What is title deed?
Also called: title documents, mother deed, link documents, chain of title
Whatever registered document put the property in the current owner's name, usually a sale, gift or partition deed, read together with the earlier deeds that show how ownership reached them.
India doesn't give most property owners a single state-guaranteed title certificate. Ownership is presumed from documents, so a 'title deed' in practice means the latest registered deed in the owner's favour plus the chain behind it. In Bengaluru and Hyderabad the oldest deed in that chain is often called the mother deed.
A lawyer doing a title search for a bank usually traces the chain back 30 years, sometimes 13 for a small urban flat, checking that each transfer was registered, properly stamped and signed by everyone who held a share. Gaps are common. A father died without a will and only one son signed the next sale. A GPA holder sold in 1998 although the owner had died the year before. A plot in a Jaipur colony passed through three unregistered agreements before anyone registered anything. Each gap is a potential claim waiting for a lawsuit.
For a new flat, the chain covers the land: the landowner's title, the joint development agreement with the builder, land-use conversion orders and the approved plans. For a resale flat, add the builder-to-first-buyer deed and every resale since.
Rajasthan passed the Rajasthan Urban Land (Certification of Titles) Act in 2016 to move towards guaranteed urban titles, but the idea hasn't spread far. For now the paper chain, and a competent lawyer reading it, decides whether a title is clean.
For a resale flat in HSR Layout, Bengaluru, the lender's advocate will want the 2009 builder-to-first-owner sale deed, the 2017 resale deed to the current seller, the land's mother deed, the BDA or municipal khata and a 30-year encumbrance certificate before releasing the loan.
Buyers check only the seller's own sale deed. The trouble usually sits two links back, in an unregistered transfer or an heir who never signed, so pay for an independent lawyer's title report.
Questions people ask about title deed
What is a mother deed?
The earliest document in the ownership chain that a lawyer can trace, often the deed by which the original landowner acquired the land. The term is used mainly in Karnataka, Andhra Pradesh and Telangana.
Does the bank keep my title deed during the home loan?
Yes. The lender holds the original sale deed and link documents until you repay, which is how the mortgage is created. Ask for a signed list of every document deposited.