Legal Report StudioProperty verification

A separate service · free to try

Litigation & crime check on an owner, seller or borrower

Type one name. Everything else is a pick-list. We search live eCourts data across the Supreme Court, High Courts and district courts and hand back an organised report on our letterhead.

Pick the situation closest to yours to open the search.

How it works

1. Type the name

The only thing you type. Add the locality instead if you are checking a plot or an apartment.

2. Pick the state

A pick-list, remembered for your next search so repeat checks are one click.

3. Download the report

Matters found are grouped by court and category, ready to attach to a file.

Why a litigation and crime check belongs in property due diligence

A title search tells you who owns the property on paper. A litigation search tells you whether that ownership is being fought over right now. In India the two are rarely the same story: a sale deed can be clean in the Sub-Registrar's record while a partition suit, an injunction or a cheating complaint against the same person is pending in a district court. Screening the owner's and the seller's names against published court records is the cheapest step in the entire diligence chain, and usually the one that catches the worst surprises.

From a lender's perspective

  • Enforceability of security. A mortgage created over property under an injunction, attachment or a pending partition suit can be difficult or impossible to enforce when recovery begins.
  • Lis pendens risk. Under Section 52 of the Transfer of Property Act, a transfer during a pending suit is subject to the outcome. A mortgage taken in that window inherits the litigation.
  • Borrower conduct. Cheque-dishonour matters, cheating and forgery complaints or recovery proceedings against the borrower are early signals of stress well before a repayment default appears.
  • Attachments and tax recovery. Attachment orders by revenue, GST or income-tax authorities can outrank the bank's charge.
  • Audit and NPA defence. A dated, documented search on the file shows the diligence that was actually performed if the account later turns bad.

From a purchaser's perspective

  • Family and partition disputes. An excluded co-heir's suit can unwind a sale years after registration, even for a buyer who paid full value.
  • Stay and status-quo orders. A subsisting order can stop construction, mutation or even possession after the money is paid.
  • Specific-performance suits. An earlier agreement to sell the same property to someone else usually surfaces only in the court record, never in the deed.
  • Seller's criminal antecedents. Repeat cheating, forgery or land-grabbing matters against the seller change how much of the paperwork you should take at face value.
  • Negotiating position. A traced matter is not always a deal-breaker; it is leverage for an indemnity, an escrow or a price adjustment.

When to run the check

  1. 1. Before the advance. Screen the seller and the recorded owner the moment a property is shortlisted.
  2. 2. At sanction. Screen the borrower, co-applicant and guarantor along with the title search.
  3. 3. Before disbursement. Re-run the search close to disbursement; new matters get filed every week.

What this search does and does not prove

Results come from records published by the courts. A hit is a possible match on a name, not a confirmed conviction or an adverse finding — namesakes are common and identity must be confirmed against the father's or spouse's name and address. An empty result is equally not proof that a person or property is dispute-free: publication lags in several districts, older matters may not be digitised, and police FIRs are not part of the judicial data set. For a lending or purchase decision, follow this with a physical search at the court and Sub-Registrar office.

Questions about litigation searches

Is the court case search free?
Yes. The party-name and locality search on this page is free to use and returns a downloadable report on our letterhead. Fair-use limits apply per visitor.
Why is a litigation check needed for property due diligence?
A title search confirms ownership on paper; a litigation search shows whether that ownership is being contested. Partition suits, injunctions, specific-performance suits, attachments and criminal complaints against the seller or borrower rarely appear in the registered documents, but they decide whether a sale or a mortgage will hold.
Can I check whether a property is under a civil dispute?
You can search a property address, locality, survey number or apartment name as free text. This traces matters whose case record mentions those words. It is an indicator, not a title clearance: a dispute can exist without the address appearing in the published record.
Whose name should a lender search?
For a purchase case, search the seller or last recorded owner along with the applicant and co-applicant. For a loan against property, balance transfer or top-up, search the current owner. Guarantors are worth adding where the security depends on them.
Which courts are covered?
The search runs against the national eCourts judicial data covering the Supreme Court, High Courts, District and Taluka courts and several tribunals, narrowed to the state you choose.
Does a hit mean the person has a criminal record?
No. A hit is a possible match on a name in a published court record. Namesakes are common in India, so identity must be confirmed against the father's or spouse's name, address and case papers before any adverse conclusion is drawn.
What if nothing is found?
An empty result is not proof that a person or property is dispute-free. Court publication is delayed in some districts and older matters may not be digitised. For lending or purchase decisions, request a professional search with a physical court and SRO check.

Continue your due diligence

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Property document verification

Verify land records and registered deeds on our letterhead.

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Title search checklist

Every document to collect before a purchase or a sanction.