All of us deal with different types of documents on a regular basis. These documents can be your PAN card, Aadhar Card, Passport, Academic Certificates, Investment Documents (share certificates, Bonds etc), ‘Property Documents’ like Sale Deed, Mutation/Khatha Certificate etc.,
Losing or mis-placing any of these documents can have both monetary as well as non-monetary affect. Mis-placing the documents is not very uncommon.
But, what if you mis-place an important document like Sale Deed of your property and never found it? We all know how important Sale Deed is.. A sale deed has almost all the details required to carry out the purchase or sale of a property. Most importantly the sale deed would require the Owner to certify that the property under sale is free from any encumbrance and without any lien.
Without it, it is a daunting task to sell/buy a property and it is also very difficult to take a home loan on such property.
There are few instances where even Banks or lending institutions have misplaced the original documents of the property.
In this post, let’s discuss – How to get a certified copy of lost Property Documents like Sale Deed? What is the procedure to get duplicate Sale Deed? Can a property be registered if the seller does not have an original Sale Deed? Can anyone apply for a copy of Sale Deed of a property?
How to get a certified copy of lost Sale Deed?
Losing sensitive and valuable documents like a Registered Sale Deed can happen to anyone. So, what is the procedure to obtain a copy of lost Sale Deed? Below is the checklist of what you (owner of the property) have to do in case if you have misplaced the original property documents;
- File a police Complaint immediately:
- The first thing you need to do is to file FIR (First Information Report) in the nearest police station where you have lost your property documents.
- Kindly note that only owner of the property has to file FIR, stating that the property papers have been mis-placed or lost or stolen. Do give your Mobile number when registering the FIR so that you can track its status later online.
- You are advised to save a copy of the FIR for future use. The prospective buyer(s) of your property or bankers may ask for it in the future.
- Kindly note that the Supreme Court has recently ordered all Sates & Union Territories’ police departments to upload First Information Reports (FIRs) on police or government websites, within 24 hours of their registration in police stations. So, once you file FIR in any police station, you can view the FIR details and its Status online. For example; Below is the screen-print of Tamilnadu Police Dept portal home page.
- Apply for a Certified Copy of Sale Deed :
- You have to visit the Sub-Registrar office (SRO) where the property is registered and make an application to get a certified copy of Sale Deed.
- The Registration office has the scanned copy of your Sale Deed with them. But, they will generally not give a certified copy immediately.
- They will ask you to publish an advertisement in National and regional (local) newspaper about the loss of property documents (Sale deed).
- Place an Advertisement :
- You have to publish a ‘Lost & Found’ advertisement in both national and local newspaper, clearly mentioning the details of the lost Document and your contact details.
- It is a statutory requirement to publish an Ad. In certain cases, you may have to produce an affidavit or FIR to the newspaper agency before placing your Lost & Found advertisement.
- Below is a sample classified Ad;
- Remember to keep a copy of the complaint as well as the press clippings with you as proof of loss.
- After publishing the Ad, you may have to wait for 2 to 4 weeks to see if anyone finds your property documents and returns them within the stipulated time that you have mentioned in the AD.
- Prepare an Affidavit and get it Notarized: Even after waiting for say 10 to 15 days, if you do not find the lost documents, you can get an Affidavit prepared on Stamp paper. You have to clearly state the details of the lost sale deed & other documents, and sign the under-taking. You can attach the police FIR document and the copies of newspaper Ads to this Affidavit. The undertaking needs to be attested and registered with a Public Notary.
- Get the Duplicate Sale Deed from SRO: You have to pay the prescribed fee meant for this purpose at SRO. Enclose the police FIR document, copies of Ads & Affidavit along with the application for copy of Sale deed. The staff at SRO will verify these documents and issue you a legally certified copy of Sale Deed. Thereafter, certified copies of the Title deed are used as substitute for the original.
Property Documents lost / misplaced – FAQs
Below are some of the FAQs related to this topic;
- I have taken home loan and my Bank has mis-placed the original Sale Deed, what is the procedure to get duplicate Sale deed?
- Submit a written complaint to the bank and keep a copy of their reply with you.
- Register an FIR with the police against the Bank.
- Publish news-paper Ad.
- Get the Affidavit done by the Bank about the lost property documents.
- Do apply for encumbrance certificate to check if everything is fine with respect to ownership and mortgage details.
- Get the duplicate certified copy of Sale deed through your Banker/lending institution.
- You can ask the bank to bear all the associated costs.
- Can I buy a property without original sale deed? – If the deal is good and you do not want to miss buying such property, you can ask for the Certified copy of Sale deed, Police FIR document, copies of news paper Advertisements etc. from the Seller/owner of the property. Do take the latest EC to check for any discrepancies. Kindly take legal opinion and help from a civil lawyer before taking final decision. (Read : ‘All you need to know about EC‘)
- Can I get a Home loan if original Sale deed is missing? – Certified copy of sale deed can’t replace the original deed when it comes to raising loan over such property. Banks may ask for the Police FIR, certified copy of sale deed, affidavit etc., before issuing home loan.
