What counts as the Malnad
The Malnad is Karnataka's hill and high-rainfall belt along the Western Ghats. It takes in Sakleshpur in Hassan district; Mudigere, Koppa, Sringeri, Narasimharajapura and the hill parts of Chikkamagaluru taluk; much of Shivamogga district; and Kodagu. Coffee, areca, pepper, paddy and forest cover most of it.
People look here for a farm, a coffee holding, a weekend house, a homestay, or a site in a town such as Sakleshpur or Mudigere. Each is a different purchase with different papers, so decide which one you are making before you look.
| You want | What you are usually buying | First check |
|---|---|---|
| A house site in town | A site in an approved layout | Conversion, layout approval, e-khata |
| A farm or coffee holding | Agricultural or plantation land | Whether you are allowed to buy it |
| A weekend house on a holding | Agricultural land, converted in part | Whether conversion is possible for that part |
| A homestay | Land with a building and a tourism registration | Conversion and registration rules in that district |
What you are actually buying
Most land in the hills is recorded as agricultural or plantation land in the RTC (pahani, the land record). That matters in three ways.
- Who can buy. Karnataka relaxed the limits on non-farmers buying agricultural land in 2020, but other limits remain. Read who can buy agricultural land in Karnataka before you pay an advance. NRIs face separate limits under foreign exchange rules; see buying property as an NRI.
- What you can build. To build anything other than farm use, you generally need DC conversion. Conversion near forest, on steep land or in a plantation area can take longer or face conditions. See converting coffee or farm land.
- What a bank will lend on. Banks lend on house sites in approved layouts. Agricultural land is usually outside a home loan; see home loans for a plot.
Slope and landslides
The hills are steep, the soil is often deep and loose, and heavy rain soaks it. A Karnataka Western Ghats task force report counted over 1,000 landslides in Kodagu, Shivamogga and Chikkamagaluru over ten years, and Geological Survey of India studies have flagged areas such as Mullayanagiri and the Charmadi Ghat as prone to slides.
What to look for on the land:
- Cut slopes. A vertical cut above or below the site, for a road or a building, is the commonest trigger. Stand at the foot of it and look for cracks, bulges and fresh soil.
- Old slips. Bare scars, tilted trees and fresh soil fans show where ground has moved. Ask neighbours what happened in the last few monsoons.
- Water paths. Gullies and seasonal streams show where water runs. Do not plan a building across one.
- Fill. Ground that has been levelled with loose fill can settle or slip. Ask when and how it was filled.
Before you buy land to build on, pay a civil or geotechnical engineer to walk it. Get an estimate for retaining walls and drainage, and treat that cost as part of the price.
Rain and water
The south-west monsoon, roughly June to September, is heavy across the Malnad. In May 2025, Kottigehara in Mudigere taluk recorded 220 mm of rain in 24 hours, as reported by Deccan Herald. Plan for weeks of rain, not days.
- See where water enters and leaves the land, and where it will go once a roof and a driveway are built.
- Keep a clear gap from streams and valley floors. A stream that is a trickle in March can carry a flood in August.
- Check drinking water in the dry months too. Hill springs and open wells can fail in April and May.
- Ask whether the site needs its own soak pit or treatment system, and where that can go without draining onto a neighbour.
Roads and access
Two kinds of road matter: the ghat highways that connect the region, and the last few hundred metres to your land.
The ghat highways. The Shiradi Ghat on NH 75, near Sakleshpur, is the main road from Bengaluru and Hassan to Mangaluru. It has closed several times after landslides: in July 2024, and again in June 2025 after a slip at Marenahalli in Sakleshpur taluk, when traffic was diverted via Belur and the Charmadi Ghat. The Charmadi Ghat on NH 73, through Mudigere, has its own record of closures in heavy rain. If you will travel to the land often, expect some monsoon days when the direct road is shut.
The last stretch. Many holdings are reached through someone else's estate or along a track that is not a public road. Check:
- Is the access a public road on the village map, or a private path?
- If private, is there a registered right of way in your favour, with its width written down?
- Can a car, a fire tender or a construction truck reach the land in the rains?
- Who repairs the road after a slip, and has anyone done so before?
Land without a written, usable access is worth far less than it looks, and is hard to sell.
Forest, deemed forest and the ESA draft
- Forest boundaries. Many survey numbers in the hills share a boundary with reserve forest. Have the land surveyed against the survey sketch and check the boundary stones. See 11E sketch, podi and survey numbers.
- Deemed forest. Karnataka's deemed forest list has been revised more than once, and the state's forest minister has said the 2022 list wrongly included some private land. Ask the taluk office and the forest range office about your survey number.
- The eco-sensitive area draft. A seventh draft notification, issued on 27 July 2026, proposes about 20,668 sq km and 1,449 villages in Karnataka as part of the Western Ghats eco-sensitive area, with Hassan and Chikkamagaluru among the districts. It would ban mining, quarrying, red-category industries and large construction projects, and exempt farming and plantation work. In September 2026 the Karnataka legislature rejected the draft in its present form. Nothing is final, but check whether your village is listed.
- Trees. Felling trees on the land may need forest department permission. Do not assume you can clear a holding to build.
Questions to ask before you pay
- What is the land recorded as in the RTC, and can I legally buy it?
- Is any part converted, or can it be, for what I want to build?
- Is the access a public road, or a registered right of way?
- Where does water go in the monsoon, and has the ground ever moved?
- Does the survey number touch forest or deemed forest, or sit in an ESA draft village?
- What will retaining walls, drainage and a road cost on top of the price?
Our site visit checklist covers the general checks. For a town site in the Malnad, see buying a plot in Mudigere or buying a plot in Chikkamagaluru.
How we help
We work in Hassan, Mudigere and Chikkamagaluru, and walk hill land with buyers before they commit. We check the RTC, conversion position, access and forest records, and help with land acquisition from the first visit to registration. If you would rather start with a converted, approved site, see Kempegowda Layout in Mudigere, or tell us what you are looking for.
