By Girish Chhalwani, Co-Founder, Lords of the Lands · ~9 min read · Last updated 1 October 2026

Maharashtra keeps land ownership in more than one register, and a plot buyer who asks only for “the 7/12” sometimes needs a different document altogether. Three records do three separate jobs — and which one applies depends on whether the land is rural and agricultural, or sits inside a surveyed city or town.

Which land record do you actually need — 7/12, 8A, or a property card?

It depends on where the plot sits: rural agricultural land is recorded on a 7/12 extract; a person’s total holding across a village is summarised on the 8A; and land inside a city-survey (urban or non-agricultural) area is recorded on a property card, not a 7/12 at all.

These are not three versions of the same paper. The 7/12 and the property card are both “records of rights” — they describe who holds a specific parcel — but they belong to two different survey systems. The 8A is a different animal entirely: it is an account statement, not a parcel record. Reading the wrong one, or accepting a 7/12 for land that should carry a property card, is a common and avoidable mistake.

What does the 7/12 extract prove, and where does it apply?

The 7/12 is the record of rights for a single rural survey or gat number — it names the occupant, states the area and tenure class, records the crops grown, and notes loans, charges or disputes in its “other rights” column.

Its name comes from two village forms combined: Form VII (rights and occupancy) and Form XII (crop and cultivation details), maintained by the village Talathi under the Record of Rights provisions of the Maharashtra Land Revenue Code, 1966. It covers one parcel only. It is strong evidence of possession and of what the revenue record says about the land — but on its own it is not conclusive proof of title, which is why a buyer still reads the mutation (ferfar) history and runs a title search alongside it.

What does the 8A (Village Form 8A) show that the 7/12 does not?

The 8A — drawn from the Talathi’s khata (account) register — lists every survey or gat number one khatedar holds in a village and the total area, together with the land-revenue account standing against that holding.

Where the 7/12 zooms in on one parcel, the 8A zooms out to one person’s whole footprint in that village. It is prepared and maintained under the Maharashtra Land Revenue Record of Rights and Registers (Preparation and Maintenance) Rules, 1971, and is used chiefly to confirm a holder’s aggregate landholding and whether land revenue is paid up. For a buyer, the 8A is a cross-check: it tells you whether the seller named on the 7/12 holds other parcels under the same account, and whether any revenue dues attach to that account.

What is a property card, and why does urban land have one instead of a 7/12?

A property card is the record of rights for land that has been brought under a city or town survey — the urban, non-agricultural equivalent of a 7/12 — kept in Form ‘D’ and maintained by the City Survey Office rather than the village Talathi.

The reason is statutory. Under Section 126 of the Maharashtra Land Revenue Code, 1966, the State may order a survey of lands not used only for agriculture within the site of a village, town or city. Land surveyed that way is recorded on a property card in Form ‘D’, prescribed by Rule 7 of the Maharashtra Land Revenue (Village, Town and City Survey) Rules, 1969. Such a parcel is identified by a City Survey number (often written as CTS number), not a survey or gat number — which is why, for a plot inside a surveyed town, the correct ownership record is the property card and a 7/12 may not exist for it at all.

How do you pull each record yourself?

The 7/12 and 8A are both free to view on the Mahabhulekh portal by selecting the village and entering the survey or khata number; the property card is pulled from the property-card module by choosing the district, taluka and city survey office and entering the CTS number.

• 17/12 or 8A: on bhulekh.mahabhumi.gov.in, pick the revenue division, then district → taluka → village, and search by survey/gat number (7/12) or by khata number or name (8A).
• 2Property card: choose the property-card option, then district → taluka → the relevant city survey office, and enter the CTS number to view the Form ‘D’ card.
• 3Signed copy: for a legally usable, digitally signed 7/12, 8A or property card — needed for a home loan, registration or court — use the signed-record service (DigitalSatbara / Aaple Sarkar), not the free screen print.
• 4Cross-read: match the holder’s name across the parcel record and the 8A, and read the mutation entries before relying on any of them.

Why does this matter when you are buying a plot?

Because the record you are shown must match the land you are buying: an urban plot should come with a property card, a rural parcel with a 7/12, and both should reconcile with the 8A — any mismatch is a question to resolve before money moves.

In practice, confirming the record type tells you which survey system governs the plot, which in turn tells you where boundaries, areas and ownership are officially maintained. Cross-checking the seller’s name on the 8A guards against a parcel being sold while charges or co-holders sit on the wider account. None of this replaces a lawyer’s title search — it is the groundwork that makes the search meaningful.

What does a property card or 7/12 not prove?

None of these records is, by itself, conclusive proof of ownership — they are the government’s revenue and survey position, which can lag a sale, a court order or an unregistered arrangement on the ground.

Records of rights carry a presumption of correctness, but that presumption can be rebutted. Mutation entries can be pending, a dispute may sit unrecorded, and a property card’s area may differ from a physical measurement. Treat the 7/12, 8A and property card as the starting layer of diligence — to be read together with the mutation register, a title search and, for a plot, demarcation on site.

FAQ

Before you buy

Related reading

Reading the land records

• How to read a 7/12 extract — the rural record of rights
• The 7/12 other-rights column — red flags to catch
• What the ferfar register reveals — mutation entries explained
• Title due-diligence checklist — documents to demand
• How to run a title search — reconciling the records
• The documents to check, in order — the full sequence

Tenure, NA and status

• Class I vs Class II tenure — what the record says about transfer
• Varg-1 vs Varg-2 land in Raigad — freehold versus restricted tenure
• How to check a plot’s NA status — rural versus urban records
• What NA land actually means — and which record carries it
• Is the NA Sanad still required? — what the record must show
• RERA verification for plotted land — matching survey numbers

Registration, cost and process

• How to register a land sale — and the mutation that follows
• Raigad plot stamp duty in 2026 — computed on the record value
• The true cost of buying a plot — every charge, itemised
• Weekend plot buyer checklist — records among the checks

Where to buy, and corridor checks

• Buying land in Pali and Sudhagad — title and 7/12 checks on the corridor
• The Khopoli-Pali road (SH-93) guide — our core corridor, survey by survey
• Plotted-layout checks on the Khopoli-Pali road — what to verify in a layout
• Karjat land prices in 2026 — a popular plotted belt
• How to shortlist a plot — records as a filter
• What Lords of the Lands builds — layouts with records in order

Citations and sources

• Maharashtra Land Revenue Code, 1966 — Section 126 (city/town survey): India Code
• Maharashtra Land Revenue (Village, Town and City Survey) Rules, 1969 — Rule 7 and Form ‘D’ (property card)
• Maharashtra Land Revenue Record of Rights and Registers (Preparation and Maintenance) Rules, 1971 (7/12 and 8A)
• Mahabhulekh / Mahabhumi land-records portal: bhulekh.mahabhumi.gov.in

General information, not investment or legal advice. Land records and procedures change; verify the current position for your specific plot with the relevant City Survey Office, Talathi or your advisor.