Government Services · Maharashtra · Property and Registration

How to Get an Encumbrance Certificate Online in Maharashtra

Updated for 2026 · Claw Editorial

An encumbrance certificate tells you whether a property carries any registered charge, like a sale, a mortgage or a lien, over a period. Buyers and lenders want it to be sure the title is clean. Maharashtra does not issue a single encumbrance certificate the way Tamil Nadu or Karnataka do. Instead, the Department of Registration and Stamps, known as IGR Maharashtra, records every registered deed and lets you search that record. You check a property through the Index II of each registered document and the IGR e-Search, and you confirm current ownership and mutation through the 7/12 extract or the property card. This page explains the Maharashtra way to do an encumbrance search, the free e-Search and the paid certified search, how to read Index II, what it does and does not prove, and what to do if the search throws up a title or boundary dispute. Last verified October 2026.

01What an encumbrance search means in Maharashtra

In the southern states you ask the Sub Registrar for one encumbrance certificate that lists every charge over a period. Maharashtra works differently.

• Every registered sale, mortgage, gift or lease is recorded with an Index II, which names the parties, the property and the value.
• You run an e-Search of the registration record to find the deeds that touch a property.
• You confirm current ownership and any mutation through the 7/12 extract for agricultural land or the property card for urban land.

Put together, Index II plus the 7/12 or property card is how a buyer or lender in Maharashtra checks whether a property is clean. There is no single document called an encumbrance certificate, so do not expect one at the Sub Registrar counter.

02What you need before you search

A good search needs the right identifiers. Keep these ready:

For older records the digital search may not reach back far, so for a deep title check you may still visit the Sub Registrar office for a manual search of the old registers.

03Step by step on IGR e-Search

IGR Maharashtra offers a free e-Search and a paid certified search. Start with the free one.

• 1. Open the e-Search. Go to the IGR free search at freesearchigrservice.maharashtra.gov.in, reached from igrmaharashtra.gov.in.
• 2. Choose the region. Pick the right set, for example Mumbai, the rest of Maharashtra urban, or rural, because the registers are split by area.
• 3. Enter the property. Fill the year, district, Sub Registrar office and the survey or CTS or property number.
• 4. View the index. The search lists the registered documents with their Index II, showing the parties, the document type and the value.
• 5. Get the Index II or certified copy. Download the Index II, and for an official copy apply for a certified search or a certified Index II, which may need a fee and e-payment.

For current ownership, separately pull the 7/12 extract from the Maha Bhulekh portal for agricultural land, or the property card for city land.

04Fee, certified copies and limits

The online e-Search of registered documents is free for viewing. A certified copy of a document or an official search carries a fee paid online.

The search is only as complete as the digitised record. Very old deeds, or deeds registered in an office whose records are not fully online, may not appear, so a clean online result is not a guarantee of a clean title. For a high value purchase, get a lawyer to do a full title search at the Sub Registrar and to read every prior deed in the chain.

Also check that the stamp duty and registration on the chain of deeds were correctly paid, because an under stamped or unregistered link in the chain can create a cloud on the title even when nothing shows as an active charge.

05Read Index II with the 7/12 and property card

The Index II alone is not the full picture. Read it with the land record.

• The 7/12 extract (satbara) for agricultural land shows the current holder and the mutation (ferfar) entries.
• The property card for urban land shows the current holder and any noted charge.
• Match the owner in the latest sale deed with the holder shown in the 7/12 or property card. A mismatch is a red flag to investigate before you pay.

06Common problems in a Maharashtra search

Searches often throw up these issues:

• Wrong or old survey or CTS number, so the record does not come up.
• The office or region picked does not match where the deed was registered.
• Old deeds not digitised, so the online search looks clean but is incomplete.
• The Index II owner does not match the 7/12 or property card holder.
• A pending mutation, an undischarged mortgage or a lis pendens noted against the property.

If the search is clean and matches the land record, you are on firm ground. If it shows a competing claim, a disputed boundary or a cloud on the title, the dispute route below applies.

07If a title or boundary dispute arises

An encumbrance search is only a check. When it shows a competing sale, a mortgage the seller hid, a wrong mutation or a boundary overlap, the real fight is about title, and title is decided by the courts. A civil suit for declaration of title, for possession or for an injunction is filed in the civil court that has jurisdiction over the property. A pure land record or mutation dispute can go through the revenue authorities and up to the Maharashtra Revenue Tribunal, and a question of a legal right can reach the Bombay High Court. The limitation for a possession suit is strict, so do not sit on a problem.

Claw is an all-in-one legaltech platform for Indian advocates, law firms, and corporate legal teams, combining AI-based case search, an AI legal assistant (Legal GPT), case management, and compliance automation across all Indian courts and tribunals.

If your property check turns into a civil suit or a revenue dispute, you can create a FREE Claw account and track that matter across the forum that hears it. Claw covers 9,102 courts, benches and forums in India, so whether your case sits before a civil court, a revenue authority or the High Court, there is a real tracking home for the orders and next dates. Judgment search spans 30 crore+ judgments, with Supreme Court decisions from 1950 and High Court decisions from 1990, and results return in under 5 seconds, which helps if you or your lawyer want to see how similar title fights were decided. Claw does not train its AI models on your documents. This is general information and not legal advice, and a title dispute needs a property lawyer.

Before you buy, confirm the current owner and any mutation with a property mutation status check, and to see what is already filed, run a case search in the Bombay High Court by party name.

08Sources and further reading

• IGR Maharashtra (Registration and Stamps): igrmaharashtra.gov.in
• IGR free e-Search: freesearchigrservice.maharashtra.gov.in
• eCourts (case status): ecourts.gov.in
• Claw: clawlaw.in

This page is general information for readers in India, not legal advice. Portals, fees and steps can change, so confirm the current details on the official IGR Maharashtra portal before you rely on a search.

09Frequently asked questions