10 Questions to Ask Before Signing Anything

A land deal rarely fails because a buyer missed something exotic. It fails because one of a handful of ordinary questions never got asked before the signature went down, and by the time the answer surfaces, the deal is already closed. These ten questions are not exhaustive, but they are the ones that recur across nearly every dispute this site's own coverage has worked through.

A plot's classification decides what can legally be built on it and what financing is even available, and a seller's verbal assurance that "conversion is just a formality" is not the same as a Sanad or NA order actually in hand. NA Plot vs Agricultural Land: Which Should You Actually Buy? covers this distinction directly.

An encumbrance certificate, obtained from the relevant sub-registrar's office, is what surfaces existing mortgages, liens or prior undisclosed sales attached to a specific property, and skipping this step because a seller seems trustworthy is how a buyer discovers an inherited legal problem only after the money has moved. How to Read a 7/12 Extract Before You Buy covers the parallel record worth checking directly rather than through a seller's summary.

A number printed on a brochure is a claim, not a fact, until it is checked against the state authority's own registry, and that same portal typically shows the developer's other projects, their delivery record, and any compliance complaints on file. RERA Explained: What Project Registration Actually Protects and How to Verify a Developer's Track Record cover both halves of this question.

Pulling registered sale figures for similar plots in the same locality over the last six months is the single strongest tool a buyer has, and a price with no comparable transactions behind it is a number the market has not actually tested. How to Negotiate Land Price Like a Pro covers how to actually use this information once gathered.

Property purchases above a stated threshold carry a buyer-side withholding obligation, and the rate and mechanism differ meaningfully depending on whether the seller is a resident or an NRI. TDS on Property Purchase: When and How Much and Lower TDS Certificate: Form 13 for NRI Sellers cover both scenarios, and getting this step wrong is a compliance problem that falls on the buyer, not the seller.

Several states restrict land purchase by non-residents or non-agriculturists in ways that have nothing to do with nationality and everything to do with a specific state's own land law: Section 118: Why Most Outsiders Cannot Buy Land in Himachal and Uttarakhand's Land Law for Outside Buyers: What Changed cover two states where this restriction has changed meaningfully in the last few years, and assuming an older understanding of either state's rule still holds is a real risk.

A plot loan and a home loan are priced and structured differently, and construction-linked financing carries deadlines that can retroactively change the interest rate if missed. Financing a Plot: Land Loans, LTV & Construction Loans covers what the loan-to-value gap and construction timeline actually mean in practice.

Stamp duty and registration together commonly run somewhere between 5% and 11% of a property's value depending on the state, the buyer's gender in some jurisdictions, and the transaction type, and treating the headline sale price as the full cost of the transaction is a common and avoidable budgeting error. A buyer should have this full figure, not an estimate, before signing anything with a financial commitment attached.

Shape, orientation and other characteristics that affect buyer demand, Vastu compliance among them in much of the Indian market, are worth weighing even by a buyer personally indifferent to them, since they measurably affect how easily and at what price the property resells later. Vastu for Choosing & Orienting Your Plot covers this specific factor in more depth.

A plot with no rental income and a longer, less certain exit timeline is a genuinely different investment from a built apartment, and the question of which one fits is worth answering honestly before comparing specific listings rather than after falling for a specific plot. Land vs Apartments: The Better Long-Term Asset? works through this comparison directly.

Treat these ten questions as a checklist to complete before a sale agreement is signed, not during the days immediately after, since several of them, TDS calculation and financing pre-approval among them, take real time to resolve properly. Due Diligence When Buying Property in Another Country covers the same discipline applied to an overseas purchase, worth reading for the parallel it draws to the domestic version above.

Escaping the City: The Second-Home Mindset is worth reading before any of the ten questions above, since the right answers depend partly on what the property is actually meant to do for its buyer. Capital Gains Tax on Selling Land in India: The Complete Guide covers the eventual exit side of this same purchase.

Whatever the destination, Karjat, Coorg and Kasauli each carry their own version of several of these ten questions, state land law and resale liquidity among them.

• Encumbrance certificates and the documents genuinely required for Indian property registration
• Stamp duty and registration charges running 5% to 11% of property value depending on state