Khata transfer in Bengaluru is now an online exercise. You apply on the e-Aasthi portal, attach the registered sale deed, the encumbrance certificate and the property tax record, complete Aadhaar based verification, and the corporation converts your draft record into a final digital khata. Anyone researching an e khata Bangalore transfer usually wants one of three things: a first e-Khata for a property that has only an old paper khata, the khata moved into the buyer's name after a sale, or a rejected application fixed. The statutory duty behind all of it is short and often missed. Under Section 149 of the Greater Bengaluru Governance Act, 2024, both seller and buyer must give notice of the transfer within three months.
What an e-Khata is, and what it is not
The Greater Bengaluru Governance Act, 2024 defines "Khata" as a record of an immovable property maintained in the property tax register by the City Corporation. The "Khatadar" is the person in whose name that record stands, who is legally responsible for the property tax, and whose entry, in the words of the Act, "shall be presumed to be true until the contrary is proved or a new entry is lawfully substituted".
That definition settles a lot of arguments. A khata is a municipal tax record carrying a rebuttable presumption. It is not a title deed. It does not cure a defective chain of title, validate an unapproved layout, or defeat a rival claim backed by better documents. It identifies who the corporation bills, who can apply for a plan sanction or a utility connection, and, in practice, who a bank will lend against.
The "e" is the electronic form of that same register. Section 157(4) of the Act permits the register, records and certificates to be maintained in electronic form and provides that once so notified, the electronic database "shall be the original records thereof". The digital record is not a copy of a paper original. It is the original.
Key takeaway. An e-Khata proves who the corporation treats as the taxable owner. It does not prove ownership. Treating it as a substitute for a title search, an encumbrance certificate and a proper document trail skips the part that actually protects a buyer.
Three provisions of the Greater Bengaluru Governance Act, 2024 define what the record is and what it is worth.
Definition of Khata
A record of an immovable property maintained in the property tax register by the City Corporation, with the khatadar legally responsible for the tax.
Presumption, not proof
The entry in the khatadar's name is presumed true until the contrary is proved or a new entry is lawfully substituted. It is not a title deed.
Section 157(4)
Permits the register, records and certificates to be kept in electronic form, and once notified the electronic database is the original record, not a copy.
Who issues your khata now: BBMP, the five corporations and the GBA
The letterhead on your khata has changed. The Greater Bengaluru Governance Act, 2024 was published in the Karnataka Gazette Extraordinary on 24 April 2025 as Karnataka Act No. 36 of 2025, after the Governor's assent on 23 April 2025, and has since been amended. It replaced the framework under which the Bruhat Bengaluru Mahanagara Palike operated, first the Karnataka Municipal Corporations Act, 1976 and then the Bruhat Bengaluru Mahanagara Palike Act, 2020.
The single BBMP has been reorganised into city corporations within the Greater Bengaluru Area, coordinated by the Greater Bengaluru Authority chaired by the Chief Minister. The Act permits not more than seven; Bengaluru Central, East, West, North and South are the ones citizens now deal with.
For an owner the consequences are modest but real. Your jurisdictional revenue office may have moved and your extract may name a different corporation. Older documents naming BBMP remain valid records of what they record. Outside the Greater Bengaluru Area, other urban local bodies work through the state e-Aasthi system and gram panchayat properties through e-Swathu, separate registers with separate forms.
A Khata, B Khata and the 30 September 2024 line
The A and B distinction is not folklore. Section 148(6) of the Greater Bengaluru Governance Act, 2024 requires the corporation to give every property tax payer an acknowledgement or khata, and says it "shall be distinct for lawful and unlawful buildings or vacant land". The B register is that second acknowledgement. It records that tax is being collected. It does not record that the property is lawful.
| Feature | A Khata | B Khata | Draft e-Khata |
|---|---|---|---|
| What it signifies | Property recorded as lawful | Tax acknowledgement for unlawful or irregular property | Unverified entry auto generated from old data |
| Plan sanction | Ordinarily available | Ordinarily refused | Not a basis for sanction |
| Home loan | Generally accepted | Often refused or conditioned | Not accepted as final proof |
| Sale deed registration | Proceeds once final e-Khata exists | Restricted; depends on regularisation | Insufficient on its own |
| How it is fixed | Nothing to fix | B to A regularisation, subject to eligibility | Submit documents for the final e-Khata |
A regularisation route from B to A now runs through a dedicated portal covering the five corporations. Eligibility turns on when the B entry was created, whether dues are cleared, and whether the property has access from a public road. Where access is over a private road, the road usually has to be declared a public street under Section 212 first, and that section carries its own notice and objection procedure. Confirm the cut-off dates and fee slabs on the portal on the day you apply; both have been revised more than once.
