If you have possession of your flat but the builder has not done your khata, the law puts most of that work on him, and the Karnataka Real Estate Regulatory Authority (K-RERA) has been ordering builders to do it. On 2 January 2026 a Full Bench of K-RERA directed a Bengaluru builder, whose buyer had held a registered sale deed since April 2021, to transfer the khata to the buyer and help with the transfer within 30 days, and to obtain the missing occupancy certificate within 90. What you can do without the builder turns on one fact you can check today on the e-Aasthi portal: whether your flat already has its own e-khata number, or whether only the land under the building has one.
Part of the RERA and homebuyer disputes practice at S Jain & Attorneys, Bangalore.
This guide is for an allottee in a Bengaluru apartment project who has taken possession, usually after a registered sale deed, and whose flat-wise khata has not come. The portal steps for an ordinary transfer are in the guide to e-khata in Bangalore, and a khata stuck in a parent's name after a death is covered in khata transfer after death. Neither is repeated here.
| What you find | Whose move it is | What it needs | If it does not happen |
|---|---|---|---|
| Your flat has its own e-khata number, still in the builder's name | Yours. You can apply alone | Your sale deed number, Aadhaar eKYC, the property tax number and proof of A-khata status, such as the occupancy certificate | Follow up with the ward revenue office, then K-RERA if the builder's papers are the gap |
| Only the land has an e-khata number, with no entries for the flats | The builder's. Only the owner of that number can file the bulk application for the flats | Aadhaar authentication by the land's khatadar and, for A-khatas, the plan approval and the occupancy certificate | A K-RERA complaint for a direction under Section 37 |
| No occupancy certificate | The builder's, under Section 11(4)(b) of the RERA Act | Completed works and an application to the corporation | A direction to obtain it, as in the January 2026 order |
| Property tax unpaid for the years before possession | Usually the builder's, under Section 11(4)(g) and the agreement | Payment of the arrears, which are a first charge on the flat | A direction to clear them, as in the February 2026 order |
Three facts decide which row you are in.
Check the e-khata number
Search the e-Aasthi ward list. If your flat already has its own number in the builder's name, you can apply for the transfer yourself with your sale deed number.
Bulk application is his
Khatas for a building's flats normally come from a Bulk New Khata application that only the Aadhaar-verified owner of the land's e-khata can file.
No OC, no A-khata
The portal considers a flat for an A-khata only with the plan approval and the occupancy certificate. Without them it allows a B-khata, and only for buildings constructed before 30 September 2024.
Is getting my khata after possession really the builder's job under RERA?
Yes, for every step that needs a document only he holds or an application only he can make. Section 11(4)(f) of the Real Estate (Regulation and Development) Act, 2016 ties the promoter's duty to execute your registered conveyance to Section 17, and Section 17(1) asks for more than a sale deed: the promoter must hand over physical possession "and the other title documents pertaining thereto". Section 11(4)(b) puts the completion or occupancy certificate on him, both getting it from the competent authority and giving it to you, and Section 19(5) entitles you to "the necessary documents and plans" once you have possession. Under Section 11(4)(a) these duties last until every flat and the common areas have been conveyed.
K-RERA has read these provisions to reach the khata. In Complaint No. 00632/2025, decided on 12 December 2025, it read Section 17(1) as completing the transfer of title on a registered deed coupled with the occupancy certificate and the transfer of the khata, and held that a duty is cast on the promoter to provide the documents needed to change it. In Complaint No. 00242/2024, decided on 6 February 2026, it held that facilitating the khata transfer is the promoter's duty and obligation once the conveyance is registered.
Municipal law points the same way. Section 149(1) of the Greater Bengaluru Governance Act, 2024, which replaced the BBMP Act, 2020 from 15 May 2025, requires both the khatadar whose title passes and the person who takes it to give notice of the transfer within three months of registration, unless the Sub-Registrar communicates it directly. Your side has duties too. Section 19(6) of the RERA Act makes you pay your share of municipal taxes as the agreement allocates them, and Section 19(11) requires you to take part in registering the conveyance. If you have the keys but no registered sale deed yet, that comes first: where local law fixes no period, the proviso to Section 17(1) gives the promoter three months from the occupancy certificate to execute it, and no khata can move to you before it is registered.
Key takeaway. The registered sale deed transferred the flat. It did not put a flat-wise entry in the corporation's register, and the steps that create that entry sit on the builder's side, because only the owner of the land's e-khata can make the bulk application and only the builder holds the plan approval and the occupancy certificate.
What did K-RERA order in the 2026 khata cases?
It gave builders short deadlines: 30 days for the khata in one case and 60 days in another, with the occupancy certificate and the unpaid tax in the same orders. The order the realty press reported in February 2026 is Complaint No. CMP/220321/0009221, decided by a Full Bench on 2 January 2026. The buyer, who bought in 2021, complained of unfinished fire-fighting, sewage treatment and rainwater harvesting, no allotted parking, no occupancy certificate and no khata extract. The builder pleaded a suit under appeal in the High Court, the services it had provided, sales lost in the pandemic, and that the buyer had moved in and let the flat out.
