A complete overview of the Encumbrance Certificate

A complete overview of the Encumbrance Certificate

An Encumbrance Certificate (EC) is an essential document used as proof of ownership/free title of a property. The document is necessary when buying or selling a property or applying for a loan against property or for a home loan to verify that the concerned property is free of any legal or monetary liabilities.

Why is an EC online important?

The significance of an Encumbrance Certificate is described in this post: 

Purchasing a house is a vast investment making it essential for buyers to confirm any encumbrances as they can move to them along with the proprietor. Obtaining an “Encumbrance Certificate” of a property provides a buyer guarantee that the property does not have any financial or non-financial liabilities such as outstanding loans, liens, and leases.

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As the document is also furnished during loan against property and home loan requests, buyers must obtain the document to secure the legal title of the property and make sure that the buyer will be eligible for a loan.

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Other scenarios where the Encumbrance Certificate may be necessary are:

1. The documents are submitted to get the mutation of the property (Khata Transfer/ Khata Registration/Patta).

2. To withdraw PF for house construction or property purchase.

3. If the land tax or concerned property is unpaid for over three years, the certificate is offered to the Panchayat or Village Officer to update the land tax records.

An Encumbrance Certificate for a particular time frame comprises the list of all registered transactions associated with the property during the requested time frame. Individuals can get an Encumbrance Certificate of a property for 30 years.

Note that if you ask an EC for a specific period, you will get the details only for that period and not more.

The details will be offered from the entries available in the register with the sub-registrar.

Individuals can get an Encumbrance Certificate of a property from the Sub-Registrar’s office where the property was registered. In some states such as Gujarat, Andhra Pradesh, Kerala, Karnataka, Puducherry, Odisha, Telangana, and Tamil Nadu, individuals can get an EC online. The official portal of these states issues computerized EC details for the individuals. In other states, people need to get a handwritten certificate to determine the real state regarding its encumbrances.

Steps to get EC online: 

Present an EC application to the Registration Office in Form 22, together with an attested copy of the address proof, concerning property details, and the fee applicable for availing of the certificate

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The officer will examine the indexes for details.

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An EC will be issued, provided transaction history during the particular period. In case no transactions occur during the duration, an NEC or Nil Encumbrance Certificate would be issued.

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The EC is usually issued within 15 to 30 days from the application date

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The forms for certificates and EC applications are mentioned in the annexures to the rules of the Registrations Acts of the individual states. Usually, an application is done in Form No. 22, EC is provided in Form No. 15, and NEC in Form No. 16 of the individual state rules.

About Jharbhoomi Jharbhoomi is the online portal of the revenue department in Jharkhand to provide online records of land, making land purchases simpler while also restricting the scope of any offense.