Categories
Miscellaneous

Title Insurance

With the way the property prices are going, everybody in India wants to invest in property. I have a few MBA batchmates who are knee deep in student loans, but are already checking out properties in and around Bangalore.
Apartment structure depreciates over time so many of the smart fellows want to invest in land/plots. However their investments are hindered by 2 reasons:
1. Squatters: illegal occupation/land-grabbing.
2. Legitimacy of the transaction:
a. It is not uncommon that a fraud sold you the land without the knowledge of the owner.
b. The legal owner sold the same piece of land to multiple persons and disappeared.
c. The ownership is disputed. There are siblings (usually sisters) who have claim over the property and yet were not paid the proceeds.
In the USA, there is a concept of title insurance which a person can buy and it secures them against ownership disputes. I could google for some commercial property where the title was insured. However I wonder why the insurance companies do not sell title insurance. Also it would be good if some institution can guarantee the land against squatters. This could turn into a huge business proposition.
Right now gated communities/plots offer some kind of security. There is a community boundary wall with enough security to prevent squatters. Also the builders who create and sell these plots use their brand name to provide an implicit title guarantee.
 

street, Bengaluru South, Karnataka, India

5 replies on “Title Insurance”

In India for land and bains – the best insurance is a lathi – jiski lathi uski bans and perhaps also zameen!!!

true but land mafia is a very big problem.
i heard in bangalore there is a BDA allotment where the land mafia went to the extend of buring deadbodies so that the land is no longer residential

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *