Khata A vs Khata B in Bangalore: What Every Property Buyer Must Know

Half the property disputes we see in Bangalore could have been avoided if the buyer understood the difference between A Khata and B Khata before signing. By the time the home loan is rejected or the resale buyer walks away, the disadvantage has already been priced in — and you have paid for it.

The Khata is, at its core, a BBMP record of who is liable to pay property tax on a property. It is not a document of title. But the category of Khata you hold tells you almost everything about the regulatory standing of the building.

What A Khata actually means

A Khata is issued where the property complies with BBMP bye-laws — sanctioned plan, setbacks, FAR, occupancy certificate, layout approval and conversion order are all in place. Your tax is collected through the regular A register. Banks lend freely against A Khata properties. Building plan modifications, trade licences and water connections move smoothly.

When we issue a clean legal opinion, we expect to see an A Khata in the seller's name, matching the dimensions on the sale deed and the sanctioned plan. Mismatches between Khata extract, EC and sale deed are red flags worth pausing over.

What B Khata actually means

B Khata was created to bring unauthorised constructions and revenue-layout properties into the tax net without legitimising them. Tax is collected through a separate B register. The property is not illegal in the sense of a criminal offence, but it is unauthorised — meaning the construction or layout violated some bye-law, building plan or land-use rule.

Practically, a B Khata property is a B-grade asset. Most nationalised banks and major private banks will not issue a home loan against it. NBFCs may, at higher rates. Resale is harder. Building plan sanctions for new construction or extension are not granted. Water and electricity connections are sometimes obtained, sometimes not — depending on local enforcement.

B Khata is not regularisation

Owners often confuse B Khata with a regularised property. It is the opposite. The B register exists precisely because the property has not been regularised. Schemes like Akrama Sakrama have been notified, struck down, modified and notified again over the past decade — and as of today, no comprehensive regularisation has been completed for the bulk of B Khata stock.

If a seller tells you that the property will 'become A Khata once Akrama Sakrama comes through,' read that as a sales pitch, not a legal commitment. Buy the property at a price that reflects its current B Khata status, not the price it would fetch if a future scheme rescued it.

How to read a Khata extract

The Khata extract — Form 9 for revenue layouts and Form 11A for BBMP — should match the sale deed and the EC on owner name, schedule, dimensions and tax assessment number. Pay attention to:

• The header — A register or B register
• Owner name and matching address
• Property dimensions in square feet and the schedule of boundaries
• Tax paid up to date
• Property identification number (PID) and assessment number
• Date of issue — Khata extracts more than 3 months old should be refreshed

Common traps Bangalore buyers fall into

Sellers sometimes produce a Khata certificate (which only shows tax payment) instead of a Khata extract (which shows the property details). The certificate alone tells you very little. Always insist on the extract.

On revenue layouts in the BBMP outskirts and the Bommanahalli, Mahadevapura and Yelahanka zones, Form 9 and Form 11 records often show inconsistent measurements compared to the sale deed. Where the sale deed says 1,200 square feet and the Form 9 says 1,050, the Sub-Registrar will register the lower figure for tax purposes — but the construction may already exceed both. We treat any such mismatch as a question that must be answered before money moves.

On apartment purchases, the Khata may be in the name of the developer or the landowner under a Joint Development Agreement, and the buyer's individual Khata is to be transferred post-registration. Confirm in writing what the developer is undertaking and the timeline.

Sellers in fringe areas — Sarjapur, Whitefield extensions, Devanahalli, Anekal — sometimes produce a panchayat-issued Form 9 and Form 11 from a Gram Panchayat instead of a BBMP Khata extract. These are not equivalent. Panchayat Khatas issued for revenue layouts that were never properly converted have been the subject of repeated High Court orders and government circulars. Treat a panchayat Form 9 as a question to be examined, not as proof of standing.

Should you ever buy a B Khata property?

Sometimes — if the price discount fully reflects the risk, you have no plans to resell quickly, you are paying without a home loan, and the underlying title is otherwise clean. We have closed several such matters where the client knew exactly what they were getting and structured the deal accordingly. The mistake is buying a B Khata at A Khata prices on the strength of a future-regularisation promise.

If you are evaluating a Bangalore property and would like our view on the Khata position before you commit, share the documents over WhatsApp on +91 63634 69138. We will tell you in plain language what you are buying and what it will mean at resale.