Is the Wall the Boundary? Survey and Encroachment Checks for Bangalore Plots

Buyers often judge a plot by its walls, but a wall records only what some earlier owner chose to build. The law looks instead at Karnataka's land records, and the two can differ by several feet. Questions and answers below show how a plot's lawful limits are fixed near Bangalore, how a survey tests them and how to respond when measured land and papers disagree.

Does the Wall Mark the Boundary?

Frequently it does not. Numerous plots around the city edge were carved from big farm holdings, boundary stones planted by hand, walls following long afterwards. A neighbour sometimes builds slightly across his line, and a site visit reveals nothing odd.

The consequence is real all the same, because a strip two or three feet wide along one side shrinks the area paid for. If wall and record differ, the record governs. Buyers usually discover this while applying for plan approval, a construction loan or a resale, and by then the dispute belongs to them.

Which Records Show the Edge?

The answer depends on the land. Land under a survey number, meaning revenue land, is described by these records:

• RTC: survey number, extent and any kharab portion.
• Village map: neighbouring survey numbers, with roads, tanks and drains around them.
• Tippani and survey sketch: outline from measurement, side lengths.
• Akarband: the register of the number's full extent.
• 11E sketch: prepared for a partial sale of the number.

An approved layout site works from a separate set:

• Layout drawing the planning authority sanctioned, giving every site a number and measurements.
• Khata or e-Khata giving site dimensions and area.
• Deed schedule naming the owners or features on all four sides.

Every one of them should say the same thing before a tape comes out. Say the deed states 30 by 50 feet, the khata 1,420 sq ft, and the layout drawing has a bevelled corner. On paper that makes three sites.

What Is a Chakkubandi?

The term means the description of a property by its four sides, and every sale deed has one. A sample runs "East: Site 7, West: 24-foot road, North: Site 18, South: Site 11". Each older deed in the title history should repeat that wording exactly.

Differences call for questions. Land that was a road in one deed and a private plot in the next, a number that moves, or dimensions that creep upward can each point to encroachment by a neighbour. A lawyer reading the title can set the schedules side by side.

What Does a Survey Involve?

The Survey, Settlement and Land Records department deals with boundaries and runs the Mojini system for it. People call the request hadbast or hadbastu. Either a government or a licensed surveyor takes the case, and neighbouring owners are notified before the visit.

On site, the surveyor works outwards from fixed survey points and pegs each corner. A signed sketch then compares the measured plot with the extent in the records, and shows encroachment in both directions.

The recorded owner is the applicant, so request the seller to arrange it and record that duty in the sale agreement. Progress is trackable online through the application number. Waiting periods differ across taluks, so start right after the token advance.

Private option

Licensed private surveyors equipped with a total station can complete a site within a day and test it against the layout drawing, a good fit for sanctioned city layouts. Their report arrives fast and helps when haggling. In a dispute, the departmental sketch has greater force.

Neighbours as witnesses

Corners marked while adjoining owners watch seldom draw objections later. With them there, the exercise becomes a joint record, and plenty of surveyors collect their signatures on the sketch. Fixing a boundary in their absence invites a challenge as soon as construction starts.

What If the Figures Differ?

Four results can emerge, each with its own response.

• Agreement between site and record: the wall follows the legal line and the sale may proceed.
• Smaller than recorded: part has been absorbed by a neighbour or road, and the seller must win it back or lower the price.
• Larger than recorded: the wall includes ground the seller has no title to, so take only the recorded extent and relocate the wall.
• Overlap with public land, such as a road, drain or tank bed: leave the deal unless that portion is excluded.

Public land is the grave case. Land entered as gomala, tank bed or storm water drain is beyond private sale, and buildings on it may be demolished. A modest overlap with a neighbour is often closed with a written agreement and a rebuilt wall.

When You Should Never Skip It

The fee suits every land purchase, but certain cases leave no choice:

• Corner plots and plots of irregular shape.
• Sites beside drains, lakes, burial grounds or vacant government land.
• Portions sold out of a larger survey number.
• Layouts on revenue land where no planning authority sanctioned a plan.
• Stones that are gone, brand new or freshly moved.
• Sellers who discourage measurement or push for rapid registration.

Dishaank offers a convenient first look, showing the survey number of your spot on a satellite view. Its maps carry information only, so use them to frame questions instead of settling them.

Steps to Follow Before You Pay

Taking the steps in this order keeps the paid survey for the end:

1. From the seller's deed, note the survey or site number, the extent and all four boundaries.
2. Confirm that RTC or khata, layout plan and deed agree on area and dimensions.
3. Cross-check the four boundaries in earlier deeds of the chain.
4. Pace out the site with a tape and record each side's neighbour.
5. Add the survey to the agreement as a condition, sketch due ahead of registration.
6. Attend the measurement, together with adjoining owners.
7. Put the resolution of any shortfall or overlap on paper before registering with the measured figures.

Projects of plots that hold planning approval and a Karnataka RERA number lower the risk, as a layout drawing pins down each site. Anyone shopping for plots in Devanahalli or across Bangalore may ask for the sanctioned layout drawing of a project we show.