The 21 checks we run before a client pays a rupee for a South Delhi floor — title, sanctioned plan, land share, RERA status, dues and deal execution. Print it, and don’t skip a line.
A complete builder floor buying checklist covers four fronts: title (an unbroken chain of registered deeds on freehold land, with the seller’s identity and capacity verified); the building (a sanctioned plan the construction actually matches, with the floor independently registrable and its land share defined); the money (no encumbrances, mortgages, tax or utility arrears, and payments fully in white with TDS deposited); and the deal (a tight agreement to sell, correct execution at the sub-registrar, and mutation after). Most South Delhi builder floors sit outside RERA’s thresholds — which is exactly why this diligence is on you.
A builder floor in South Delhi is a wonderful asset precisely because it is simple: one floor, one deed, a defined share of freehold land. However, that simplicity means there is no project escrow, no developer brand standing behind the paper, and usually no regulator either. The papers are the product. Over four decades our desk has reduced that reality to the 21 checks below — the same file our lawyers build before we call a deal clean.
Obtain every registered deed back at least 30 years — sale deeds, conveyances, gift or relinquishment deeds, probated wills. Each link must connect; a certified-copy search at the sub-registrar fills gaps the seller cannot.
The plot must be freehold, or lawfully converted with the conveyance deed on file. Anything still leasehold is a different deal at a different price — see our guide to freehold vs leasehold property in Delhi.
Match PAN and Aadhaar to the deed, confirm all co-owners are signing, and in inheritance cases demand the succession trail. A seller in a hurry to sign alone for the family is a red flag, not a convenience.
New floors typically convey a defined undivided share of the plot (commonly 22.5–25% per floor). The number in the registered deed is the one that exists.
Where the floor comes from a landowner–builder deal, the registered collaboration agreement and the builder’s authority to sell that specific floor must be on file. Our explainer on the builder collaboration agreement in Delhi shows exactly what to demand.
Since the Supreme Court’s Suraj Lamp ruling, a general power of attorney does not transfer ownership. If the “title” is a GPA, there is no title.
The MCD-sanctioned plan is the building’s birth certificate. Compare it, sheet by sheet, with what stands.
Minor deviations are common in Delhi; major unauthorised construction — extra coverage, an unapproved floor, a converted stilt — invites sealing risk and kills bank funding.
Where a completion certificate exists, take it. Where the colony practice differs, the sanctioned plan, water and electricity connections and tax assessment together evidence regular occupation.
Terrace rights, stilt parking slots, servant quarter, basement share — each belongs to a floor only if the deed says so. “Everyone knows the top floor gets the terrace” is not a title document.
Delhi RERA requires registration where the plot exceeds 500 sq metres or more than eight units are built. Most single-plot South Delhi floors fall outside it — meaning no regulator stands behind the builder’s promises. Where the project does cross the threshold, verify its registration on the Delhi RERA portal before booking.
Seepage history, structural members, plumbing and electrical standards — one site visit with an independent engineer costs a fraction of what it prevents.
Certified searches at the sub-registrar reveal registered mortgages, prior agreements and lis pendens. A running home loan needs the bank’s foreclosure letter and NOC woven into your payment mechanics.
Latest property-tax receipt, water and electricity dues, and the MCD record in the seller’s name — the same ledger your mutation will update after the deal.
Know the colony’s real trading band before you negotiate, and remember duty is computed on the higher of price or circle value — the arithmetic in our circle rate vs market rate guide.
Cash components destroy your cost base for future capital gains, invite penalty exposure, and mark the deal for life. Full-cheque is not just ethics; it is self-interest.
1% via Form 26QB on deals of ₹50 lakh or more — and the entirely different NRI-seller regime where it applies.
Even a part-funded purchase buys you the lender’s legal and technical scrutiny of the file — the cheapest second opinion in the market, as our builder-floor home loan guide explains.
Timelines, payment schedule tied to document milestones, penalty and exit clauses, and the exact fixtures included. Ambiguity here becomes litigation later.
E-stamp, book the SRO, execute with witnesses — the full sequence in our property registration process in Delhi guide.
Verify the MCD mutation, transfer utilities and RWA records, and take a signed inventory at possession. Only then is the checklist complete.
A GPA in place of a deed. A seller who resists the title search. A price that only works with a cash component. Forty years of files say the same thing: no discount survives a defective title.
We reject more floors than we sell. That is the entire service.
The complete chain of registered title deeds (30 years where possible), freehold or conversion papers, the MCD-sanctioned building plan, the registered collaboration agreement where applicable, the seller’s identity documents, an encumbrance search, current property-tax and utility receipts, and any lender NOC on an existing mortgage.
Only when the project crosses the thresholds — a plot exceeding 500 sq metres, or more than eight units across all phases. Most single-plot South Delhi builder floors fall outside these limits, so no RERA registration exists and buyer-side due diligence carries the full weight.
An unbroken sequence of registered instruments vesting the specific floor and its undivided land share in the seller, on freehold land, free of encumbrances, with every co-owner and inheritance link accounted for. Anything the chain cannot explain, the price must — or you walk.
Obtain the MCD-sanctioned plan from the seller or through the municipal record and compare it against the actual construction — coverage, floors, stilt use and setbacks. Material deviations mean sealing risk and financing trouble; have an architect read it if in doubt.
New stilt-plus-four buildings commonly convey about 22.5–25% of the plot per floor, with basement and ground often sold together. The only number that matters is the one written in the registered sale deed.
No. Following the Supreme Court’s Suraj Lamp judgment, a general power of attorney does not convey ownership; only a registered sale or conveyance deed does. GPA arrangements also fail at mutation and at resale.
Especially then. A lender’s legal team is a free layer of scrutiny that all-cash buyers forgo — so an all-cash purchase needs an independent lawyer’s search and opinion all the more.
Property-tax arrears, water and electricity dues and society/RWA charges attach to the property in practice and become your headache after possession. Collect current no-dues receipts and adjust anything pending in the closing statement.
The buyer, and gladly: a full search-and-opinion costs a fraction of one percent of a South Delhi deal. Sellers with clean files welcome it; resistance to scrutiny is itself a finding.
Execution: a tight agreement to sell, e-stamping and registration at the sub-registrar, TDS deposit, then mutation, utility transfers and a signed possession inventory. The deal is complete when the record matches the keys.
Every floor we offer has already been through this file — title searched, plan matched, dues cleared. Clean deals only, full-cheque, fully documented.
Checklist reflects Delhi practice as of July 2026. RERA thresholds per the Real Estate (Regulation and Development) Act and Delhi RERA’s orders — verify a project’s status at rera.delhi.gov.in. Legal positions can change; obtain a professional opinion for your specific transaction.
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