title

Title is the bundle of facts that gives a person the right to own and possess property. It may be acquired by transfer (sale, gift, exchange), by inheritance, by a court decree, or by adverse possession. A title deed is the document that records the transfer, and a buyer checks the chain of title (usually for thirty years or more) before purchase.

For immovable property worth one hundred rupees or more, title passes on sale only by a registered conveyance (s.54 TP Act read with s.17 Registration Act). In Suraj Lamp, the Supreme Court held that “SA/GPA/Will” transactions do not transfer title. Revenue records such as mutation or khata entries are for fiscal purposes and do not by themselves prove title.

Example

Mutation of the land in the buyer's name in the revenue records did not confer title, which passes only by a registered sale deed.

In Indian law

• Section 54, Transfer of Property Act, 1882; Section 17, Registration Act, 1908
• Suraj Lamp & Industries v. State of Haryana, 2011 INSC 739: sale agreement, GPA and will do not transfer title to immovable property

See also

ownership · possession · mutation · conveyance

Read more in the study notes

• Audi alteram partem: the right to a fair hearing (Administrative Law)
• Reasoned decisions, exceptions to natural justice, effect of breach and Article 136 (Administrative Law)
• Judicial control: public and private law remedies, writ procedure and ouster clauses (Administrative Law)
• Promissory estoppel, legitimate expectation and proportionality (Administrative Law)
• Need for ADR, international commitments and suitability of disputes (Alternative Dispute Resolution Systems)
• Negotiation: meaning, styles and approaches (Alternative Dispute Resolution Systems)