Encumbrance Certificate and Title Search in UP, Haryana and Delhi: Where to Check Before You Buy

An encumbrance is any claim on a property that limits what the owner can do with it or what a buyer receives: a bank mortgage, a pending lawsuit, unpaid dues to a development authority, a lease, a co-owner’s share, a court attachment. An encumbrance certificate, or a non-encumbrance search, is how you find out whether those claims exist before you pay. In Delhi NCR the routes are different in each state and differ again for a resale flat, a plot and a new project. This guide sets out what to search in Uttar Pradesh, Haryana and Delhi, what each record can and cannot tell you, and how to put together a title file that a lawyer and a bank will accept.

What you are looking for

Uttar Pradesh: IGRSUP and the khatauni

UP’s registration portal, IGRSUP (igrsup.gov.in), lets you search registered deeds such as sales, mortgages and other documents and apply for a non-encumbrance certificate, with the fee shown on the application. As our guide to UP Bhulekh explains, the search and certificate cover documents registered with the sub-registrar. For land, the revenue record adds a second layer:

• The khatauni extract on upbhulekh.gov.in lists the holders and their shares, with mutation orders.
• Its column 18 shows mortgage status, including the bank or society, the amount and any release date. An unreleased farm loan must be cleared before sale.
• Column 17 shows the computerised number of any pending revenue suit, and column 19 holds remarks such as orders or restrictions.
• The portal also flags government, enemy and evacuee property and villages under consolidation.

For a flat in an authority area such as Noida or Greater Noida, the khatauni of the original village is mainly relevant to the builder’s land. For your unit, the key records are the sub-lease deed, the authority’s transfer memorandum on resale, the authority’s dues position and the IGRSUP deed search on the unit.

Haryana: jamabandi, mutation and registered deeds

Haryana’s land records portal, jamabandi.nic.in (Web-HALRIS), is the main source for land and plots. The jamabandi is the record of rights in each revenue estate, with entries on ownership, cultivation and rights. The mutation register records changes such as sale, gift, inheritance, partition, and mortgage with or without possession, and the redemption of a mortgage.

• Search the jamabandi by khewat, khasra or owner name for the latest year, then go back to trace earlier changes.
• Check mutation status: a sale that is registered but not mutated, or a mutation marked objected, needs explanation.
• The portal also lets you view registered deeds and apply for digitally certified copies of the jamabandi, mutation, fard badar and sale deeds. Reported fees for certified copies are around Rs 100 per document, with an added page charge for long jamabandis.

Haryana’s jamabandi mainly covers rural and agricultural land. For urban flats and plots in Gurugram and Faridabad, add municipal property tax records. The Directorate of Urban Local Bodies’ portal issues a no dues certificate (NDC) stating that no property tax or related municipal dues are outstanding on a Property ID; it does not certify title. For HSVP plots, check the HSVP allotment and transfer record, and for licensed colonies the DTCP licence.

Delhi: DORIS searches and the department’s own checklist

The Delhi Revenue Department says there is no fee to search the details of past registrations, which can be done online through its website and the DORIS portal. Its “important information” page links an encumbrance search, a DORIS deed-document search, separate e-search options for records registered before 1993 and from 2002 onwards, a list of prohibited properties, and cadastral maps with the record of rights for revenue villages.

The same page sets out a three-part way to check non-encumbrance:

• Part I, dues: water bills from the Delhi Jal Board, electricity from the distribution companies, piped gas, MCD property tax, and DDA e-mutation records.
• Part II, banks: ask the banks concerned.
• Part III, cases: revenue court cases, and judicial cases in the Supreme Court, High Court and district courts.

Delhi’s prohibited-property list matters especially for unauthorised colonies and land under acquisition.

CERSAI: the bank-charge check

Many home loans are secured by depositing title deeds with the bank, which does not always create a registered document at the sub-registrar. Lenders record such security interests with the Central Registry (CERSAI). Its portal offers public searches by asset and by borrower. A search against the property, together with the seller’s loan statement and the bank’s letter on releasing the charge, closes a gap that a sub-registrar search can leave open.

New projects: what RERA tells you

Section 4(2)(l) of the RERA Act requires the promoter to file an affidavit stating that it has legal title to the land and either that the land is free from encumbrances or the details of encumbrances on it. Read the encumbrance declaration and title documents on the project’s RERA page. A construction loan on the project is common. What you want is a lender’s NOC allowing unit sales and confirming that units will be released on payment. Section 18(2) also makes the promoter liable to compensate allottees for loss caused by defective title, and that claim is not barred by limitation.

Building the title file: a checklist

• Chain of title documents going back as far as your lawyer advises, including the original allotment or lease for authority land.
• A sub-registrar deed search or encumbrance certificate on the property, covering the full period.
• Revenue extracts (khatauni or jamabandi) for land and plots, with mutations sanctioned in the seller’s name.
• A CERSAI search and the seller’s bank loan closure and lien release letters, if there was a loan.
• Municipal NDC or property tax receipts, and utility no-dues.
• Authority no-dues and, for a resale in Noida or Greater Noida, the transfer memorandum route.
• Court case searches against the seller’s name and the property.
• Society or RWA no-dues for flats.

Limits of any encumbrance search

• Searches cover only what was registered or recorded. Oral family arrangements, unregistered agreements and pending suits not yet entered can be missed.
• A GPA chain is not a title chain; after Suraj Lamp (2011), such documents do not transfer ownership.
• Records may be indexed by name with variant spellings, so search by property details as well.
• Banks carry out their own legal and technical checks before a loan. A sanctioned loan helps, but it is not a guarantee of title.

As of October 2026

Portal menus and fees change. This guide is based on the Delhi Revenue Department’s published guidance, Haryana and UP land-record portals as described in our earlier guides, and the RERA Act. It is general information, not legal advice; have a property lawyer review the title file.

Frequently asked questions

Sources

• Delhi Revenue Department: Important information regarding registration of property
• Delhi Revenue Department: Property registration
• Haryana Web-HALRIS: Land record terms
• ADiHomes: Haryana jamabandi and fard, checking land records online
• ADiHomes: UP Bhulekh khatauni, check land records before you buy
• Haryana.com: Property tax NDC on the Haryana ULB portal
• CERSAI: Central Registry home page
• Real Estate (Regulation and Development) Act, 2016 (UP RERA copy)
• Square Yards: Property documents checklist for buying a flat in India

Updated 25 October 2026. This article is general information, not legal or financial advice; check current rules and project details before you decide.