Buying a farmhouse in Sohna: the seven checks that decide whether it is yours

If you have bought a flat in Gurugram, almost none of what you learned applies here. There is no RERA number to check, no promoter to hold to a completion date, and no society to take over the common areas. Farm land changes hands through revenue records, mutations and family partitions that never appear on a property portal — and when a listing looks cheap, the reason is usually in the village rather than in the paperwork.

The seven checks

• Jamabandi and the ownership chain, read at the Tehsil — not a photocopy the seller supplies.
• Mutation (intkaal) status, and whether every co-sharer has actually consented. A partition where one sibling has not signed is the most common problem in this belt.
• Land classification: cultivable, banjar or gair-mumkin — and what each permits you to build.
• The approach road. A recorded rasta is a road; a track across someone else's field is a dispute waiting for the day you start construction.
• Registered right of way, boundary demarcation, and the measured area against what the record says.
• Litigation, mortgage, acquisition notice and HSVP or NHAI alignment against the khasra number.
• Circle rate against asking price, so you know the stamp duty and registry cost you will actually pay.

When a listing looks cheap, there is usually a reason, and the reason is usually in the village, not in the paperwork.

Why the village matters more than the file

Our family has been in Karnki for three generations, and Hasan Khan is the sarpanch of the village the Westin farm estate stands on. That is not a marketing line — it is the reason this list is longer than a broker's. On most plots in this belt we can tell you who owned it before the person selling it to you, which co-sharers exist, and whether the boundary the seller is showing you is the boundary in the record.

What to do before you pay a token

Walk the plot with the record in your hand. Confirm the approach road exists on paper, not just on the ground. Get every co-sharer's name and check that each one has signed. And do not pay a token on the strength of photographs — in this belt they are frequently a season out of date, and they never show the road.