Book Review

Property laws have you confused? This book has the answers.

RoofandFloor Bureau

When you decide to join the envious club of home owners, your mind turns into a hive buzzing with questions. While a smorgasbord of websites offer details about projects and locations, the many legal hoops that you are required to jump through leave you baffled. On bad days, you find yourself rethinking your decision to own a home. It is into this fog of labyrinthine processes and lack of literature that Mr G Shyam Sunder introduces his book. An Advocate in Chennai for the past 14 years, his book, ‘Property Registration, Land Records and Building Approval Procedures Followed in Various States in India’ is published by Vidya Devi Publishers and is currently in its second edition.

When the book was first published in 2013, it was the first of its kind in India. In 2016, it continues to be the lone reliable crusader in making real estate laws more transparent for the common man.

The author displays his experience and knowledge in the ease with which he addresses various subjects. The author travelled to 19 States and 2 Union Territories to personally compile the information provided in the book, especially details regarding stamp duty and registration rates prescribed in each State. He has also included a general checklist that readers can refer to before buying properties like agricultural land, new apartments, land in approved layouts, etc. He discusses title documents and basic precautions to be observed for each document as well as fraud scenarios that one must be aware of.

The book discusses online mechanisms to verify land records in various States, market value of land fixed by governments, registration processes for equitable mortgages, ways to verify Encumbrance Certificates, and affixing of photos and thumb impressions in documents among others.

The book also gives detailed information about land records, land ceiling limits, land conversion rates, land measurement terminologies, and restrictions on purchases of certain kinds of properties. Building approval procedures followed in states like maximum permitted FSI/FAR, land layout approval procedures and limitations on construction of various types of buildings are also discussed.

The book explains methods to compare the certified copy of documents obtained from the records of Sub-Registrar offices with original documents to understand how genuine the title is. In the book, Mr Shyam Sunder details the various procedures followed in the registration, revenue, town and country planning departments in different States in India. The author also offers his suggestions for improvement of existing practices in the above mentioned departments of each State. The information is up to date till October 2015 had been updated in the second edition of the book.

According to the author, the book will be handy for new home buyers, people interested in buying plots, bankers, lawyers, financial institutions, and realtors. The book is priced at Rs 499 and is available at leading bookstores as well as online. Copyrights for the book had been issued by Government of India. For more details visit www.propertylandrecords.in

 

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