What changes when you buy a Bengaluru flat from the landowner instead of the builder?
Direct answer: The land is often still in the landowner's name, so the sale deed needs that signature, and the khata may not have moved. The RERA Act's definition of promoter is wide enough to catch a landowner who sells apartments in a joint development. If that person is not on the project's registration, you are not in the same contract as a buyer in the builder's share. Read the joint development agreement and the draft deed together before you pay.
Verify with your lawyer: This is general guidance from public rules, not a legal opinion on your flat or site. Have your own property lawyer read the papers before you pay.
What are the key takeaways?
- A joint development splits the apartments. The landowner's share is not a casual resale of a finished flat.
- Section 2(zk) can treat the selling landowner as a promoter. Check the RERA registration for that name.
- The conveyance often waits on the landowner because the land title has not moved.
- Defect cover is whatever your agreement says. Do not assume you have the builder's RERA clauses.
Who is the promoter when the landowner is the seller?
In a joint development the builder puts up the building and the landowner puts in the land. They then split the apartments. Buyers in the builder's share sign the builder's agreement. Buyers in the landowner's share are often handed a different draft, sometimes by a relative of the landowner who is anxious to sell a few leftover flats.
Section 2(zk) of the RERA Act defines promoter broadly. It includes a person who constructs or causes to be constructed a building for the purpose of selling, and it reaches the landowner in a development arrangement in the cases the definition spells out. The safe reading for a buyer is simple. If the person selling you the flat is disposing of units in the project, ask whether that person is named on the Karnataka RERA registration. The project page shows the promoter. A landowner who is selling and is missing from that page is a question for your lawyer before any token, not a detail for the sale deed week.
Where do the files actually split?
Title sits with whoever holds the land. If the land is still in the landowner's name, the builder alone cannot convey your undivided share. The sale deed needs the landowner, and it needs the builder where the joint development agreement says the builder must join. Delay here is ordinary, and it is structural. It is not solved by a possession letter. When conveyance is due under section 17 assumes a promoter who can sign.
The khata often lags in the same way. Tax may still be billed to the landowner for the whole site. Your flat's e-Khata comes later, after the deed and the occupancy certificate. Mutation after purchase is the step. Do not skip it because the landowner says the association will do it.
The agreement is the other split. The builder's buyers usually have the proforma agreement filed on the RERA page, with a possession date, delay interest and the five-year defect duty in section 14(3). A landowner's private draft may be thinner: a price, a floor, and a line that defects are the builder's lookout. If your name is not on the builder's agreement, the builder's clauses do not automatically cover you. Have your lawyer put the defect duty, the undivided share and the car parking into the deed you sign. What to check in a builder agreement is the list to borrow, even when the seller is the landowner.
Banks notice. A lender's lawyer wants the seller to be someone who can pass title, and wants the project registration to name that seller. Ask the bank before you pay a token.
What should the deed close?
- The joint development agreement and the sharing sheet, so your flat is actually in the landowner's share and has not been promised twice.
- The undivided share in square feet or as a fraction, the same way the builder's buyers' deeds state it. Undivided share is where these disputes hide.
- Who obtains the occupancy certificate, and that it covers your wing.
- A khata undertaking with a date, not a hope.
- GST treatment, checked with your CA. A landowner selling units can be in a different tax position from the company. This page does not guess the invoice.
Frequently asked questions
Is a landowner automatically outside RERA?
No. Section 2(zk) is wide. If the landowner is selling units in the project, check whether that name is on the registration.
Can the builder sign the sale deed alone?
Only if the land title has already moved. If the RTC and the khata are still in the landowner's name, that signature is still required.
Do I get the builder's five-year defect cover?
Only if your agreement gives it to you, or the Act applies to your seller as promoter. Do not assume it from a neighbour's contract.
Should I pay the landowner a token in a personal account?
Pay against a written agreement that your lawyer has read, into the account the agreement names. A personal transfer with no registered agreement is how these files go wrong.
Want to talk it through with acre&key?
If you want these papers read against a specific flat or site, book a consultation with acre&key.
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References
Checked 28 Oct 2026.
- Real Estate (Regulation and Development) Act, 2016, sections 2(zk), 13, 14(3) and 17: https://rera.karnataka.gov.in/resources/staticpage/Real_Estate_Act.pdf
- Karnataka RERA project search, for the promoter named on the registration: https://rera.karnataka.gov.in/
- GBA e-Aasthi, for whether the khata has moved off the landowner: https://gbaeaasthi.karnataka.gov.in/
This page explains public rules and processes. It isn't legal or tax advice. acre&key gives buyers advice for free.