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Ownership Type
Freehold
Leasehold
P.O.A.
Cooperative Society

The type of ownership, total number owners ( and their share in property) of the property. Loan on
the property, tenant in the property ( if any), cultivable and non cultivable area in the property,
source of irrigation ( if any), assessment for the property, Class of the property, Reservation on
property( if any
Mutations are the entries made by the revenue department in respect of any change in ownership
of the property, such changes may be because of death of any owner, Loan obtained by any
owner etc some time it may happen that name of any person appears in Mutation
to check such things it is advisable to check all mutations, c) Maps :- it is advisable to check
maps provided by the government authorities, this gives better idea about he exact location of the
property and access to the property, d) Ceiling Limit :- As per the type of the property there is a
Limit provided for the holding of the Land , the purchase must check that the Land which he is
going to purchase will not cross his limit as well as he have to check that the vendor is also not
holding it as excess land.
A property is divided into movable and immovable property
Transfer Of Property Act,1882, Registration Act, 1908, The Income Tax Act, 1961 etc.
Title is a legal term; it means the ownership right to property.
Every property has a title. Title is the evidence of the right of ownership or the ground of right of
ownership. Title can be created by act of parties or by operation of law. Title is acquired by
transfer or by operation of law .The law relating to transfer of immovable property is governed by
the Transfer of Property Act .Two other Acts closely connected to it are the Indian Registration Act
and the Indian Stamp Act. Law of Contract, and the various Statutes passed by State Legislatures
from time to time have important bearing in the matter of ascertaining title to immovable property.
Law relating to succession is another important area connected to investigation of title.
Investigation of title is very essential since the ownership of the property is required to be
complete, fair & free from any doubts, risks & interest.
To ensure this an investigation is much needed so that a purchaser can take all necessary steps
at the time of acquiring property to obtain a good & clear title of the land. When search is
conducted unto the property of the person who owns it, it is called the Investigation of Title. It is
also popularly called as 'SEARCH' into the ownership of the property. The investigation is carried
out broadly to ensure that the property is indeed in the name of the person selling, is free from
liens, mortgages and encumbrances, that the property tax has been fully paid up to date and that
the property is not engaged in any legal conflicts
The investigation of title is a step as towards an agreement of sale. An agreement of sale has
three main step preceding the completion of a transaction of sale they are: - (1) Settlement of the
terms of the deal between the parties particularly relating to the consideration & the property to be
transferred, (2) Preparation and execution of the agreement & (3) Investigation of title of the
transfer of property.
The object of investigations of title is to ascertain the ownership and title of a given property, in
most cases immovable in nature. The attributes of ownership are , (1)right to have and to get
possession ; (2) right to prevent interference by others ; (3) Power of alienation (4) liberty of using

the object according to owner's will ;(5)liberty of enjoying the fruits and to avail of the object
owned ;(6) liberty of changing its form and even destroying it.

Possession is most important component of the ownership. If owner is not in touch with land and
somebody else is having control over the land, under the circumstances owner loses his
ownership. There are legal provisions for granting ownership to the person having control on land
for long period.
The origin of ownership is in possession: Actual possession implies a right to retain it until the
contrary is proved and to that extent possessor is presumed to be the owner .The concept of
ownership gave birth to "title" and the idea of title as the better right to obtain or retain possession
evolved through trover and detenue. A person, who would succeed in establishing a better right to
have possession than the other, would be the owner. All titles to land are ultimately based on
possession. This is the position in English law as well as Indian law. There is a dictum, which
says that so far as land is concerned, there is no law of ownership but only a law of possession.
Person can have control over land only if he is directly in contact with the land. In other words
person can control over the land if the land is under his possession. It directly means word
"possession" and word "ownership" goes together. Possession is most important component of
the ownership. If owner is not in touch with land and somebody else is having control over the
land, under the circumstances owner loses his ownership. There are legal provisions for granting
ownership to the person having control on land for long period
Investigation of title is an intricate matter. There is no standard period prescribed for the root of
title. After the execution of the agreement of sale it will be the duty of the vendor's advocate to
send to the purchasers advocate the title deeds of the property. These title deeds are sent in
exchange of an accountable receipt to be signed by the purchasers advocate. The purchaser
advocate signs the accountable receipt and keeps a copy thereof with him with the title deeds.
Investigation of title starts with the present owner's original title deed which will always be 'the
document of title 'to the property. Once the original deed is perused the investigator proceeds to
verify the parent documents or the prior title deeds The work then of investigation of title by the
purchasers advocate commences He will than take searches in the office of the sub-registrar to
find out all the documents relating to the property which is the subject matter of sale which are
registered.. To what extent and up to what period the prior title deeds are to be perused vary from
case to case. The safest thing is to peruse the title deeds for the last 30 yeas. The reasons for
this proposition are; (1) the period of Limitation against Government is 30 years; (2). Under
Section 90 of the Evidence Act , a document 30 years or more are presumed to be validly
executed.(3) The contents of any document are presumed to represent the correct agreement or
understanding between the parties there to .However a search for the last 12 years is treated as
normally sufficient . If the title cannot be reasonably be ascertained with in 12 years, then it is
necessary to go back as much as necessary. In addition to ascertaining the owner's title, it is the
duty of the investigator to rule out the possibility of any subsisting charge by way of equitable
mortgage on the property under investigation. For this, perusal of all original title deeds for the
last 12 years or even more may become necessary.