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Gujarati ગુજરાતી
This document has to be registered, or it carries enough risk that a template does more harm than good. We publish what it must contain and what to verify, so you can walk in already knowing what matters — and the drafting itself is done here, against your actual documents.
A banakhat is not a sale
A banakhat, or agreement to sell, records a promise to sell on agreed terms at a future date, usually against an advance. It does not transfer ownership. Ownership passes only on a registered sale deed — that is the whole point of Suraj Lamp & Industries (P) Ltd. v. State of Haryana (2011), where the Supreme Court held that agreement-to-sell, general power of attorney and will packages do not convey or create title in immovable property.
Section 17(1A) of the Registration Act, 1908 provides that a document containing a contract to transfer immovable property for consideration for the purposes of section 53A of the Transfer of Property Act, 1882, executed on or after 24 September 2001, must be registered — and if it is not, it has no effect for section 53A purposes. Section 53A is the doctrine of part performance: the protection that lets a buyer already in possession resist being put out by the seller. Delivery of possession is an ingredient of section 53A itself. So the practical rule at this counter is simple: possession passing means the agreement gets registered.
The clauses that decide what happens when it goes wrong
Most banakhats are drafted for the day they are signed rather than for the day the deal breaks. The clauses that matter later are the ones people skip: what happens to the advance if the buyer walks away, what happens if the seller does, how long the seller has to clear a defect in title that the buyer finds, and whether either side can insist on completion rather than take damages. Section 49 of the Registration Act preserves an unregistered agreement as evidence in a suit for specific performance — so the option is not lost — but that is a fallback position, not a plan.
What to bring when you come in
- Index-2 of the seller's own purchase and any earlier deeds
- 7/12 and 8-A, or the City Survey extract
- Identity and PAN of every party
- Any power of attorney being relied on
- The agreed price, advance, and completion date
- Whatever draft the other side has circulated
Related
These formats and checklists are published free as general information about how documents of this kind usually work in Gujarat. They have not been drafted for your facts, and both the law and departmental practice change. Nothing here creates a lawyer–client relationship, and you should not act on it alone where money, property or a deadline is at stake — take advice on your own situation. If we have got something wrong, tell us and we will correct it: 94267 80195.