How to Buy Property (Part 1)

Problem: How can one avoid fraud in the name of PT-1? Detailed information please.

Solution: Now, what is PT-1? It is a register that is maintained in the form of Form PT-1, and it is a property survey register. There was one kanal of property; it was purchased through the revenue department; a fard-e-bai was obtained through the revenue department; that one-kanal property was purchased. Now, on that one kanal, they get a plaza approved — saying, we will build a twenty-storey, thirty-storey, forty-storey, fifty-storey plaza on it. One floor will have forty offices, or ten flats — whatever configuration it will be. They get it approved, and then the plaza construction begins; it is being built, and because it is being built for the purpose of sale, eventually the plaza's [ownership] record moves to the Excise and Taxation Department. Now the revenue department goes quiet at this stage — that the one-kanal property has been sold, and now this one-kanal property will not be sold again. It will only sell again when the owner sells the ground floor along with the land. If he does not sell the ground floor along with the land, the revenue record will remain silent, in that same owner's name, for a hundred years, two hundred years, five hundred years — even after that plaza collapses, or is demolished, the owner of that land will still be the same person from a hundred, two hundred, four hundred years ago, and it will pass down to his descendants.

Now, whatever flats, offices, shops were on top of it, whatever there was, they are the owners of it — when it is rebuilt, either they will tell someone, take this much money and build it for us, or, when I had something on the fifth floor, once it reaches the fifth floor my right arises — I can build, or have built, my shop, flat, or whatever it was, on the fifth floor. Now Excise and Taxation has surveyed the whole plaza — that this is a ten-storey plaza, one floor has forty shops, the second floor has ten flats, the third floor has twenty offices, the fourth floor has this, this, this — its numbering gets completed, its survey gets completed. Now all the tax on this plaza will come to that owner who is the owner of the land on which the plaza was built.

Now how do we get onto the tax net, how do we go into this Excise and Taxation [system]? My office has two offices on the first floor, 130, 131 — I will go and get it registered with my registered sale deed, [saying] sir, I am now the owner of these offices on this floor, now register me — from now on, as owner, demand tax from me, whatever defects there are, ask me for them. Register me as owner in your register. They will take a copy of my registry and register me.

Now where does the fraud happen? They don't verify anything. I haven't gone there, I haven't checked — I see that, sir, 130, 131 has been lying empty for four years, I see there's no one there — I want to get a registry made; I go to the tax people, pay fifty thousand rupees, I say, sir, issue a PT-1 in my name — they will issue that PT-1, they will note down your registration. I come, I break the locks, I sit down there. Now that actual person is in America, that person is in England, that person is in another city — he bought it as an investment, he doesn't even know that fraud has been committed against him. Now what do I do? So that tomorrow the real owner doesn't show up and I get into trouble, I sell that shop, or office, or property to you — my PT-1 comes out in my name; once it comes out in my name, everything gets done, it's done. You come, you buy it from me, from whom I had bought it — now you come and settle in. You spend two, four lakh rupees decorating and renovating it, and you are running your business.

After some time the real owner comes and says, who are you, why are you sitting here? You say, sir, I am the owner. He says, how are you the owner? I am the owner — here, this is my registry, I bought this seven years ago. Matters start, fights start, litigation starts. What is the point of telling you this? You can check this department too, but for that active effort is needed; if you do that, then you are its owner. You are buying from A — get A's registry verified as genuine, genuine — okay, okay. You buy from B — get B's registry verified, okay, okay, genuine, genuine — now beyond that is C's registry, who is the real owner — get that verified too, genuine, genuine. Now C, who claims to be the real owner, was troubled by a forged registry — when the forgery was substituted against him — get his and his thumbprints verified, the fraud gets caught.

You can guard against this through the revenue department; you can guard against it under the Property Tax Act 1958, under which this Excise and Taxation [system] came into being — it's difficult, not impossible; fraud can be caught. Adopt the same procedure you followed with revenue: A said I want to sell this property, go to B — yes, sir, B, did you sell this to A? Yes, I sold it. Go to C — yes, sir, C, did you sell the property to B? Go to D — yes, sir, D, did you sell the property to C? If you do this, you will be saved from fraud.

Because a forged registry was made in C's name — B, having become owner, showed in his registry that C sold to him, when it was a forged registry — now you would have already verified A, verified B too, then you reach C, he will say, what have I sold, I haven't sold anything, here is my registry, here is my PT-1, I got it registered — it's wrong, I haven't sold to anyone — you have been defrauded, or fraud is being attempted on you — then he too will run from there, [saying], what has happened here — on one hand you have done him a favour, and on the other you have saved yourself. By doing him a favour you have earned goodwill, and you have saved your own money, saved yourself from mental stress. That is why I say — when buying property, until you reach the real owner, do not buy the property — especially in these matters. Now I have told you about PT-1, that this is the remedy — that you verify. If you are buying in the crores, you may even have to go abroad, or contact someone abroad — if you need to, do it. In the revenue department, what is part-patwar? What is fard-e-sarkar? What is a general assembly (jalsa-e-aam)? What is an identifier? What is a tehsildar? What is a patwari? What is a fard-e-bai? What is an aks-e-shajra? What is a saqeema? — these are all common terms.