'If you own a property in India...': Investment banker warns of big real estate shake-up

India is on the verge of overhauling a 100-year-old property registration system, aiming to shut down a major loophole that has long enabled real estate fraud—especially against NRIs.

Investment banker Sarthak Ahuja sounded the alarm on LinkedIn, calling the upcoming Registration Bill 2025 “something every property owner in India can’t afford to ignore.”

The proposed law promises to digitize the country’s fragmented property records, making all title deeds, owner identities (Aadhaar-linked), and existing bank liabilities available online for instant verification. 

Ahuja highlights that under current laws, properties are often sold by individuals who aren’t the rightful owners—especially in NRI cases, where absentee landlords may only realize the fraud years later.

“This is the biggest real estate fraud today—where someone sells what they don’t own, and buyers lose everything,” he wrote.

The new bill mandates that not just sales but even Agreements to Sell and Builder Agreements must be registered online, cutting off the practice of one property being promised to multiple buyers. Documents executed under Power of Attorney—some decades old—will also need to be uploaded to the new system once the law is enacted.

Ahuja warns that property owners must get ahead of the change. Any inconsistencies in name spellings, address mismatches, or outdated utility bill details could cause serious trouble when the online system launches. “This is the time to clean up your paperwork,” he advised.

While the full rollout process and the official website are yet to be announced, the direction is clear: India’s real estate records are moving online, and the margin for error—or deception—is about to shrink dramatically.