TN Patta, Chitta, and land title in 2026

Patta is the record of who owns the land. It shows the survey number, extent, and current owner as recorded with the revenue department. It does not itself confer title — it reflects it.

Chitta is the record of what the land is — wet (nanjai) or dry (punjai), and its agricultural classification. For urban plots, the more relevant document is the Adangal / FMB sketch, which shows plot boundaries.

Go to eservices.tn.gov.in or the TN e-Sevai portal. Under Land Records, choose 'View Patta / Chitta'. Enter district, taluk, village, and survey number. The system returns a digitally-signed PDF with a QR code.

Anyone with the survey number can pull this — including your buyer, your buyer's advocate, and the sub-registrar's office. If your patta doesn't resolve online, that's a red flag before you even start.

1. Name mismatch. The patta says 'S. Balaji S/o Sundaram', the sale deed you received in 1998 says 'S. Balaji S/o Sundaraman'. Get this reconciled at the taluk office before you sign anything — six months of paperwork later is not a good time to discover it.

2. Extent mismatch. Your sale deed says 2,400 sq ft, the patta says 2,362 sq ft. Usually a survey re-measurement. Get an FMB (Field Measurement Book) sketch to confirm boundaries match the physical plot.

3. Encumbrance in the last 30 years. Pull a 30-year EC from the sub-registrar (or online via TNREGINET). Any mortgage, gift, or partition deed not reflected in your chain of title needs to be understood and closed before JV registration.

Ask any advocate you hire to produce a title opinion that specifically addresses: chain of title back 30 years, patta/Chitta match with sale deeds, EC clean for 30 years, no pending litigation, and no restrictions from the local body (e.g. road-widening reservation). One page, on letterhead, signed.

Patta and Chitta are necessary but not sufficient. A clean title also needs an Encumbrance Certificate (EC) covering at least 30 years, a parent document trail (sale deed, settlement deed, gift deed, partition deed — whichever originated your ownership), an up-to-date property tax receipt from the local body, a legal heir certificate if the current holder inherited the land, an FMB (Field Measurement Book) sketch matching the physical boundary, and any prior building plan approvals for structures already on the plot.

For agricultural-to-residential conversions, add a DC (District Collector) conversion order under the Tamil Nadu Land Reforms Act, and confirm that the survey number is not listed in the local Panchayat's poromboke (government commons) register. This single check catches roughly 1 in 15 title issues in fast-urbanizing corridors like Poonamallee, Thiruvallur and Kelambakkam.

If your land is jointly owned — say, four siblings inheriting equally from a parent — every co-owner must sign the JDA. A single missing signature invalidates the entire agreement. Partition the land formally through a registered partition deed before you start builder conversations; it saves months of back-and-forth later.

Rather than commissioning an advocate cold, use our title-verification service: upload your survey number and current patta, and our in-house legal desk returns a written title opinion within 5 working days. It covers the 30-year chain, EC pulls from TNREGINET, patta-Chitta cross-check, and any encumbrances that need clearing before you sign an MoU. Free for landowners who go on to request a free JV valuation with us; otherwise nominally priced. See exactly how we verify title, RERA and structure, and if you need an independent lawyer, browse our directory of bar-council-registered advocates.