K-RERA directed the builder to complete the pending work for the flat within 90 days, to transfer the khata to the buyer and assist the transfer within 30 days, to obtain the occupancy certificate within 90 days, and to give the buyer a copy within 30 days of obtaining it, with liberty to the buyer to act if it did not.
The February order, Complaint No. 00242/2024, concerned a flat sold by a registered deed in December 2023. The corporation had put the buyer's khata application on hold because the tax on the flat had been unpaid since 2018, and the builder's receipts covered only land tax for 2022-23. The builder appeared but filed no objections. K-RERA directed it to clear all pending property tax on the flat, to facilitate the khata transfer, and to hand over the property documents including the completion and occupancy certificates, each within 60 days.
These are decisions on individual complaints, each on its own facts, but they show how the Authority approaches the question. No appeal against any of the three appears in the Karnataka Real Estate Appellate Tribunal's list of disposed appeals as on 15 October 2026, but a pending appeal would not show there, so check an order's status before relying on it.
What can I file on e-Aasthi myself, and what needs the builder?
You can move an existing flat-wise khata into your name on your own, but creating the flat-wise khatas normally needs the builder. The help pages of the e-Aasthi portal say that where the draft e-khata still stands in the seller's name, the buyer applies on that record and enters the registered sale deed number, and the system fetches the deed from the Sub-Registrar. It treats the difference in names as a mutation, issues a seven-day public notice, and moves the entry into your name if no one objects. Where the builder's entry was already a final e-khata when your deed was registered, the pages say a mutation on an Aadhaar-based registration is approved automatically after seven days if there is no objection, and other cases are verified first. They also say that the Sub-Registrar's Kaveri system is linked to e-Aasthi, so a later sale cannot be registered without a final e-khata.
Creating khatas for the flats is a different application. The portal's Bulk New Khata for multi-storey flats requires an existing e-khata for the land and authentication by its owner through Aadhaar, and the help text adds that a "non-owner cannot apply for Bulk New Khata on someone else's property". An A-khata for each flat needs the plan approval and the occupancy certificate uploaded with the application, together with the carpet area, built-up area and share of common area of every flat. If the land's e-khata stands in a landowner's name under a joint development, it is that owner who has to authenticate.
The December 2025 order, though it concerned a plot, describes the same division of labour: for newly built apartments the developer handles the initial bulk khata registration, and completing the final transfer into each name is the allottee's part.
Common mistake. Waiting for the builder to "give the khata" when the flat already has its own e-khata number in his name. That last step is yours, and the portal lets you take it with your sale deed number without his signature.
The builder says the khata is held up by the occupancy certificate or old tax. What then?
Both are usually his to fix. Obtaining the occupancy certificate is the promoter's duty under Section 11(4)(b), and without it the portal will not consider the flat for an A-khata. The 2024 Act lets the corporation tax a building occupied without an occupancy certificate and keep that tax in a separate register, but Section 147(3) says this confers no title and regularises nothing, and its second proviso bars taxing or registering such buildings constructed after 30 September 2024 at all, taking the date of the electricity connection as the date of construction. The wider consequences are in the guide to occupancy certificate rights in Bangalore.
Section 11(4)(g) of the RERA Act requires the promoter to pay the outgoings he has collected from allottees, municipal taxes included, until he transfers physical possession, and keeps him liable after the transfer for any he failed to pay. Section 155 of the 2024 Act makes property tax a first charge on the building and land, so arrears follow the flat into your hands. Section 149(4) keeps a transferor who never gave notice liable for the tax, but expressly preserves the buyer's liability and the corporation's prior charge. In the February order K-RERA, relying on Section 11(4)(g) and clauses of the agreement that put corporation taxes up to registration on the builder, directed the builder itself to clear the arrears.
Keep your own period separate. Check which years your agreement puts on you, pay them on time and keep the receipts, so the dispute stays confined to the builder's years. If the corporation serves a demand under Section 159, you have thirty days to pay or appeal, and an appeal needs a deposit of fifty percent of the amount demanded.
How do I file the K-RERA complaint, and what should I ask for?
File a complaint under Section 31 in Form N, and ask for directions you can enforce, each with a deadline. Rule 29(1) of the Karnataka Real Estate (Regulation and Development) Rules, 2017 prescribes Form N with a fee of one thousand rupees. Under the Explanation to Section 31 an association of allottees can complain in its own name, which suits a building where no flat has a khata. Handing over the association and the common areas is a separate fight, covered in the guide to a builder who has not handed over the association.
Ask for each act by name: the Bulk New Khata application, the occupancy certificate and a copy to you, payment of the pre-possession tax, and the documents and plans under Section 19(5). Section 37 makes such directions "binding on all concerned". Money for the delay, such as rent or loan interest, is a claim under Section 18(3), and Section 71 sends the adjudging of compensation to the adjudicating officer.
