The moment you buy or inherit a property, ensuring that it is both legally and physically secure is of paramount importance. Safeguarding the property from encroachments is uppermost in the minds of property owners today. Ensuring its security entails both legal and physical safeguards.
LEGAL MEASURES
If the apartment or plot you have bought is new, register it in your name. Registration of the property involves, besides stamping, many other attachments including the 34A (clearance), the income tax clearance required from the respective income tax officer assessing the particular seller, proof of ownership, whether the seller has the bonafide authority to sell, his photograph and thumb impression. All these will make the title of that property clear, having no income tax or other liabilities. Once the property is registered, it will facilitate financial institutions in releasing loans against it as at that point in the time the registered property is deemed as collateral security..
A clear title of the property helps in its accurate evaluation. The registration will take away the chances of disputed title. It will also provide complete transparency in property transactions.
If you have bought a property from another owner, make sure you get the Khata transferred to your name and change the title in the registration. The water and electricity bills should also be issued in your name.
PHYSICAL MEASURES
After the legalities of securing the property are over, ensuring that the land is physically secure is also very important. If it is a vacant land, keep it fenced. If you do not wish to build a compound wall, then fence the area. Make sure the fencing guards the plot against the vagaries of nature, cattle and antisocial elements. It is advisable to have a watchman to guard the property. If possible, build a small accommodation for the watchman on the site. Also, keep the neighbours informed about your whereabouts. Let them know your contact details, in case of an emergency. It is not advisable to keep the vacant land uncleared and overgrown with bushes and other undergrowth. It must look cared for. So keep it leveled, get it cleaned regularly, and if you can, plant trees along the periphery. Also, put a board giving your phone numbers and contact details.
