Getting a land document verified or securing a copy of an encumbrance certificate can be a laborious process. One has to make several attempts to get the documents and verify the titles. But Landeed, a tech start-up, says it can quickly provide access to the documents.
“In Telangana, we can get you a land document (like a pattadar passbook, EC or (Record of Rights) in just five seconds,” Sanjay Mandava, Founder and CEO of Landeed, told businessline.
“If the servers are down, we send an attachment to the user’s email ID when the servers are live again,” he said.
Mystery shrouds anything related to land records in India. People who own or want to own a parcel of land, have to run from pillar to post to get information on titles, Encumbrance Certificates and claim ownership. People often find themselves in endless litigation on this count.
Mandava, who studied abroad, understands the complexity of the problem as his NRI doctor parents faced similar challenges in claiming the land parcels they had bought back in India.
“Purchasing real estate in the US and Europe, when compared to India, is frictionless. Two-thirds of all court cases in India deal with land disputes. What we do is help people look up various documents regarding their property, to help them get visibility and reduce litigation,” he says.
“Everyone is so secretive about issues related to ownership of properties. But everyone knows who owns what. The lack of visibility of information is driving several young people away from investing in this asset class,” he said.
Landeed has created a platform that brings together the platforms established by various State governments. “Excepting 6-8 states, we have onboarded all the states,” he said.
Presumptive ownership
He claims that Landeed is the single biggest property title checker. The UK offers ‘conclusive titling’ (ascertaining the legitimate owner of the land and buyer), giving a a single document to assign ownership to the buyer.
“We don’t have conclusive titling in India. What we have is called presumptive ownership, putting the onus on the buyers to do the due diligence,” he said.
Different government departments need to act in tandem to ensure mutation. “You need to use a collection of documents from all departments to say your property ownership is secure,” he said.
The start-up has created a bridge between the Registration and Revenue Departments in every State, and allows the user to input details of a property and pull up all the relevant documents, including maps, from all the departments at a shot.
“This solves a lot of problems at one go,” he said.
The users are able to do unlimited searches for a fixed amount every month. “We’re just trying to get around that to make it easy for people to do quick checks. You’re also able to get automated property reports and legal opinions on our app,” he said.
Expansion plan
After consolidating the technology platform in India, the start-up is planning to replicate the model in two countries in the next two months. “We will offer the platform in one African and one Asian country. We have started building the platforms,” he said.
The start-up, which has 18 employees, raised $9 million recently for its expansion plans, and to strengthen its technology infrastructure.