCP approval, and larger projects need TNRERA registration. We explain both in CMDA vs DTCP approved plots.

A quick summary

Looking at farmland near Chennai? Every plot on our farmlands page goes through these checks before we take you to the site.