If you have purchased or buy a property in Bangalore, you must have come across the term A Khata and B Khata which baffles most new home owners. Through this blog post we hope to demystify some of these terms and help you better understand the differences, significances of these documents and also how you can get them.

A Khata contains all the necessary data regarding a portion a land and is therefore an account assessment of the Property. Khatas are the assessment of property that is issued to owners/residents of Bengaluru by the Bruhat Bengaluru Mahanagara Palike (BBMP). It serves as a significant document while trying to obtain a loan from a bank or a building/trade license. There are two types of Khata that are issued – Khata A and Khata B. The A Khata and B Khata are documents confirming the ownership of a property via the taxes paid by the titleholder to the BBMP. ‘

The notion of Khata was started in 2007 by the BBMP to resolve the muddle of collection of property taxes. In order to reform the process of tax collection and reduce redundancy, the concept of ‘Khata’ was announced by the BBMP.The first register, called A Khata listed the fully legal properties in Bengaluru, while a separate register called B Register was maintained by the BBMP detailing the illegal/semi legal properties in the city.

Difference between A Khata and B Khata

A Khata

• Legal property for which property owner has duly paid the property taxes
• Can apply for loans, building or trade licenses Civic charges are paid
• Legal and requires no other changes

B Khata

• Illegal and semi-legal properties that are demarcated by the BBMP
• Cannot apply for licences or loans and since the Karnataka High Court order in 2014, it cannot be legalized without due process
• Civic Charges are paid or not paid
• Can be converted to A Khata on payment of property taxes due till date, DC Converted Property and on payment of ‘Betterment charges’ as levied by the BBMP

Why should you have a Khata certificate

A title deed is a legal document through which a person derives title or ownership of the given property, however, on the other hand a Khata is an account of assessment of property for the payment of property tax, it only defines ownership does not confer it. A Khata is just a legal identification document containing all the details of a particular property. The general details which will appear in the document are the name of the owner, size of the building or land, exact location and other such important particulars. These details are useful when the owner has to file the property tax to BBMP. The Khata certificate is given only to the owner of the property or to his family members and no one else can take it on his behalf.

What is a Khata extract?

A Khata Extract is an excerpt taken from the assessment register of the BBMP that gives the details of the property in question, such as the name of the property, its size, the use to which it is put (commercial purpose, residential), and its annual value (fixed when it was last assessed). This is imperative if you need to apply for a trade license and buy a property.

How you can get a Khata Certificate for your property

If one owns or buy a property in Bangalore, they need to buy an application form (Rs.10) from BBMP or you can alternatively download it online and submit it. It takes 15 days to process the application. Along with the filled application document, these additional proofs have to be submitted, such as

• Title deed
• Tax Paid (Till last payment)
• Sketch of the property clearly showing boundaries and
• location of the site
• Betterment charges
• Encumbrance Certificate for vacant sites

It is always advisable for buyers to go in for an A-Khata property as in case of B-Khata one is not entitled to possess a building licence, trade licence or avail loans from banks or any financial institutions. Properties with minimal deviation can convert B-Khata to A-Khata for which the following is required:

• DC converted property documents
• Tax must be paid till date
• Betterment charges for conversion to be paid to the BBMP

Khata certificates need to be transferred on change of ownership or sale of property and the BBMP has a process which needs to be followed for the same:

• An attested copy of a sale deed and Encumbrance Certificate (EC) with a copy of the sale deed (Original and copy)
• Application to be submitted with documents at BBMP office
• Revenue officers will visit your site in 15 days (If there is a delay you can file an RTI application to understand the cause)
• Registration fee (2% of the Total Sale value) has to be paid.
• In another 2 weeks a notification will be received for paying property taxes and transfer for the Khata to the new owner will be done and the certificate will be issued.

Although Khata is an essential document for showing legality of the property, there is also a big debate whether having a Khata really means ownership. Unfortunately it doesn’t. Strictly speaking, a Khata certificate or Khata extract is only evidence that property tax has been paid on the given property. It does not imply any ownership of property on the person in whose name it is issued. There are several judgements in the Karnataka High Court which state the same. The contentious issue is still under legal battles to give it a more powerful meaning.