- My Property is in Society or maintained by Association, do I need to inform them about the loss of property documents? – Yes,you have to inform them and also get NOC (No Objection Certificate) from them.
- Can anyone (non-owner) apply for a copy of sale deed? –
- There are conflicting views on this. I believe that as the documents registered at SRO comes under Public domain (except WILLS), so anyone can make an application for copy of Sale deed details at the concerned SRO. However, you may not get a certified copy.
- You have to give details like owner’s name, document number, property schedule info etc., to get copy of sale deed.
- Some states do provide Sale Deed details online (not copy of sale deed but only details of the Registration. Until last year, the AP registration dept used to provide copy of Sale Deeds online). For example – below is the screen-print of AP registration dept website, where-in you can get the Sale Deed or Registration details online. (Kindly click on the image to visit AP Registration dept portal)
- Some sub-registrars may issue copy of Sale deeds to the owners of the respective properties only, in such a case you may have to file an RTI application and get the required details.
A sale deed is one of the most valuable legal documents in the purchase or sale of a property. You might have genuinely lost or misplaced the property documents. But, don’t take this lightly, kindly file FIR immediately. Apply for the Certified copy of Sale Deed at the earliest. Be prepared to spend your time as well as good amount of money to get this done!
I hope you find this post useful. Do share your comments. Cheers!
(Post published on : 25-November-2016) (Featured Image courtesy of Stuart Miles at FreeDigitalPhotos.net)
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Hai all..
My aunt has expired by last 4 months..She is unmarried and have no childrens..She was working as a teacher previously and got retired in 2002 and invested the her full pension amount in buying two flats..
Subsequently she also wrote a will in A4 sheet paper , single flat will go to her one of own brother’s grandson who is 12 year s old and another flat will goes to her another own brother’ s son who is 28 years old, 2 witness has signed in the sheet , ..After her demise, we lost the original property documents of flat and original will (A4 sheet written,,)
Now we are planning to register the flats to respective will mentioned names of 1) Grandson (who is 12 years old) and 2) Son (28 years old), we have a copy of A4 sheet written will, we have death certificate..
..How to do go about for registration.. Please guide us in this regard
Dear Sakthi,
This is tricky situation.
Suggest you to kindly consult a civil lawyer.
There are some attention-grabbing points in time in this article but I don’t know if I see all of them heart to heart. There’s some validity but I’ll take maintain opinion till I look into it further.
I am trying to sell my house. The agent is asking us to do the registration with the buyer. The buyer will give us a portion of the amount to clear the loan and get the Original document from Bank. After that once we have the original document then at the time of handover of the document the rest of the money will be given.
I am worried, but the agent and few more people said that sometime the registrations can be done with the 5% of money also. This safe guards the buyers interest too.
1) Can the buyer do registration without the original sales deed which is with bank
2) Can there be a quick legal implication on the buyer if the remaining amounts are not paid.
Dear Reema,
1 – No. One needs to clear the loan outstanding and get the sale deed released.
2 – Both of you can enter into Sale agreement and mention clear Terms & conditions on how/when the remaining amount has to be paid/received.
Thanks for your reply.
My agent is saying that the registration can happen without the sales deed. He is saying the buyer will pay the loan amount and after that we can do registration. Meanwhile we can process the documents with the bank. Once the document is out then one hand the buyer will give us the remaining money and the other we will give the sales deed.
Dear Reema,
Your agent may be mostly saying about registering the ‘Sale agreement’ and not the Sale deed. If so, then it can be ok to go with..
Certified copy is something that Sub Registrar issues to anybody who has the document number. Mere presence of newspaper advertisement and police complaint may not really help because there are many dailies, and the person who may have found the document would still be in better position to create a contrary title. There should be a remedy such that Sub Registrar on being convinced that the document is lost, and there is genuine reason to issue a certified copy …mentions that this certified copy is different from others because it has been created based on affidavits and indemnities given to us for issuing it. Thereafter, the software should mention that a duplicate has been issued to ensure that nobody enters into any contract in respect of the property even with original document, except the people who have the duplicate or legalized certified copy. Sub registrar needs to mention it in his hand, and the software needs to show it like that. Because of such flawed way of doing things, we end up fighting in courts for years at a stretch and use up court’s time, which is simply inadequate to for this size of population. Time we rectified our procedures, don’t you think?
Dear vandana,
Yes, may be the SROs can show/report the issue of Certified Copies in a report or in ECs, available in public domain.
Or …cancel the original sale deed, and issue the duplicate in respect of it..with added word D. That way if anybody wants to enter into contract with the person holding the original sale deed, becomes alert as EC would show that old sale deed does not exist.
There are ways…..but the problem in this country is ..people want bribes. The guys reaching those ministerial posts do not understand the issues and in any event, they would like to take advantage of such loopholes.
