How to check a Punjab property without flying in

What does verifying a Punjab property from abroad actually involve?

Verifying a Punjab property from abroad means five checks in order: the revenue record, the satellite boundary, the approval number, the developer's delivery history, and a recorded site walkthrough. Punjab Roots Realty runs all five before a buyer in Brampton or Dubai is asked for a token amount.

The order is deliberate. The revenue record is free and, when the portal is up, takes minutes, so it runs first and ends the worst deals before anyone spends money. The walkthrough is last, because it is only worth filming once the paperwork has survived the other four.

• Fard and jamabandi from the Punjab land records portal
• Boundary, area and approach road traced on the Jameen Deal satellite view
• PBRERA registration number or the PUDA licence, checked at source
• Developer delivery record, sanctioned layout and payment plan in writing
• Timestamped site walkthrough on request, sent to you and to your family in India

How do you check land records in Punjab online?

Punjab land records are checked online at jamabandi.punjab.gov.in, the Punjab Land Records Society portal run under the state revenue department. Enter district, tehsil and village, then pull the fard by khewat, khasra or owner name. The screen copy is free; a certified fard comes from the tehsil Fard Kendra.

Read the owner names with their shares, written as fractions. A sale of the whole holding needs every co-sharer on that khewat to sign, while a co-sharer selling only his own undivided share is a different transaction, so check what is actually on offer. A jamabandi in Punjab is attested periodically, commonly every four to five years, so check the mutation, or intkaal, entry for anything recorded since. The khasra girdawari shows who was in possession at the last crop inspection.

The fard also carries the land classification, which matters more for you than for a local buyer. Under FEMA an NRI or OCI holder cannot buy agricultural land, plantation property or a farmhouse in India. The Reserve Bank can consider such a case in consultation with the Government of India, but that route is narrow and permission is rare, so do not plan around it. Land that is inherited is dealt with separately. If the record still reads agricultural, treat it as a stop until a qualified professional tells you otherwise.

How do you check the boundary and the approach road before you travel?

The boundary check happens on Jameen Deal, the satellite map platform where every Punjab Roots Realty project is traced. You can measure the parcel in gaj, marla or acre, see the approach road width, and confirm the plot sits where the brochure map says it does, before any call.

Convert the units once and keep the number. One marla in Punjab is 30.25 sq yd, one kanal is 605 sq yd, one acre is 4,840 sq yd, and gaj and sq yd are the same unit. At the Motiaz Estate base rate of Rs 25,000 per sq yd, a 250 gaj plot works out at about Rs 62.5 lakh before registry and other charges. Rates move, so confirm the current one before you budget.

Then measure the approach rather than the frontage claim. Motiaz Estate is sold with an 80-ft main frontage on the Bathinda-Muktsar Road, just off NH-7, and Arcadiaa Enclave in Mansa with 40-ft internal roads and about 350 ft of frontage on the Mansa-Barnala Road. Trace both yourself and hold us to them.

How do you check a RERA or PUDA number for a Punjab project?

A Punjab RERA number is checked on the PBRERA portal at rera.punjab.gov.in, which returns the promoter name, the registered project details and the declared completion date. Pushpa Square in Bathinda carries PBRERA-BTI08-PC0390, and you can type that number in yourself. If a project has no number, ask why. Registration is required for most projects, with narrow exemptions for very small ones, broadly land up to 500 sq m or up to eight units, and the detail sits in the rules as they stand.

PUDA approval and RERA registration are different things, and a seller who blurs them is telling you something. A colony licence under the Punjab Apartment and Property Regulation Act, 1995 and a change of land use permission come from the development authority. Registration is a separate filing with PBRERA, and a development authority approval is not a substitute for it where registration is required.

Arcadiaa Enclave is sold as PUDA approved, which is an approval and not a RERA registration, and we write it that way. Ask for the licence number or the approval copy, verify it with the authority rather than in a PDF, and ask the developer separately whether the project is registered with PBRERA. Rules and thresholds change, so confirm the current position with an advocate.

How do you check the developer before you pay a token?

The developer check is a delivery check, not a brochure check. We look for projects the developer has already handed over, buyers who have their registry done, the sanctioned layout compared against the marketing layout, and the payment plan in writing. We run this on every developer on our list, and we tell you what we could confirm and what we could not.

The most useful document is the sanctioned layout from the authority, held beside the plan the sales team is showing you. Parks, road widths and plot counts that differ between the two are the thing to ask about.

• Two or three delivered projects, at an address you can send someone to
• Sanctioned layout beside the marketing layout, page by page
• The full instalment schedule, plus what all inclusive actually covers
• What the agreement says if possession slips past the declared date
• The account your money goes to, named in writing before the first payment

What does the recorded site walkthrough show?

The recorded walkthrough is on request, and it comes last, because it is the only step you cannot do yourself from Surrey or Melbourne. We film the drive from a landmark you know, walk the boundary with the satellite trace on screen, and show the approach road, the neighbouring plots and the site board.

The file is timestamped and sent on WhatsApp, so you can forward it to a brother or a cousin in India for a second opinion. We film the same things every time: the turn off the main road, the four corners, the road surface, the electricity and water lines, and the plots next door.

Distances are given in kilometres, not minutes, because minutes depend on who is driving. AIIMS Bathinda is about 12 km from Pushpa Square on the Ring Road and about 15 km from Motiaz Estate. If you want the same drive filmed again in July, after a monsoon, ask and we will go back.

What does Punjab Roots Realty not do?

Punjab Roots Realty never receives buyer funds. Every rupee goes directly to the developer or seller account named in the agreement, from your NRE or NRO account or through normal banking channels. We also decline family property disputes, ancestral partition matters and country-by-country tax questions, and we say so on the first call.

On power of attorney, you do not always have to fly in. A power of attorney executed before and attested at your nearest Indian mission lets a named person attend the sub-registrar for you, and it normally has to be stamped in India after it arrives. A general power of attorney is not a transfer of title in India, following the Supreme Court judgment in Suraj Lamp and Industries in 2011, so it is no substitute for a registered sale deed. Have an advocate draft the wording and confirm what the sub-registrar in that district accepts.

We publish no return figures, no appreciation forecasts and no assured rental numbers, on any project. We publish the rate, the area, the approval status, and the address of the office at SCO 26, Ganpati Enclave, Bathinda, where your family can walk in and ask the same questions.

This page is general guidance, not legal or tax advice. Rules under FEMA and Indian tax law change; please verify with a qualified professional before you transact.