Hyderabad: For every claim on ownership, legally valid proof is necessary. More so with property. Original property documents like title deeds are very crucial in all sorts of real estate transactions. Whether it is a house or plot or farm land, these documents are mandatory to transfer any property in your name during a sale or purchase. What to do when any of your original property ownership documents are lost or stolen?
Disputes may arise if there are no original documents to a property. It will be difficult to prove your legal rights over that property. Then you have to obtain duplicate or certified copies. These is a long process for this. First you have to file an FIR (First Information Report) or NCR (Non-Cognizable Report) at the nearest police station.
Once an FIR is registered, the police will try to find your documents. If the documents are not recovered, a Non-Traceable Certificate (NTC) will be issued. The NTC, which is required to establish that the loss of a document has occurred, is the key document required to obtain duplicate property documents. It helps in preventing fraud. An FIR can be registered at the police station nearest to your place of residence anywhere in the country.
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After FIR is registered, a notice should be published in at least two newspapers - one in English and the other in local language. Declare details of the property, lost documents and your contact details. If any of the public has objections regarding the notice, they can inform the same within 15 days from the date of publication. Notarized affidavits explaining sufficient reasons must be provided along with a lawyer's letter for giving this notice.
In case of an apartment or a housing society, copies of FIR and notice printed in newspaper are needed to obtain duplicate share certificates from concerned Resident Welfare Association (RWA). After giving these, the RWA will arrange a meeting to examine the documents and if the incident is found to be true, a copy of the duplicate share certificate will be issued. Also a No-Objection Certificate (NOC) can be taken for further transactions.
Before applying for duplicate certificate, an affidavit should be notarized on Rs 10 non-judicial stamp paper. This should contain the FIR number, details of lost documents relating to the property, copy of notice published in newspapers, lawyer's certificate regarding the validity of the publication and reason for making the application should be mentioned.
After the expiry of 15 days notice period from the date of publication, you must visit the concerned Sub-Registrar office and apply for duplicate (certified copy) by submitting full details of the property, details of lost documents, copy of FIR, non-traceable certificate and notary affidavit. Duplicate sale deed or title deed copy will be obtained from Sub-Registrar office within 7 to 10 working days.
Duplicate property documents are legally valid as they are stamped with the approval of the Sub-Registrar. Through this certified copy transactions such as sale of property and loan application can be done.
