Checking a Plot's Real Boundaries and Encroachment Before You Buy in Bangalore
A tidy compound wall can make a plot look settled, yet it tells you only where an earlier owner decided to build. The legal limits come from Karnataka's survey records, so someone who relies on the fence can end up owning a smaller area than the deed claims. What follows explains the records relevant to Bangalore plots, how boundaries get measured, and the response when the site and the papers tell different stories.
The Paperwork Behind a Plot
Which documents matter depends on the land type. For revenue land, which goes by survey number, five records apply:
- RTC, which lists the survey number, its total extent and the kharab area within.
- Village map: where the survey number falls relative to adjoining numbers, plus roads, tanks and drains.
- Tippani and survey sketch: the surveyed shape, with every side's length.
- Akarband, the register that holds the whole extent of the number.
- 11E sketch, drawn whenever only a portion of the number is being sold.
Sites in sanctioned layouts depend on three other papers:
- The planning authority's layout plan, which numbers every site and gives its dimensions.
- Khata (or e-Khata): the site's dimensions and area as recorded.
- Schedule in the sale deed: neighbours or features on each of the four sides.
All of this must be consistent before measuring starts. Suppose the deed says 40 by 60 feet while the khata records 2,350 sq ft and the layout drawing cuts off a corner. Three different plots are being described.
Decoding the Deed Schedule
The four-sided description in a deed is called the chakkubandi. An example might read "East: Site No. 31, West: road of 40 feet; North: Site No. 9; South: Site No. 12". Earlier deeds in the ownership chain ought to repeat it word for word.
Any drift between deeds is worth questioning. A road becoming private land, a site number that changes, or an area that swells from sale to sale can each hint at overlap with a neighbouring owner. Request your lawyer to set the schedules next to each other and compare them line by line.
Where Fences Mislead
Plots on the outskirts frequently start life as slices of bigger farms. Stones were laid by hand, walls rose years later, and someone next door may have built slightly beyond his line. Slips like these are hard to spot on a visit. A strip of two or three feet down one side still changes the area being paid for.
When wall and record clash, the record decides. Typically the gap appears when a new owner asks for plan approval, a construction loan or a resale. Found before purchase, the problem is the seller's to fix; found afterwards, it becomes the buyer's dispute.
How the Survey Is Done
This job falls to the state's Survey, Settlement and Land Records department, working through Mojini. Asking for boundaries to be fixed is called hadbast, or hadbastu. A departmental or licensed surveyor gets the job, and owners of neighbouring land are sent notices before the visit.
The surveyor starts from fixed survey points, measures outwards and puts a mark at each corner. A signed sketch follows, setting the plot as measured against the extent on record. Encroachment either way is drawn onto that sketch.
Only the owner on record may apply, so a buyer should ask the seller to obtain the survey and make this a clause of the agreement of sale. Online tracking uses the application number. Waiting times differ between taluks, which argues for applying right after the token advance is paid.
Using a private surveyor
Licensed private surveyors carry total stations and are able to cover a site within a day, then compare the result with the layout plan. They are the usual choice for sites in approved layouts within the city. A private report speeds up negotiation, though in a dispute the sketch from the department weighs more.
Why witnesses matter
Corners fixed with the neighbours looking on are rarely contested later. Their presence turns measurement into a record all sides share, and many surveyors have them sign the sketch. Without them, a boundary can be challenged the moment a wall is raised.
Reading the Outcome
A survey can end in four ways, with a different response to each:
| Outcome | Meaning | Response |
|---|---|---|
| Ground equals record | The wall follows the legal line | Continue with the purchase |
| Plot falls short of record | A neighbour or road has absorbed part of it | Seller reclaims the area, or the price is cut for what is handed over |
| Plot exceeds record | The wall takes in ground owned by another party | Buy the recorded extent alone and shift the wall |
| Plot touches public land | A portion is public property: road, drain, tank bed or the like | Step away unless that part is carved out of the sale |
Public land overlap is the worst case. Land recorded as gomala, a tank bed or a storm water drain cannot be transferred by a private seller, and any building on it can be removed. Overlap with a neighbour on a small scale usually ends with a signed understanding and a rebuilt wall.
Situations That Call for a Survey
The fee is worth paying on any land deal, and these situations make it essential:
- Corner plots, or ones with irregular shapes.
- Sites beside a lake, a burial ground, a drain or vacant government land.
- Part-sales out of a bigger survey number.
- Layouts cut out of revenue land, without an approved plan from any planning authority.
- Stones marking the boundary that are missing, freshly placed or moved lately.
- Sellers who avoid measurement or press for early registration.
As a first look, the Dishaank app is handy: it displays the survey number at your spot over a satellite view. Treat the maps as indicative: they prompt questions but cannot settle them.
Order of Work Before You Pay
Following this sequence keeps costs low and leaves the paid step until last:
- Copy down the seller's deed details: survey or site number, extent, four boundaries.
- Make sure RTC or khata, layout plan and deed all give identical area and dimensions.
- Line up the four boundaries given in every earlier deed.
- Pace the plot with a measuring tape and write down each side and its neighbour.
- Include a survey clause in the agreement of sale, with the sketch handed over prior to registration.
- Go to the survey yourself, with the adjoining owners there.
- Put any shortfall or overlap resolution on paper, then register with measured dimensions.
Plotted projects with sanctioned layouts and a Karnataka RERA registration carry far less of this risk, because each site is fixed by the layout drawing. If plots in Devanahalli or elsewhere in Bangalore interest you, we can send the approved layout plan of the project concerned.