Pity we only make the situation worse for our children.
Dear vandana .. Cancelling the Original Sale deed can be a risky affair..this provision again can be mis-used.
Anyways, thank you for sharing your views. Keep visiting ReLakhs..
Our neighbour, an old ailing widow (aged 80+) living in a three storied building. The house is built by a promoter and the flats were purchased by other 13/14 flat owners. The promoter did not handed over the Registered sale deed to the widow. She does not know any details of the Registered Sale Deed.
Last year , the widow made a Deed of Gift of her said flat to her daughter . The flat has been registered in her daughter’s name.
The daughter now wants mutation of the flat in her own name.
She approached the Kolkata Municipal Authority . The Form A-42 filled up,. The Mutation Deptt. asking for the Xerox copy of the Sale deed .
Now our questions are:-
(A)Whether a true copy of the registered sale deed can be obtained from the SRO?
(B) Whether FIR and/or Ad in the Newspapers are required for obtaining true copy of a Registered Sale Deed?
(D) What is difference between Certified copy of Registered Sale Deed and True copy of Registered Sale Deed.
Thanking you.
Dear Swati,
1 – Yes, can be applied. Firstly, you may check the Encumbrance Certificate details, this will show if the property is actually registered in her name or not. If the property is in her name, you can apply for a True copy of original sale deed.
2 – Some Sub Registrar offices do give the copy without any FIR and all, but if they insist then you may have to publish an Ad. If possible, do try to check if the promoter can now give the original Deed to her..
3 – I believe that its One and the same.
Lost my sale deed .. Its in my father’s name. And i don’t have any information about the land area like survey number, address, etc. I just know it is located in sevva pettai. So how can I get a copy of sale deed?
Dear ammu,
If possible, try checking with your father.
Else, you can get more details at the concerned Sub-Registrar office.
My mother is the owner of the property. All the recent document like the sale deed, etc is available but the mother deed is not seen. Do v need to apply for only the certified copy of the mother deed or go with the process of filing the FIR,etc?
Also, can my dad apply for the certified copy of the mother deed on behalf of her?
Dear Geet ..I believe that your mother (owner of the property) has to apply for it.
Suggest you to first visit the concerned Sub registrar office and inquire.
I have observed that some SROs issue certified copy to the current owners without filing FIR and all..so you may first try checking with SRO..
Hi Srikanth, your website is very nice. My husband left me and my kid. He has a lot of properties in Hyderabad and in different places. I don’t know document numbers ,only I know address. How can we get evidence of all his properties to submit in court.
Dear Veena..May I know who has the access to all the Original Documents??
My husband only, he left us and remarried someone else. He applied for divorce and we need to prove in court that he has properties in multiple places.
Dear Veena ji,
Suggest you to consult a trusted Civil lawyer. Based on addresses of properties that you have, you may apply for Encumbrance Certificate from Sub-Registrar office.
These ECs have the current owner details.
Good article , thanks and we would like more! Added to FeedBurner as nicely
If I sell my house in May 2017, do I have time till November 2017 (i.e. 6 months) or till 31st July 2017 (i.e. latest date for filing tax returns of FY 2016-17) to invest sale proceeds in buying a new house in order to save on LTCG Tax?
Dear Kishore ..Kindly read: How to save long term capital gain taxes on sale of property?
My wife has purchased a house worth 6L in year 2008.The sale deed has been misplaced. Yet the said H is not transferred to her name. Please guide
Dear Srinivas ..What has been not transferred in her name?
Hi Srikanth – this is a nice information. I lost my sale deed (actually my mom is the owner of the property) and wasnt able to file an FIR as i didnt know where i lost it and realized late after searching all over my place. But then when i have been to Sub Registrar office and requested for a TRUE COPY – they have given with the Sub Registrar Sign and SRO Stamp. Thereafter i checked with many people that i know about this and many of them confirmed that the TRUE COPY should be good enough to sell the property .. please confirm ?
Dear Amit,
It can be good enough to Sell the property.
But some prospective buyers might ask for FIR complaint number.
When did you lose the sale deed? Suggest you to file the FIR, may be it is not too late to do so.
Dear Srikanth Reddy
Nice to know you give advice and suggestions especially in matters of loss of sale deed documents. I am a retired person and last year during July 2015 I lost my Sale deed documents and accordingly I filed an FIR . An FIR information report bearing the complaint number was issued.
I also obtained a certified copy of my sale deed from SRO.
I want to sell the site now. Do I need to put an ad in local dailies regarding loss of sale deed documents and if so is there any format of the ad .
Please advice .
Regards
M.T.Parthasarathy
09448850467
Dear Parthasarathy Ji,
Generally, it is advisable to give Classified Ad before applying for Certified copy of Sale deed.
But still I believe that you can go ahead and give Ad about missing document.
As you have already got the certified copy of your Sale deed, it all boils down to if prospective buyer(s) will accept the copy or not.