Splitting or Merging a Khata in Bangalore: What Buyers of Part of a Site Must Verify

Buying half a plot in Bangalore, or a house on two combined plots, brings a quiet but important question: does the khata match what is being sold? If it does not, trouble follows with tax, bank loans and resale. This article covers how splitting and merging a khata works, what changed this autumn and the points a careful buyer should confirm.

Two Opposite Processes

Bifurcation cuts one khata into several after the land underneath has been separated. Think of two brothers who share a 60 x 40 plot through a partition deed, or an owner who sells a big plot as two halves. Every resulting portion then carries a separate ID, fresh measurements and its own tax account.

Amalgamation runs the other way and fuses the khatas of adjoining plots. A neighbour who buys the next-door site for a bigger house needs it, and so does a builder who gathers several plots for a single project. The end result is one khata, one ID and a single assessment for tax.

Until a split is recorded, the tax register still lists just one property. Whoever owns one half has a registered deed for land that the register does not treat as a separate unit, which complicates paying tax, borrowing and selling.

Why Planning Approval Comes First

Cutting up or joining land is chiefly a planning matter, and only afterwards a question for revenue records. The zoning norms demand, for example, that each new plot be a workable size with a route to a public road. Once planners approve the sub-division or merger, revenue officials amend the khata to fit.

This sequence explains a common surprise. A partition deed registered at the sub-registrar decides who owns what, but the khata stays whole. The city corporation separately needs to be sure the division respects its norms before opening distinct records.

For a merger, the plots must adjoin one another. They must also belong to the same person or persons under registered documents, since building plans get sanctioned only against the property named in one khata.

From a Freeze to Online Modules

After e-khata arrived in October 2024, bifurcation in the city mostly ground to a halt. A final e-khata was the only basis for registering a deed, yet the newly divided part had none. Many partitioned families, and people buying part sites, waited a long time.

In September 2026 the Greater Bengaluru Authority unveiled e-Aasthi 2.0, which puts sub-division, amalgamation and bifurcation applications online. Activation is staged from October 2026, and the points announced include:

• Online submission of the form along with the sub-division sketch, and Aadhaar verification of every owner
• Smaller properties moving first
• A requirement that each new plot reach a road
• Normal planning procedure for sub-division of bigger properties
• Coverage of plots in BDA-sanctioned and comparable layouts, as well as shops and offices inside tall buildings

Because the launch is so recent, timings and limits may be revised. Before relying on any schedule, ask the corporation's revenue office for the present position.

Papers Applicants Gather

Both procedures need evidence of ownership, evidence that dues are paid and a picture of the change. In practice that means:

• The registered ownership papers, such as the sale, gift or partition deed behind the division or merger
• The final e-khata for each property
• Tax receipts that are current
• A dimensioned sketch of the property as it was and as it will be
• Aadhaar details and a consent from every owner on the khata
• A BDA clearance letter (no-objection) for vacant plots in BDA layouts, when the office wants one

Dimensions need attention. The divided parts must total the area stated in the old khata, and the sketch must follow the deed schedules. Most queries from the office come from gaps between the two.

What a Buyer Risks With a Mismatch

A khata is not proof of title, yet it is consulted at nearly every later stage. A portion still recorded within the parent's khata faces several problems:

• Registration of a sale stalls, as no e-khata corresponds to the portion
• Tax is charged on the entire parent and shared by informal arrangement
• Banks are likely to query the difference between record and deed
• Plans for building must wait until the split happens
• The next buyer finds the same gap when reselling

A portion with a record of its own avoids all this. Registration uses its ID, tax is billed to it alone and the document trail agrees.

The reverse case is similar. A house that spans two plots with two khatas is described properly by neither, and the seller ought to finish the merger before any sale.

Flats, Panchayat Land and Farmland

Other situations go through other channels. A new apartment block carries one khata for the land until its occupancy certificate arrives, and flat-wise khatas are opened once each flat's deed of sale is registered. Combining two flats does not merge their khatas automatically; the owner must apply, and structural work needs the nod of the association as well as the corporation.

For property within a gram panchayat, e-Swathu is the record, and the panchayat processes any division. Farmland works differently again: a portion of a survey number is separated by survey sketch and podi, entered into the revenue records. The khata steps described here apply only within city corporation limits.

Questions to Settle Before Paying

All of these checks serve a single purpose, which is that the paperwork matches exactly the property on offer. Inside the city, go through the following:

1. Has the property ever been part of a bigger plot, or created by combining plots?
2. Do the area, dimensions and boundaries on the e-khata agree with the schedule in the deed?
3. Can the seller produce the split or merged e-khata in his or her own name, rather than the parent plot's?
4. Is the partition deed, or the earlier sale that carved out the portion, registered?
5. Does every portion touch a public road?
6. Is there a tax receipt issued to the portion alone?
7. Does the lender accept the khata in its present form? Ask first, before signing anything.

It also helps to measure on site. The wall or boundary markers should tally with the sketch that comes with the deed.

The "After the Sale" Promise

A seller may offer to finish the bifurcation once payment is made. By then the incentive has gone, although filing needs the seller to sign and the co-owners to agree, so the buyer ends up pursuing it alone.

A better approach is to put the corrected khata in the sale agreement as a precondition, and hold the balance back until it is issued. When time is short, some of the money can be retained until the new e-khata is delivered. Our team assists buyers with these records, and the contact page is the way to reach it.