- Search the e-Aasthi ward list or your e-khata number and save a copy of what exists for your flat and for the land.
- Gather the registered sale deed, the possession letter, the agreement's clauses on taxes, khata and documents, and every tax receipt you hold.
- Send one dated letter to the builder naming each act you need and asking for a written reply within fifteen days.
- If your flat already has its own e-khata number, apply for the transfer yourself the same week.
- If it does not, file Form N with the portal record, your letter and the reply or proof of silence, and ask for each direction with a time limit.
- Serve any order on the builder, note the deadline, and go back to the Authority the day after it passes.
What if the builder ignores the K-RERA order?
Go back to the Authority. Under Section 40(2) and Rule 26, a direction to do an act is enforced as if it were a decree of the principal civil court, and if the Authority cannot execute it, it can send it to that court. Section 63 separately exposes a promoter who fails to comply with the Authority's orders to a penalty for every day of default, up to five percent of the project's estimated cost. Both routes are in the guide on executing a RERA order in Karnataka. If the builder appeals, Section 44(2) gives him sixty days from receiving the order, and what that does to your order is in the guide on a builder's appeal to the Karnataka tribunal.
Where do khata complaints against builders go wrong?
The complaint that stalls is usually the one that asks for "the khata" in general words. The Authority can only direct what the builder can do, so a prayer that does not separate the bulk application, the occupancy certificate, the pre-possession tax and the documents risks an order that says little more than "facilitate", which is hard to enforce. Buyers also lose years chasing the khata by phone, then file with no dated letter on record. And many pay the builder's arrears in a hurry to sell or borrow, without a receipt showing which years they cleared or any written reservation, which makes recovering the money later much harder. Keep your own years paid, put the builder's years in writing, and file once the time for a reply runs out.
Three figures from the orders and the Acts are worth keeping in view.
Thirty to sixty days
K-RERA's 2026 orders gave builders 30 days and 60 days to do their part of the khata, and 90 days to obtain a missing occupancy certificate.
Arrears follow the flat
Property tax is a first charge on the building and land under Section 155, so a builder's unpaid years can block your transfer until someone pays them.
Defiance carries penalty
Section 63 exposes a builder who ignores the Authority's directions to a daily penalty that can reach five percent of the project's estimated cost.
Frequently Asked Questions
Can I get the khata into my name without the builder?
Yes, if your flat already has its own e-khata number in the builder's name. You apply on that record with your registered sale deed number, and after a seven-day public notice the portal moves it into your name if no one objects. If only the land has an e-khata, the flat-wise khatas normally have to be created first, through a bulk application that only the land's owner can file.
Is the flat legally mine before the khata is done?
Yes. Your registered sale deed transferred the flat, and the khata is a record in the corporation's property tax register whose entry carries only a presumption of correctness under Section 2(35) of the Greater Bengaluru Governance Act, 2024. The practical problem is that a later sale will not register without a final e-khata, and a loan against the flat is harder to raise.
The builder says my sale deed makes the khata my job. Is he right?
Only for the last step. The final transfer into your name is yours to apply for, and K-RERA has said so. The bulk application that creates the flat-wise entries, the occupancy certificate and the builder's share of the tax are his, because only the land's owner can make that application and the Act makes the certificate and the documents his duty. In December 2025 a deed that left the khata change to the purchaser did not stop K-RERA directing the developer to facilitate it, because an indemnity bond had promised it.
Can our residents' association file one complaint for the whole building?
Yes. The Explanation to Section 31 includes an association of allottees among the persons who may complain, and where no flat has a khata a single complaint for all of them is usually the cleaner course.
How long does K-RERA take on a khata complaint?
The Act asks for disposal within sixty days under Section 29(4), but the three orders discussed here took between about eight months and almost four years from filing. File early, and keep the builder's correspondence on record from the start.
Can I claim my rent or loan interest for the delay?
A claim for compensation for the builder's failure of any other obligation lies under Section 18(3), and Section 71 sends its adjudging to the adjudicating officer, so plead the loss with proof. K-RERA did not award EMIs in the December 2025 case because no agreement obliged the builder to pay them.
The builder wants extra money to do the khata. Do I have to pay?
Only what your agreement for sale provides, which is the rule explained in the guide to extra charges at possession. Taxes the builder collected from you for the period before possession are his to pay over under Section 11(4)(g). Pay under written protest if you must, and keep the receipt.
Our building was finished after 30 September 2024 and has no occupancy certificate. Can we get even a B-khata?
Not on the current text. The second proviso to Section 147(3) of the 2024 Act bars taxing or registering such buildings constructed after that date, taking the electricity connection date as the date of construction, and the portal applies the same cut-off. The occupancy certificate is the only route, so ask K-RERA to direct the builder to obtain it.
This article is for general informational purposes only and does not constitute legal advice. Consult a qualified advocate for advice on your specific situation.
