What an encumbrance is
An encumbrance (बोजा) is any claim that rides on the land regardless of who owns it next: a mortgage securing a bank loan, a co-operative society’s dues, a charge created by an agreement, a court’s attachment. Buy encumbered land and you buy the encumbrance too.
Where charges show up
Two places, and you need both. First, the 7/12’s इतर हक्क column: bank loan entries, society charges and similar remarks recorded through mutations. Second, the registration record: mortgages and other registered instruments appear in the Sub-Registrar’s indexes. An Index-II entry exists for each registered document, and a formal search at the Sub-Registrar’s office (or through the IGR’s online search) reveals what has been registered against the property.
The two records do not automatically agree. A mortgage can be registered but not yet mutated; an old entry can linger in इतर हक्क years after the loan was repaid because nobody applied to remove it.
The stale-entry trap
The most common encumbrance problem is not a hidden loan. It is a repaid one still on the record. Until a release is executed and the entry is removed by mutation, the record says the charge exists, and every future buyer, bank and advocate must treat it that way. Sellers should clear stale entries before listing; buyers should insist on it before paying.
How screening helps, and its limits
A report transcribes the इतर हक्क entries verbatim, flags charge-type remarks, and surfaces cached registered documents (including mortgage-type deeds) against the survey number, with the source of each. Coverage of cached registry data is partial and stated honestly; the formal encumbrance search at the Sub-Registrar remains the evidentiary step, and unchecked always reads unknown, never clear.
This guide is general information about Maharashtra land records, not legal advice. For a decision about a specific parcel, consult a licensed advocate, and bring the documents.