E-Khata Bangalore transfer: the documents to have ready
The portal cross-checks what you upload against the registration department's Kaveri database and the electricity utility's records. Mismatches are the single biggest cause of delay. In a straightforward sale, expect to need:
- The registered sale deed with the correct document number, year and Sub-Registrar office. The previous owner's deed is often asked for too.
- An encumbrance certificate covering a meaningful period, downloaded from the Kaveri portal.
- The latest property tax paid receipt and the SAS application number, with no arrears outstanding.
- The existing khata certificate and extract, or the draft e-Khata already published against the property.
- Aadhaar for e-KYC and an Aadhaar linked mobile number for the OTP, plus PAN.
- The electricity consumer or account number for the premises.
- For apartments, the deed of declaration, the occupancy certificate and the approved plan reference.
- For inherited property, a death certificate and the succession documents, dealt with separately below.
Our note on viewing an encumbrance certificate online in Karnataka sets out that step. If you are still at the pre-purchase stage, the distinction explained in sale agreement versus sale deed matters, because only a registered conveyance will support a khata transfer.
How to apply for an e-Khata transfer, step by step
- Check whether a draft e-Khata already exists. Draft records were published in bulk for lakhs of Bengaluru properties, so your task may be verification rather than fresh application.
- Register on the e-Aasthi portal with an Aadhaar linked mobile number and complete OTP verification.
- Locate the property by property identification number, old khata number or tax application number, and open the draft record.
- Verify every field against your documents: name spelling, extent, boundaries, built up area, usage, road name and property identification number. Do not proceed past an error hoping to fix it later.
- Enter the sale deed particulars so the system can pull the matching entry from the registration database, and attach the encumbrance certificate reference.
- Clear all outstanding property tax and upload the paid receipt with the SAS number. Arrears stop the file.
- Complete Aadhaar e-KYC for the applicant and, where required, for joint owners.
- Pay the prescribed fees online and save the acknowledgement number.
- Track the application. If the automated cross-check matches, the record can generate quickly. If it does not, the file goes to the Assistant Revenue Officer for manual verification and may attract a query or a site inspection.
- Answer any query within the time given, then download the final e-Khata certificate and extract once approved.
Deadline warning. Section 149 of the Greater Bengaluru Governance Act, 2024 requires notice of transfer within three months of execution or registration of the instrument. Where the khatadar has died, the person taking title must give notice within one year of the death. Section 149(4) provides that a transferor who fails to give notice continues to be liable for the property tax until notice is given or the transfer is recorded. Sellers who assume that handing over the keys ends their tax exposure are wrong.
Section 149 sets three time limits and one consequence that sellers routinely overlook.
Three months on a sale
Both seller and buyer must give notice of the transfer within three months of execution or registration of the instrument.
One year on a death
Where the khatadar has died, the person taking title to the property must give notice of the transmission within one year of the death.
Seller stays liable
A transferor who fails to give notice continues to be liable for the property tax until notice is given or the transfer is actually recorded.
Indicative costs and timelines
Fees are fixed by corporation and state notification and they have moved. Treat what follows as indicative planning guidance, confirm the current schedule before you budget, and remember that stamp duty and registration charges on the conveyance are separate.
| Item | Indicative basis | Indicative timeline |
|---|---|---|
| Khata transfer fee on a sale | Commonly a small percentage of the stamp duty paid, subject to a minimum | Payable at application |
| Application, certificate and extract charges | Modest fixed amounts per copy | Payable at application |
| Clean file, automated match succeeds | No cost beyond fees | Days rather than weeks |
| File referred for manual verification | No official extra fee | Commonly several weeks; longer with a site inspection |
| B to A regularisation | Application fee plus a percentage of guidance value, plus betterment charges where levied | Longer; depends on road status and objections |
Why e-Khata applications get rejected
Most rejections are not substantive. They are data problems: a name spelled one way in the sale deed and another in Aadhaar, a wife recorded as owner and a husband applying, an extent in square feet in one document and square metres in another, a property identification number that maps to the neighbouring site because of an old survey error, arrears nobody wanted to acknowledge.
The substantive rejections are fewer but harder: unapproved layouts, revenue sites never converted for non-agricultural use, deviations beyond permissible limits, access over an undeclared private road. These cannot be argued past a data entry clerk. They need the regularisation route, or sometimes a civil remedy, and an honest assessment before money is spent.
Common mistake. Owners often accept the draft e-Khata as the finished product because it looks official and downloads cleanly. It is not final. A draft record can still be corrected or altered, and registration authorities and lenders look for the final e-Khata. Check the status field on the portal rather than the appearance of the document.
When registration is refused for want of e-Khata
Because e-Khata has become a practical precondition for registration, a deadlock arises where the person who must apply will not. The Karnataka High Court addressed that where a decree holder had won a specific performance suit, a Court Commissioner had been appointed to execute the sale deed, and the District Registrar declined registration for want of e-Khata.
