Khata and Mutation: The Step After Registration That Buyers Forget

The sale deed is registered, the money has moved, the keys or the boundary stones have changed hands. Most buyers consider the transaction finished.

It is not. Two records exist for every parcel of land in India, and registration updates only one of them.

Two records, two offices

The registration record sits with the sub-registrar. It records that a transfer took place between named parties on a given date. Registering the sale deed puts your transaction into this record.

The revenue record sits with the revenue department -- the RTC in Karnataka, the 7/12 extract in Maharashtra, the patta and chitta in Tamil Nadu, the pahani in Telangana and Andhra Pradesh. It records who currently holds and cultivates the land, and it is the record that determines who pays land revenue.

Registration does not automatically update the revenue record. The process that does is mutation -- khata transfer, in the Karnataka vocabulary.

Until mutation is done, the land is registered to you and recorded to the seller.

Why it matters more than it sounds

Resale. Your buyer will pull the revenue record and find the previous owner's name. Some will walk away; the rest will discount. The problem compounds if the seller has died or moved in the interim, because you may need their cooperation or their heirs' to complete a mutation you should have done years earlier.

Financing. Banks lend against the revenue record as much as the deed. A khata in someone else's name will stall a loan application.

Tax and demand notices. Land revenue demands and any local body tax go to the person on the record. Notices you never receive can become arrears you did not know about.

Government processes. NA conversion, building plan approval, utility connections, crop loans, compensation in an acquisition -- all are processed against the revenue record holder.

Compensation on acquisition. If the land is acquired for a public project, compensation follows the recorded holder. This is the scenario where the omission becomes genuinely expensive.

A-khata and B-khata, and why the distinction matters

In Bengaluru and some other urban local bodies, khatas are informally split into two registers.

A-khata denotes property that complies with the applicable building and layout regulations and is fully recognised by the local body. It supports building plan sanction, trade licences and institutional finance without friction.

B-khata is a separate register maintained for properties that are within the local body's area but do not fully comply -- unapproved layouts, unauthorised construction, revenue-site conversions that never completed. A B-khata property can be bought, sold and taxed, but plan sanction and mainstream bank finance are considerably harder, and conversion from B to A requires regularising whatever the underlying defect is.

The distinction has been the subject of repeated policy change and litigation, so confirm the current position locally. The durable point for a buyer: ask which register the property sits on before you agree a price. The gap between the two is real money, and a seller quoting A-khata comparables for a B-khata site is a common mispricing.

For agricultural land outside urban local body limits, this distinction generally does not arise -- the relevant record is the RTC or its state equivalent.

Doing the mutation

The steps are broadly consistent across states, with local variation in forms and portals.

1. Apply to the relevant authority -- the village accountant, tahsildar, or the local body for urban property.
2. Submit the registered sale deed, the previous owner's revenue record, the latest tax receipts, identity proof, and the application form with fee.
3. Notice period. The authority publishes the proposed change and allows objections. This exists to catch competing claims, and it is why mutation takes weeks rather than days.
4. Verification by the village accountant or equivalent, who may inspect.
5. Order and entry. The mutation order issues and the record is updated with a new mutation number.

Then do the thing that closes the loop: pull a fresh copy of the revenue record and confirm your name appears. An issued order that was never entered is a surprisingly common failure, and it is indistinguishable from a completed mutation until someone checks.

Timing and cost

Fees are modest -- typically a small percentage or a flat charge depending on the state. Time is the real cost, driven mostly by the notice period and by how complete the application was.

Start it immediately after registration. There is no advantage to waiting, and every month of delay increases the chance the seller becomes unreachable.

Where this fits

Mutation is the last step of the buying sequence, not an optional extra. The full order: confirm the parcel through the RTC or Pahani, run the Encumbrance Certificate, verify the chain of title, check eligibility under Sections 79A and 79B and ceiling limits, pay stamp duty and register -- then mutate.

The overview sits in understanding land titles and documentation in India and the practical walkthrough in the Karnataka farmland buying guide.

Browse listings: farmland near Bangalore or residential plots around Mysore.

This article is general information, not legal advice. Land laws and eligibility rules vary by Indian state and change over time -- verify current requirements with a local property lawyer before making any purchase decision.