Property Tax, Utility & Society Dues Verification

Buyers inherit surprises: a property-tax demand in the old owner’s name, a water bill with interest, or a society that will not admit a member until years of maintenance are cleared.

We ask for the demands and the receipts, and we compare them with what the agreement says has been paid. Where an authority or a society will only speak to the owner, we list exactly what the seller must obtain.

Laws and records vary by state. Khata, mutation, jamabandi, patta, and municipal extracts are not interchangeable, and the office that holds them changes with the city. The points below describe the work in general. The papers we ask for follow the property’s location, and the report names the source that was actually consulted.

What this covers

• Property-tax demands and receipts for an agreed period
• Utility arrears, where bills or no-dues letters are available
• Society, association, or apartment-owner dues, including sinking fund positions if the society states them
• Whether a no-dues or no-objection letter is current, and who issued it
• Deposits that are supposed to be transferred with the flat

Documents we typically need

• Latest property-tax receipt and any pending demand
• Electricity and water bills, and closure letters if the connection will change
• Society ledger, maintenance receipts, and a no-dues letter
• The draft deed clause that deals with dues up to the date of sale

What you receive

• What has been receipted, and for which period
• Amounts that are still open on the papers we saw
• Letters that are missing, with the party who can issue them
• Suggested holding-back language only as a practical note — your lawyer should draft the clause

Common red flags

• Receipts that stop a year or more before the sale
• A society that refuses a no-dues letter
• A large demand described as “under dispute” with no papers
• Utility connections in a third party’s name with no transfer path
• A deed that makes the buyer liable for dues “whether known or not”

Questions on this check