What an EC is
An encumbrance certificate (EC) is issued by the Department of Stamps and Registration. It is a statement of the documents registered against a property at the sub-registrar office over a period you choose. If someone sold, mortgaged, gifted, leased or released the property in that period, and registered the document, it should appear on the EC.
Buyers use the EC to check that the seller has not already sold or mortgaged the land. Banks ask for it before a loan, and again when you sell or refinance. It is one of the core papers in every paper to check before buying land.
Form 15 and Form 16
An EC comes in one of two forms.
| Form | When it is issued | What it means |
|---|---|---|
| Form 15 | Registered documents were found for the period searched | It lists each one: the document number, date, type, parties and the property described |
| Form 16 | No registered document was found for the period searched | Often called a nil EC |
A Form 15 EC is normal. Any property that has changed hands will have one. What matters is what the entries are.
How to get an EC online
Karnataka's registration services run on the Kaveri online services portal. The usual steps:
- Register on the Kaveri portal with your mobile number and log in.
- Choose the online EC service.
- Enter the property details: district, taluk, sub-registrar office, village, and the survey number, hissa number or property number.
- Choose the period to search.
- View the result. To get a copy you can rely on, ask for the digitally signed EC and pay the fee shown on screen.
- Download the signed EC as a PDF.
Online EC records generally start from 2004. For years before that, apply at the sub-registrar office that holds the records for the property, where the EC is prepared from the older books. It takes longer, so start early.
The fees are small and are shown before you pay. We have not stated them here because different sources give different figures; the portal and the sub-registrar office have the current fee.
How many years to search
Ask for the longest period you can, ideally matching the title chain your lawyer checks. Lawyers commonly look at 30 years or more. Banks set their own minimum for a loan.
Search under every description the property has had. A plot that was once part of a survey number may have been registered under the survey number in old deeds and under a site or property number in new ones. Search under both, or entries will be missed.
How to read the entries
For each entry on a Form 15 EC, check:
- Document type. Sale, mortgage, release, gift, lease, partition, agreement.
- Parties. That each sale runs from the previous buyer to the next, matching the title deeds.
- Mortgages and releases. Every registered mortgage should be followed by a registered release or a bank's closure. A mortgage with no release means a lender may still have a claim.
- Agreements and powers of attorney. A registered sale agreement or power of attorney in favour of someone else is a warning. Ask what happened to it.
- The description. That the area and survey number match the land you are buying.
- The last entry. That the seller is the last buyer on record, with nothing after.
Get certified copies of any document on the EC that you have not seen.
What an EC does not show
An EC is a search of registered documents. It does not show:
- Unregistered sale agreements, receipts or understandings.
- Civil suits, revenue cases or tribunal proceedings.
- Loans recorded only in the revenue records, such as crop loans noted on the RTC.
- Loans secured by depositing title deeds with a bank, where no document was registered.
- Government acquisition notices, land grant conditions or tenancy claims.
- Anything registered at a different sub-registrar office under a different property description.
This is why the EC is read alongside the RTC and mutation register, the title deeds and a check of court cases. A nil EC on land that the RTC shows as mortgaged is a reason to ask more, not to relax.
Always ask the seller for the original title deeds. If the seller cannot produce them, a bank may be holding them as security for a loan that the EC does not show.
EC for agricultural land and for plots
For agricultural land, search by survey and hissa number. For a plot in a layout, search under the site number and the survey number it came from, from the year the layout was formed back to the start of your search.
For an apartment or a site with an e-khata, the property number on the khata is another description to search. See A-khata, B-khata and e-khata.
Common problems with an EC
Most EC trouble comes from how the property was described, not from fraud.
- Spelling. Names spelled differently in old and new deeds can make an entry look like a different person. Match by document number and date, not by spelling alone.
- Changed numbers. After a survey number is sub-divided, later deeds use the new hissa number. Search both the old and new numbers.
- Changed offices. If the village has moved from one sub-registrar office to another over the years, older documents sit in the old office's records. Ask where they were registered and search there too.
- Missing entries. If a deed the seller gives you does not appear on the EC, get a certified copy from the sub-registrar office and ask why it is missing before going further.
When to get the EC
Get it twice. Once before you pay any advance, to decide whether to go ahead. Again just before registration, for the period up to that date, to make sure nothing was registered in between. After you register, an updated EC should show your sale deed.
If you are taking a loan, the bank's lawyer will ask for one too. See home loans for a plot.
How we help
We pull the EC for the full period, match every entry against the deeds and revenue records, and tell you what is missing or unexplained before you pay. See our documentation service or send us the property details. Buyers in our Kempegowda Layout in Mudigere get copies of every document, including the EC, to check with their own lawyer.