In P. S. Ashok Kumar v. The District Registrar, Writ Petition No. 28856 of 2025, decided on 22 April 2026 (neutral citation 2026:KHC:22211), Justice Sachin Shankar Magadum quashed the endorsement and laid down guidelines. Declining to facilitate execution of a specific performance decree for want of e-Khata was "wholly unsustainable both in law and on first principles", the Court said, because a decree that cannot be executed is a mere paper decree. The guidelines direct that the local authority shall not refuse e-Khata merely because the applicant is not the original owner, that it may issue in the name of the judgment debtor or the Court Commissioner for the limited purpose of execution, that arrears may be quantified and paid by the decree holder with liberty to recover them later, that e-Khata should follow within two weeks of application or compliance, and that the Sub-Registrar shall not then refuse registration of a deed executed by a Court Commissioner otherwise compliant with the Registration Act, 1908.
Administrative digitisation cannot override an adjudicated right. Where an authority will not act on a complete file, a writ petition under Article 226 remains available. It should be a last step, not a first one.
Inheritance, joint owners and apartments
Transmission on death is treated differently, and the Act gives the heir one year from the death of the khatadar to give notice. What the corporation asks for varies: a death certificate always, then a registered will, a relinquishment or partition deed among the heirs, a succession certificate, or in contested cases a decree. Note that Section 213 of the Indian Succession Act, 1925, which required probate before a legatee could establish a right under a will in certain cases, was omitted by the Repealing and Amending Act, 2025, so probate is no longer mandatory as it once was. That removes an obstacle but not the need for clean, consistent documents among the heirs.
Joint owners must all appear in the record. A khata cannot be quietly moved into one sibling's sole name because that sibling paid the tax, and Section 149(5) allows the authority to reopen an entry recorded wrongly or by fraud, suppression or false material within five years, after hearing the affected person, with no such limitation where fraud is alleged. Where ownership itself is disputed, the khata is the wrong battlefield; see our note on whether one legal heir can sell property without the others.
Flat khatas depend on the deed of declaration, the occupancy certificate and the builder's compliance with the sanctioned plan. Where a project was completed without an occupancy certificate, flat owners frequently hold a B entry through no fault of their own, and the fix lies with the developer rather than the buyer's paperwork.
A note from practice
The pattern we see most often is not fraud. It is drift. A sale is registered, everyone is relieved, and the khata transfer is postponed because the tax is being paid and nothing looks wrong. Three years later the owner wants to sell or mortgage, and finds the record still names someone who has since moved abroad, died, or simply stopped answering. The three month period in Section 149 exists to stop that gap opening. Doing the transfer in the same month as the registration costs a fraction of what it costs to reconstruct consent later. See also our property and real estate law practice page.
Related guides and where to get help
- How to Get a Succession Certificate in India
- Types of Mortgage Under the Transfer of Property Act
- No Occupancy Certificate? A Bangalore Buyer's Remedies
Frequently Asked Questions
Is e-Khata compulsory to register a sale deed in Bengaluru?
In practice yes within corporation limits, because the registration system is integrated with the e-Aasthi property records. Confirm the position for your specific property before fixing a registration date.
What is the difference between a draft e-Khata and a final e-Khata?
A draft is auto generated from existing corporation data and has not been verified against your documents. A final e-Khata issues after the corporation verifies the deed, encumbrance certificate, tax record and identity. Only the final version should be relied on.
How long does a khata transfer take?
Where the automated cross-check matches cleanly, the record can issue quickly. Where the file goes for manual verification or site inspection, several weeks is common. These are indicative ranges, not assurances.
Who has to give notice of the transfer, the buyer or the seller?
Both, within three months, under Section 149(1) of the Greater Bengaluru Governance Act, 2024. The proviso relieves them of that duty where the Sub-Registrar directly notifies the transfer to the corporation.
Can I get an e-Khata for a B Khata property?
An electronic entry can exist for a B register property, but it remains a B entry with the same limitations. An A entry requires the regularisation route, and eligibility depends on the entry date, cleared dues and road access.
Does an e-Khata prove that I own the property?
No. The Act defines khata as a record in the property tax register and gives the entry a presumption that can be rebutted by contrary evidence. Title comes from the chain of registered documents.
My tax is paid but the khata is still in the seller's name. Is that a problem?
Yes. The seller remains exposed under Section 149(4) until notice is given or the transfer recorded, and you will struggle to obtain a plan sanction, a loan or a clean onward sale.
The corporation has sat on my application for months. What can I do?
Escalate in writing with the acknowledgement number, use the grievance channel and helpline listed on the portal, and if the delay is unexplained on a complete file, a writ petition under Article 226 is available.
This article is general information current at the date of publication. Fees, portal procedures and eligibility criteria change. It is not legal advice.
