1. How plots differ from apartments (and why the 6-axis weights shift)

Brickplot's apartment score has six axes: Legal, Builder, Location, Construction, Price & Value, Amenities & Lifestyle. For plots, five of the six labels remain but the weights and some definitions shift because the risk surface is completely different.

RERA note. Most plotted layouts below 500 sqm aggregate area or 8 units are exempt from RERA registration in several states; large plotted townships are covered. Because RERA coverage is patchy, we do not treat RERA registration as a separate axis for plots — it is folded into Legal & Title as one signal among ten.

2. The 10-point legal title audit

Every plot review on Brickplot runs through this 10-point chain. A layout that cannot satisfy points 1–6 is an automatic Skip regardless of price or brand.

1. Parent document — the originating title deed (often 40–60 years old). We sight the chain from here forward.
2. Mother deed — consolidated title document linking parent document to the current seller. Breaks in the mother-deed chain are the single most common reason we Skip.
3. Khata — revenue record. For Bangalore/BMRDA: khata-A is the only clean form. Khata-B (and khata-E) are provisional revenue entries, not titles. "Temporary khata" is not a thing in law, regardless of what a sales office claims.
4. Mutation (pahani / RTC / 7-12 extract / patta) — name transfer in revenue records. State-specific: RTC (KA), 7/12 (MH), patta (TN), ROR (TS/AP), khatauni (UP/HR).
5. Encumbrance Certificate (EC) — 30 years. We will not sign off on a plot review with less than 30 years of EC. 13-year EC is a shortcut, not a standard.
6. Conversion order (agri → residential) — DC conversion in KA, NA order in MH, 65B conversion in KA, patta conversion in TN. A "farm plot" sold as residential without this order is illegal to build on.
7. DTCP / BMRDA / HMDA / CMDA layout approval — the planning-authority sanction. Approval number + plan number + date must all be verifiable with the authority. Sales-office photocopies are not verification.
8. Layout release order (LRO) / LP number — authority's final release of the sanctioned layout for sale. Pre-release sales are common and legal in limbo.
9. Released for sale — individual plot released from mortgage (if the parent land was mortgaged for development finance). We verify this against the latest EC, not the developer's word.
10. Khata-A registration (or state equivalent) issued on your plot — the final end-state. A layout where buyers wait 3+ years post-registration for khata-A is a red flag.

3. Who approves what — the jurisdictional map

India has no single plots regulator. Each state, and often each belt within a state, has a different authority. A developer who waves a "DTCP" certificate in Bangalore is bluffing — KA has no DTCP for most urban belts. Use this map to sanity-check what a sales office tells you.

4. Common scams in Indian plotted developments + our 12 red flags

Common scams we have documented

• Agri-land sold as "farm plot" / "managed farm" — no conversion order, no residential construction allowed, but sold with glossy renders of a future villa. FEMA also bars NRIs from buying agri-land in the first place.
• GPA (General Power of Attorney) sale workaround — seller transfers via GPA instead of registered sale deed to dodge stamp duty. Supreme Court (Suraj Lamp & Industries, 2011) ruled GPA sales confer no title. Still rampant in outer belts.
• Khata-B sold as "temporary khata that becomes A" — khata-B is not a waiting room for khata-A. It is a provisional revenue entry for unauthorised property.
• Mortgaged land sold in parts — parent land is under a bank mortgage taken by the developer; individual plots are sold without the mortgage being released on each piece. The bank retains first charge.
• Double-sold plots — same plot number sold to two buyers with different registration sub-offices. 30-year EC catches this; 13-year EC may miss it.
• "DTCP approved" in regions where DTCP has no jurisdiction — e.g. a Whitefield-adjacent layout claiming DTCP. KA DTCP does not cover BMR.
• Layout in a buffer zone / tank-bed — HYDRAA (Hyderabad) has demolished structures on lake FTL/buffer. These plots were "sold and registered" too.

The 12 red flags that move our score

1. Conversion order absent or unverifiable at the tahsildar's office
2. EC shorter than 30 years or showing unreleased mortgages
3. Khata is B, E, or "under process" with no issuance timeline
4. Authority approval claimed but approval number not on the authority's public list
5. Parent land currently mortgaged with no plot-wise release order
6. GPA-based sale offered instead of registered sale deed
7. Layout overlaps a lake buffer, tank-bed, stormwater drain (raja kaluve), or forest boundary
8. Adjacent survey numbers still marked agricultural in the revenue map
9. Developer's prior layout has pending consumer or writ cases on title
10. Access road is a revenue road (kachha / not gazetted) or on private land
11. Sale deed wording carves out "development rights" the developer retains indefinitely
12. Layout plan on the sales brochure does not match the authority-approved plan (site-visit catch)

Our rule. Three or more red flags from the list above and the layout cannot score higher than 4/10 on Legal & Title, which typically forces an overall Skip verdict regardless of price or location.

5. What we actually sight before publishing a plot review

• Parent document + mother deed (at least a scanned copy with seller-attested)
• 30-year EC from the sub-registrar's office (not the developer's desk)
• Conversion order (DC / NA / 65B / patta conversion) with order number
• Authority approval — sanction letter + plan, cross-verified against authority's public list
• RERA registration (where applicable) cross-verified on the state RERA portal
• Site visit — measured against the sanctioned plan, access road, drains, STP claim
• At least one registered sale deed of a prior buyer in the same layout (to see the deed template)
• Developer's prior 3 layouts — title outcome, khata issuance lag, litigation

When any of these cannot be sighted, we either delay publication or mark the review "Partial verification — proceed only with independent lawyer". That phrase appears verbatim on the review card.

6. How we combine the 6 axes into Buy / Wait / Skip

Each axis is scored 0–10. Weighted sum gives an overall 0–10. Mapping:

• Buy — overall ≥ 7.5, Legal & Title ≥ 8, zero red flags in the top-5 severity set
• Wait — overall 5.5–7.4, or Legal 6–7, or 1–2 non-severe red flags
• Skip — overall < 5.5, or Legal < 6, or any of: unverifiable approval, GPA-only sale, mortgage not released, buffer-zone overlap

We publish Skips. We publish Waits. Our reviews list will always show a mix of verdicts — if a site's review list is all "Buy", it is a marketing channel, not a review desk.

7. What this page is not

This methodology is not legal advice for your specific transaction. Every plot purchase in India should be backed by a title search done by a local property lawyer who can go to the sub-registrar, tahsildar, and authority in person. Brickplot's reviews are a second opinion — not a substitute for your own due diligence.

Found an error in our methodology or a scam we should cover? Email legal@brickplot.com — we update this page whenever we learn something new.