Khata transfer after buying a flat in Bengaluru
Registration puts the deed in your name. Khata transfer puts the municipal record in your name. They are separate steps, and buyers forget the second.
Registering the sale deed puts the transaction on the Registration Department’s record. Khata transfer — mutation — puts the municipality’s record in your name. They are two different offices doing two different things, and the second does not always follow the first on its own.
This is the step buyers skip, because after registration it feels finished. It is not finished.
Why it matters
Until the khata is transferred, the municipal record still names the seller. The tax demand goes to them. Your name is not on the account for the property you just paid for.
The consequences show up when you next need the property to do something. A loan against it, a plan sanction for a modification, a utility connection in your own name — all of these read the municipal record, and the municipal record does not yet know about you.
And the one that hurts most: when you come to sell, your buyer’s lawyer will find that the khata was never transferred, and the problem you postponed becomes the thing holding up your exit.
What the process looks like now
Bengaluru runs khata through the e-Aasthi portal, and e-Khata has been mandatory for property transactions since October 2024.
For a clean-title property the flow is largely automatic. Once the sale deed is registered and both buyer and seller complete Aadhaar-based eKYC on the portal, the mutation is processed by the system without a manual municipal step. This is a real improvement on what came before.
The automation holds only for clean records. Where the property description is inconsistent between documents, where tax dues are outstanding, or where the seller’s own khata was never properly in their name, the case falls out of the automatic path and into a queue.
What to have ready
The registered sale deed, from Kaveri. The previous khata. Property tax receipts from BBMP showing the account is fully paid up. An encumbrance certificate covering a long period — see Form 15 vs Form 16 for what you should actually be asking for. Aadhaar and PAN for the eKYC step.
The tax receipts are the item that most often stalls things. Outstanding dues attach to the property, and the transfer will not go through with them outstanding — which means an amount the seller owed becomes an amount you have to clear to get your own record straightened out.
The seller-side step nobody plans for
The eKYC requirement means you need the seller after completion.
That is a change worth internalising. In the old paper process a buyer could complete the mutation alone with the registered deed. Now, if the seller has moved cities, gone abroad, stopped answering, or simply lost interest the moment the money landed, your mutation sits incomplete and there is no unilateral route around it.
Handle this in the agreement, not in hope. Make the seller’s cooperation with eKYC an express obligation, and hold a small part of the consideration back until the mutation is through. A retention of a modest amount, released on production of the new khata, converts a favour into a term.
That is precisely the kind of thing that is easy to write into a deal before signing and impossible to negotiate afterwards.
Frequently asked questions
Is khata transfer mandatory after buying a property in Bangalore?
In practice, yes. Until the khata is transferred the municipal record and the tax demand stay in the seller's name, and you cannot use the property for a loan application, a plan sanction or a utility connection in your own name.
How long does khata transfer take in Bengaluru?
Where the title is clean and both parties have completed Aadhaar eKYC on the e-Aasthi portal, mutation after registration is largely automatic. Where documents are missing, tax dues are outstanding or site verification is needed, it takes considerably longer.
What documents are needed for khata transfer?
The registered sale deed, the previous khata, property tax receipts showing no outstanding dues, an encumbrance certificate covering a long period, and identity documents including Aadhaar and PAN for the eKYC step.
What does khata transfer cost?
The khata charge is commonly calculated as a small percentage of the stamp duty paid on the sale deed, which for most flats works out to a few thousand rupees rather than a significant sum. Confirm the current rate before you budget.