What is an encumbrance certificate (EC)?
An encumbrance certificate (EC) is the registration department’s record of the registered transactions on a property, such as sales and mortgages, over a chosen period. A nil EC means none were found.
Also called EC, nil encumbrance certificate, Form 15, Form 16.
An encumbrance certificate comes from the sub-registrar’s records. Under the Registration Act, 1908, documents relating to immovable property are entered in Book 1 (section 51), and Book 1 and its indexes are open to inspection by any person, with certified copies given to anyone who applies and pays the fee (section 57). An EC is the result of a search of those records for one property, for the years you ask for. Each state’s registration department issues it, in its own format.
What it shows, and what it doesn’t. Telangana’s registration department describes the EC as a record of registered transactions on a property. It issues a nil EC when no registered deeds are found, and warns that unregistered transactions are not included and that an EC alone is not enough to decide to buy or lend. A nil EC says only that nothing was registered; it says nothing about unregistered agreements.
Example: Karnataka. An EC listing registered deeds is issued in Form 15; a nil EC, in Form 16. For registrations from 1 April 2004, you apply on the Kaveri 2.0 portal with the property’s district, taluk, village and survey, khata or property number, sign the application with Aadhaar e-sign, and pay online. The digitally signed EC appears in your login. The fee listed by the department is ₹10 to apply, plus ₹30 for the first year searched and ₹10 for each later year.
| Sample: a 13-year search in Karnataka | Amount |
|---|---|
| Application fee | ₹10 |
| First year | ₹30 |
| 12 later years at ₹10 | ₹120 |
| Total | ₹160 |
Where builders meet it. When a promoter applies for RERA registration, section 4(2)(l)(B) of the RERA Act requires a declaration that the land is free from all encumbrances, or details of the encumbrances on it. Maharashtra’s model allotment letter likewise asks the builder to confirm that the flat is free from encumbrances or to list them. Buyers and lenders use the EC as one title check, alongside the title documents and, later, the sale deed.
LoftRay’s Land and JDA module records each land parcel with its owners, encumbrances and documents.
Sources, read on 9 Nov 2026: Registration Act, 1908 (IGR Maharashtra copy), Telangana Registration and Stamps: FAQs, IGR Karnataka: EC after 1 April 2004, the RERA Act (Gazette copy hosted by MahaRERA) and MahaRERA model form of allotment letter.