A Practical Property Due-Diligence Checklist

By Selling Sunsets · Updated 2026-05-06

Editorial status: draft

Due diligence is not one inspection — it is the reconciliation of several independent sources until they agree. Where they disagree, you have found your work.

Title and ownership

• Trace the chain of title across prior transfers for consistency
• Confirm the seller's legal right to sell the whole interest
• Identify any co-owners, inheritors or customary interests
• Check for existing mortgages, liens or encumbrances

Records and mutation

• Reconcile revenue records (khatauni) with the sale documents
• Confirm mutation history and that it reflects reality
• Verify plot (khasra) number, area and boundaries on the ground

Access and physical verification

• Establish a legally recorded right of access to the plot
• Walk the boundary and the approach — do not rely on the map alone
• Check slope stability, drainage and seasonal water behaviour
• Confirm realistic water and power availability

Planning and use

• Identify the governing authority and land-use zone
• Confirm the intended use is permitted
• Check whether existing construction is sanctioned

Selling Sunsets analysis

A plot that fails one of these checks is not necessarily a bad plot — but it is a plot whose problem must be priced, understood and, where possible, resolved before purchase rather than after. The checklist's value is that it moves discovery to before the money.

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