The plot-buying checklist we use ourselves

Most property disputes in this state are not construction disputes. They are documentation disputes, and almost all of them were visible in the paperwork before the money moved. The checklist below is not theoretical — it is the set of checks we invite every buyer to run, on our plots as much as on anyone else's. It protects you everywhere, and that is the point of publishing it.

The site visit is seductive and it tells you almost nothing about whether you can safely own the land. Ask for the title documents first. You want a chain of ownership going back thirty years, with every transfer accounted for. Gaps in that chain are not administrative untidiness; they are unresolved claims waiting for a buyer with money.

Alongside the sale deed, ask for the current revenue records — khasra, khatauni and the B-1 — and check that the seller's name actually appears on them. A registered deed that was never followed by namantaran leaves the revenue record pointing at somebody else, and that mismatch will surface at the worst possible moment.

Most land around Rewa is recorded as agricultural. Before it can be legally sold as residential plots or built on, its use must be converted — in Madhya Pradesh that is a diversion order, granted by the SDM under the M.P. Land Revenue Code. Ask to see the order itself, not an assurance that it is 'in process'.

Buying undiverted land intending to convert it yourself is possible, but the fee plus the delay is rarely reflected in the discount you were offered. And an undiverted parcel is very difficult to finance — most lenders will simply decline.

A plotted colony needs approval from the Town & Country Planning department, and the developer needs a colonizer licence under the M.P. Nagar Palika (Colony Development) Rules. Ask for the sanctioned layout with the approval number on it — then check that number against the department's own records rather than trusting the paper you were handed.

Separately, check the RERA MP registration on the authority's public portal. The filings there are public and include approved plans, declared timelines and financials. Five minutes of checking is worth doing every single time.

Bring the sketch to the site and physically walk the boundary against it. You are checking two things: that the plot on the ground is the plot on the paper, and that nobody is encroaching. Look for informal structures, established footpaths across the parcel, and cultivation by a neighbour. Any of these can become a possession claim.

Check the levels honestly. A parcel that sits below the road will need fill, and fill for a 200 sq.yd plot runs into real money. Look at where water goes in the rain — if you cannot tell, visit again during monsoon before you commit.

These are the ones that surface late, usually at the worst moment.

You have your answer. A legitimate seller with a clean parcel has this file assembled already and hands it over without friction, because assembling it is a normal cost of doing business honestly. Resistance, delay, or a request that you trust a summary instead of reading the documents is not a personality trait. It is information.