Almost nobody has a pure khata problem. The khata is the last link in a chain, and when it does not come, something earlier in the chain has broken. Work out which link before you spend six months writing letters about the wrong thing.
Ask the promoter one question in writing: what is holding up the khata. The answer falls into one of these.
- The occupancy certificate has not been issued. This is the commonest reason and it is not a khata problem at all. Deal with it as an occupancy certificate problem.
- The project khata exists but has never been bifurcated into individual units. Administrative, and squarely the promoter's job to initiate.
- No khata was ever created for the project, because the land was never converted for non-agricultural use or the layout was never sanctioned. That is a title and approval defect wearing a khata costume.
- The khata exists but property tax arrears stand in the promoter's name. The application will not move until they are cleared, and they attach to the property.
- Your sale deed is registered but the conveyance of the common areas to the association has not happened. A separate obligation with its own deadline.
What the statute puts on the promoter
Section 17(1) of the Real Estate (Regulation and Development) Act, 2016 requires the promoter to execute a registered conveyance deed in your favour along with the undivided proportionate title in the common areas to the association of allottees, hand over physical possession, and hand over the other title documents, within the period fixed by local law. Where there is no local law on the point, the proviso fixes it at three months from the date of issue of the occupancy certificate. Section 17(2) then gives him thirty days after the occupancy certificate to hand over the necessary documents and plans, including those for the common areas, to the association.
Section 11(4)(g) is the one people miss. The promoter must pay all outgoings he has collected from allottees, and where he fails to pay them before transferring the project, he continues to be liable even after the transfer, along with the cost of any legal proceedings taken to recover them. That is the provision that answers a promoter who says the tax arrears are now the buyers' problem.
Where you take it
| Forum | Who can go | What to ask for |
|---|---|---|
| Karnataka Real Estate Regulatory Authority, Section 31 | An allottee, the association of allottees, or a registered voluntary consumer association | A direction to obtain the occupancy certificate, execute the conveyance and hand over documents, with the Section 61 penalty in view |
| Consumer commission | The individual buyer | Compensation for deficiency in service, which under Section 2(11) of the Consumer Protection Act, 2019 includes deliberate withholding of relevant information |
| The municipal body | You, once the deed, the approved plan and the occupancy certificate are in hand | Khata registration or transfer in your own name, without waiting for the promoter |
| Civil court | Limited | Section 79 of the 2016 Act bars the civil court for anything the Authority is empowered to decide, so this is rarely the route |
The association is your ally here
Section 11(4)(e) requires the promoter to enable the formation of an association or society of the allottees, and where local law is silent the proviso requires it to be formed within three months of the majority of allottees having booked. Buyers treat that as a housekeeping obligation. It is not. A khata that has never been created at project level, or a common area that has never been conveyed, is a building level default, and Section 31 lets the association complain in its own name. Getting the association formed is often the fastest way to unlock a khata, because it converts a hundred individual requests into one claimant with standing.
You can often apply yourself
Buyers wait for the promoter far longer than they need to. Once the registered sale deed, the sanctioned plan and the occupancy certificate exist, the municipal application is yours to make, and the steps are set out in our note on e-khata in Bengaluru. The promoter's cooperation is convenient, not indispensable. Where the whole project has no khata, that is different, and the fight has to be run at project level by the association rather than flat by flat.
- The registered sale deed, with the parent deed and the title flow
- The occupancy certificate, or the promoter's written explanation of why there is none
- The sanctioned plan and the approved layout plan
- The latest property tax paid receipt for the project or the unit, showing no arrears
- An Encumbrance Certificate covering the period up to your purchase
- The possession or allotment letter and the handover minutes, if any
- Your written demand to the promoter, and his reply or the absence of one
What I tell clients is to write once, precisely, and date it. Not a reminder. A letter that says which of the four handover obligations has not been performed, quotes the Section 17 proviso, and asks for a written answer within a fixed period. If the reply says the occupancy certificate is pending, you have converted a vague grievance into a documented one and you now know which case to file. If there is no reply, that silence is the strongest exhibit in the complaint. The related position on khata transfer generally is in the khata transfer answer, and the wider due diligence sequence is on the property practice page.