How To Save Yourself From Property Title Fraud In India?

Real estate involves a lot of risks in its transaction because it involves high-value investment; everyone must assess everything before purchasing a property to save themselves from any property frauds in India. One such property fraud in India is property title fraud. Generally, scammers on naive buyers perform title fraud, and if you are not aware and literate while purchasing a property, you could lose your life's savings.

What is a Property Title Fraud?

There are several names given to property title fraud, such as Property title theft, home title fraud, or deed theft; they all mean the same. Property title fraud happens when a fraudster manipulates your property's paper to transfer ownership or borrow money by keeping the property as collateral. Fraudsters mostly target older adults who have some property in their name or someone who has recently deceased.

How Do You Get Scammed?

The most common way in home title scams or property frauds in India is forging your identity to transfer home ownership to themselves through forging fake deeds.

Another way to transfer a title by fraud is by using fake signatures by scammers to show that you want to sell the property to them. They can also use different illegal means to update government records, and once it gets updated, they can take out a loan by keeping your property as a mortgage. Apart from these, scammers can also illicitly sell your home, plot, or establishment to another person and get money against it. Then, later, they vanish out of the public domain.

Types of Property Title Fraud

Fake Title Fraud

When someone imitates your signature on a sale deed without your consent, it is called forged title fraud. It only happens when the fraudsters have great connections in municipal offices and can update the record without the owner's consent. In such fraud, scammers can create new sales deeds or imitate your signature.

Loan on the Fake Title

Such fraud happens when someone makes a fake identity to get a collateralized loan or mortgage in lieu of your property. Such frauds are difficult to detect and only come to light when the scammer stops to pay EMI and authorities knock on your door.

Disputed Property Title 

One more way to scam you is to sell you a property with a loan on it. So, always conduct due diligence on a property to be on the safer side.

Inconvenient Property Status

Criminals can also scam you into paying extra charges for a property purchased to convert its status from leasehold to freehold. It is another common scam, so you must check it before buying it.

Checks to Save Yourself from Property Fraud

1. Ensure that the sale deed is registered and has a clear property ownership status with the current owner's name.
2. Always check for the history of ownership details. 
3. Always verify the owner with his Aadhaar/PAN card and verify these records with the tax receipts filled by the property owner in municipal records.
4. Check for plot/home loans, title transfers, mortgages, or any registered transfers.
5. Pay attention to all your bills like water bills, electricity bills, mortgage bills, etc. If you notice that the bill amount is not as per expectation, it may signify home title fraud.The buyer should also check the power of attorney and verify all the tax receipts till the date of the sale deed. These should be taken from previous owners to check any dues and defaults.
6. Approval of the building must be authorised by the jurisdictional commissioner or officer authorised by the jurisdictional commissioner in case of ready-to-move/under-construction property.
7. Look for the conversion certificate to verify if the Property Sold on Agricultural Land; a NOC has to be obtained from the local tehsildar's office for any conversion to save yourself from land frauds.

The buyer should also check the power of attorney and verify all the tax receipts till the date of the sale deed. These should be taken from previous owners to check any dues and defaults.

How Can We Complaint About Property Title Fraud In India?

File a complaint before the police and Register a FIR with police for breach of trust and cheating. In case police fail to take a complaint, file a private complaint with the magistrate. A suit for recovery of the amount can be filed.