Purchasing a resale property requires careful planning and due diligence, especially when the seller has an outstanding home loan. This guide walks you through the critical factors, verification steps, and a real-life case study to help you navigate such transactions confidently.
KEY CONSIDERATIONS WHEN BUYING A RESALE PROPERTY
Before diving into the financial and legal aspects, evaluate these three fundamental factors:
- Age of the Property – Check the structural condition, maintenance, and depreciation value.
- Location – Ensure good connectivity, future development potential, and legal clarity in the region.
- Price – Evaluate the quoted price against the market and government guidance value.
Additionally, perform these two verifications:
- Document Verification – Ensure clear and marketable title with no legal encumbrances.
- Physical Verification – Personally inspect the property to check occupancy, condition, and boundaries.
BUYING A RESALE PROPERTY WITH A PENDING HOME LOAN: OPTIONS
If the seller has an existing home loan, you have three ways to structure the transaction:
Option 1: Ask the seller to close the existing loan before you proceed with the purchase.
Option 2: If you’re also availing a home loan, opt for loan transfer, where your bank settles the seller’s loan with their bank.
Option 3: If you’re self-funding, execute a sale agreement, pay an upfront amount equal to the seller’s outstanding loan, and allow the seller to clear the dues before proceeding.
CASE STUDY: RESALE FLAT PURCHASE WITH LOAN TRANSFER
- Location: Bangalore
- Quoted Price: ₹33,75,000
- Guidance Value: ₹25,00,000
- Seller’s Existing Loan: ₹23,49,820 with HDFC Bank (Equitable Mortgage)
- Buyer’s Loan: Availing new loan from ICICI Bank
Step 1: Preliminary Document Collection
We collected the following softcopies from the seller:
- Sale Deed (how the seller acquired the property)
- Property Tax Receipt
- Khata Certificate
- Aadhaar & PAN
We retrieved the certified copy of the Sale Deed and the Encumbrance Certificate (EC) from Kaveri Online Services to verify authenticity.
Note: Few buyers demand the encumbrance certificate from seller, but I request the buyers to do their homework by extracting the latest encumbrance certificate & Sale Deed certified copy on the government website by themselves, this helps you to avoid fake deals and fake documents.
Based on my lawyer verification, we found that the title documents are clear and free from any kind of encumbrance.
Step 2: Document Verification and LOD (List of Documents)
HDFC Bank had retained all original documents. The seller obtained a List of Documents (LOD) from the bank, which included:
- Photocopies of all original documents
- A bank-sealed letter confirming the list
The borrower paid the LOD fee of around Rs 500 to get a photocopy of the original documents from bank. Also bank issued a LOD letter with seal & sign, refer to below LOD image
This LOD was shared with ICICI Bank along with:
- Sale Deed
- Tax Receipts
- Khata
- Buyer’s ID Proof and Last 3 Months’ Bank Statement
- Draft Sale Agreement
All documents were submitted in softcopy via email, no hardcopies were required at this stage.
Step 3: Agreement of Sale and Adjudication
As instructed by ICICI, we executed an Agreement of Sale and adjudicated it at the Sub-Registrar’s Office.
Steps Followed:
- Drafted the Agreement in Word format
- Printed it on A4 paper
- Signed by seller, buyer, and two witnesses
- Paid adjudication fee of ₹3,375 (0.1% of ₹33,75,000)
Note (Updated 13th June 2025): Current adjudication fee is 0.5% of buying price.
This agreement was emailed to the bank. Our home loan was sanctioned within 10 working days for ₹26,94,100.
Below is the image of our “Agreement of Sale” and Adjudication certificate
Step 4: Transaction Flow
Below is our monetary transaction plan to the seller (Buying price of Rs. 33,75,000/-):
- Rs. 6,80,900 paid via online account transfer at the time of “Agreement of Sale” signing
- Rs. 23,49,820 loan transfer from seller account to buyer account via ICICI bank’s cheque
- The final payment of Rs, 3,44,280 via ICICI Bank’s cheque immediately after the deposit of title documents in ICICI bank
Step 5: Document Upload and Registration
We uploaded softcopies of the title documents on Kaveri Online Services. Document verification was completed within 2 days.
Since Kaveri 2.0 supports digital verification, no physical documents were presented at the Sub-Registrar’s office. The seller’s originals were still with HDFC Bank.
We paid the remaining government fees for registration:
- Stamp Duty: 5.1%
- Registration & Cess: 1.5%
- Total Government Fee: ₹2,19,870 (after deducting ₹3,375 already paid for adjudication)
Refer to below transaction receipt:
Immediately after the above payment, we booked the registration slot, and we got the slot confirmation on the same day. We carried the following documents to the Sub-registrar’s office
- Printed Sale Deed (to be registered now)
- Application summary report from Kaveri Online Service
In around 10 minutes, we completed our registration, and below is our registered sale deed:
Since the implementation Kaveri 2.0 in Karnataka, documents are verified online on Kaveri Online service, it means that physical verification of document at sub-registrar office is not applicable.
We completed above sale deed registration without presenting any original title documents in sub-registrar office for verification. Our original title documents are in HDFC bank at the time of registering the above sale deed
(If you are in another state in India and your state is still following the physical verification of documents in the sub-registrar office, you may have to collect original title documents from the bank, or the bank’s representative has to carry original title documents to sub-registrar office for physical verification before you register the sale deed)
Step 6: Loan Closure and Final Settlement
Post-registration, the seller took the original sale deed to the ICICI bank. He handed over the sale deed and collected the loan transfer cheque.
If you refer to cheque image below, the cheque is addressed to HDFC bank with the seller’s loan account number, we highlighted the same in image below
The seller handed over the above cheque to the HDFC bank and collected his original title documents
Seller handed over original title documents to ICICI Bank and collected the final settlement cheque of Rs. 3,44,280. The cheque is addressed to the seller’s name, refer to the image below
Both HDFC and ICICI banks are very supportive in the entire process of loan transfer. I must say that loan transfer is the safe and convenient option for this kind of deal.
SPECIAL NOTES
Ideally, the Agreement of Sale in a loan transfer should be a tri-party agreement (Buyer, Seller, Bank). However, ICICI accepted a two-party agreement since the buyer held a savings account and had a good credit score. An affidavit was submitted instead.
Need Assistance? We offer support for:
- Document Verification
- Agreement Drafting & Adjudication
- Sale Deed Preparation & Registration
Email: pgnproperties@gmail.com
WhatsApp: +91-97424-79020