By Saurabh Garg, founder·9 min read·Published 2026-06-11·Updated 2026-08-09

Short answer: Property fraud against an absentee owner runs on stale records, not on clever forgery. Check six documents against each other: the registered sale deed, the Encumbrance Certificate, the mutation record (khata, property card, patta), the current property tax receipt, a CERSAI search for registered security interests, and the electricity account. When the six agree and all name you, there is nothing for a forger to build on.

Property Fraud Against NRIs in India: How to Check Your Own Title

Fraud against an owner living abroad almost never starts with a forged signature. It starts with a record that still names a dead parent, a tax bill nobody has paid since 2019, and a property that no one has stood inside for four years.

The forger is not choosing you. The forger is choosing the property with the softest paper. Every pattern below needs the same raw material: a gap between what the public record says and what is true. This guide names the four patterns, the six records that close the gap, and where you pull each one from a laptop in Singapore or Toronto.

Pattern one: the stale record

The most common route, and the least dramatic. A parent died in 2017. The sale deed still names the parent. The khata still names the parent. The tax bill goes to an address the family left. Nobody filed for mutation because nobody was in the country to file it.

That property is now saleable by anyone who can produce a plausible legal-heir document and a cooperative witness. The buyer's lawyer checks the record, finds the deceased owner, is handed an heirship affidavit, and the deed registers. You find out when a stranger changes the locks.

The fix is dull and it works: get the record into your name. What mutation means city by city, and how to file it without flying in, sits in the guide on khata and mutation for the remote owner.

Pattern two: the power of attorney route

Someone holds authority you granted, or authority you did not grant. A registered general power of attorney with sale power lets the holder sign a registered sale deed as your attorney. A forged one does the same until a court says otherwise.

The document itself conveys nothing. Suraj Lamp & Industries (P) Ltd. v. State of Haryana (2011) settled that only a registered deed of conveyance transfers immovable property. What the power of attorney buys the holder is access to the sub-registrar's counter, which is enough. The drafting that shuts this route is set out in POA misuse and the clauses that stop it.

Pattern three: the double sale

The property is sold to a second buyer who never sees the first sale. This works only where the first transaction was never registered, or was registered in a different jurisdiction, or where the buyer trusted a photocopy and never pulled the Encumbrance Certificate.

For an owner, the version that matters is the mirror image: a mortgage or charge created against your property that you never authorised, sitting on the record while you sleep. It surfaces on an Encumbrance Certificate and in a CERSAI search, and nowhere else you will look by accident.

Pattern four: the possession play

No deed, no forgery, and the hardest one to reverse. A person takes an advance under an unregistered agreement to sell, receives the keys, and moves in. When challenged, they run a part-performance defence under Section 53A of the Transfer of Property Act, 1882. Suraj Lamp left that door open in narrow terms: such a transaction can protect possession, and it never conveys title.

Title is not the fight you want to be having while somebody else cooks dinner in your kitchen. Catch this at the handover, which means knowing who holds the keys.

The six records, and where to pull them

Each one answers a different question. Read them against each other, because a single clean document proves nothing.

  1. The registered sale deed, certified copy. Order it from the sub-registrar's office where the property was registered. Most states run an online portal: Kaveri in Karnataka, IGRS in Telangana, the IGR portal in Maharashtra. This is the instrument that made you the owner and the baseline for everything else.
  2. The Encumbrance Certificate. It lists every registered transaction against the property over the period you request: sales, mortgages, charges, releases. A sale deed or a loan you never signed appears here first. Ask for a period that runs from before you bought to today.
  3. The mutation record. Khata in Bangalore, the property card and the 7/12 extract in Maharashtra, patta and chitta in Tamil Nadu. Mutation is the revenue record of who owns and who pays. It is the record most often left in a dead parent's name.
  4. The current property tax receipt. It should carry your name and this year's date. A tax account in arrears is a public flag that the owner is absent, and an unpaid municipal demand can turn into an attachment.
  5. A CERSAI search. The Central Registry of Securitisation Asset Reconstruction and Security Interest of India records security interests created by lenders. A search costs a small fee and shows a registered mortgage against your property that no Encumbrance Certificate period covers.
  6. The electricity account. The cheapest early warning there is. A meter in someone else's name, or consumption in a flat you believe is empty, tells you more about who lives there than any affidavit.

Where you are buying rather than holding, the wider diligence list runs longer and is set out in legal due diligence before an NRI buys property in India.

How often, and what a mismatch means

Once a year for the Encumbrance Certificate and the mutation record. Once a quarter for the tax account and the electricity account if the property sits empty. That cadence exists for a legal reason and not for comfort: under the Limitation Act, 1963, a suit to cancel an instrument on the ground of fraud runs three years from the date you discover the fraud. Regular checks make your discovery date recent and provable. Discovery is a date you can influence. Use it.

A mismatch is not proof of fraud. It is a question with an owner attached to it.

The scam-by-scam catalogue, including the ones aimed at buyers rather than owners, is in NRI property scams in India. The short version you can act on today is the NRI property scam checklist.

FAQ

How can an NRI check property records in India online? Most states publish registration and revenue records on their own portal: Kaveri for Karnataka, IGRS for Telangana, the IGR portal for Maharashtra, and equivalent portals elsewhere. From abroad you can order a certified copy of the registered sale deed and an Encumbrance Certificate through these portals, and view the mutation record such as khata, property card or patta. A CERSAI search for registered security interests is separate and is done on the CERSAI site.

What is an Encumbrance Certificate and why does an NRI need one? An Encumbrance Certificate lists every transaction registered against a property for a stated period, including sales, mortgages and charges. For an owner living abroad it is the single document that reveals a sale deed or a loan created on the property without their knowledge. Pull it once a year, for a period that starts before the date you acquired the property.

What is the most common property fraud against NRIs in India? Sale of a property whose public record is stale, most often one still registered in the name of a deceased parent because no legal heir filed for mutation. The forger produces heirship documents against a record that nobody has updated, and the sale deed registers before the family abroad hears about it. Filing mutation into the current owner's name closes this route.

Can someone sell my property in India without my knowledge? Yes, where the record is stale or where a person holds a general power of attorney carrying sale power. The Supreme Court held in Suraj Lamp & Industries v. State of Haryana (2011) that only a registered deed of conveyance transfers immovable property, so a sale deed built on a forged or revoked power of attorney can be cancelled in court. Annual Encumbrance Certificate checks are how owners abroad find out in weeks rather than years.

How often should an NRI check the title of a property in India? Once a year for the Encumbrance Certificate and the mutation record, and once a quarter for the property tax and electricity accounts where the property sits empty. Under the Limitation Act, 1963, a fraud-based cancellation suit runs three years from the date of discovery, so a recent check keeps that clock in the owner's favour.

How we check a title we did not sell you

66 MG Road pulls the Encumbrance Certificate and the mutation record on your property once a year, keeps the tax account current in your name, and sends the documents themselves rather than a summary of them. When a registered document appears that you cannot account for, we order the certified copy and put it in front of a lawyer in the same week. Our own staff sit in Bangalore and Hyderabad. Mumbai, Pune, Chennai and Gurgaon run through broker partners, and we name the partner before you pay. You can ask us to run the six records once, as a one-off, without hiring us for anything else.

This is general information, not tax or legal advice. Confirm your own position with a qualified adviser.

Saurabh Garg, founder, 66 MG Road

Sources

Information on this page is as on 2026-08-09. Rules, rates, deadlines and government portals change without notice, so verify against the official source before you act. This page is for information only. It is not tax or legal advice, and it is not a substitute for a qualified adviser who knows your position.