EC Form 15 vs Form 16: which one did you get?
Form 15 lists registered encumbrances. Form 16 is the Nil EC. A Form 16 does not mean clean title — it means nothing was found in the window you searched.
An Encumbrance Certificate is the Registration Department’s list of registered dealings on a property for a period you specify. Form 15 is issued when it finds something and itemises each entry. Form 16 is the Nil EC, issued when it finds nothing. Form 16 does not mean clean title — it means nothing turned up in the window you searched.
That distinction is the single most misunderstood thing in Bengaluru due diligence, and it is why people who did “get the EC” still end up in court.
What each form is
Form 15 lists registered transactions against the property: sale deeds, gift deeds, mortgages, releases, court attachments. Each row gives the nature of the deed, the document number, the date, the parties, the consideration and the Sub-Registrar Office that registered it.
A Form 15 is not bad news. A property that has changed hands twice and carried a home loan will produce a Form 15, and that is entirely normal. What matters is whether every mortgage shown has a corresponding release, and whether the chain of sale deeds runs continuously without an unexplained gap.
Form 16 is the “Nil” certificate. No registered entry found for that property in that period.
Why a Form 16 is not the clean bill it looks like
Read the sentence literally: no registered entry found for the property description searched, in the period searched.
Three gaps follow directly from that.
It only sees registered documents. Unregistered agreements to sell, family arrangements, oral partitions, powers of attorney and loans against unregistered security are all invisible — even though the Transfer of Property Act, 1882 governs the interests they create. In Bengaluru, some of the most damaging claims are exactly these.
It only sees the description you gave. If the property was recorded under a different survey number, an old municipal number, or a pre-subdivision parent number, the search will miss it and still return a clean Form 16. Old records are indexed by what was written at the time, not by what your deed says now.
It only sees your date range. A thirty-year mortgage created thirty-one years ago is outside a thirty-year search.
A Nil EC on a property that has demonstrably been sold twice is not reassuring. It means you searched the wrong description, and the right response is to search again, not to relax.
How to pull one properly
Use Kaveri Online Services. Register, open Online EC, and search by property details or by party name. Verify by OTP, pay, and download the digitally signed PDF.
Four rules make the output worth having.
Search at least thirty years. Indian conveyancing treats a thirty-year chain as the standard for marketable title, and the Registration Act, 1908 governs what gets recorded in the first place.
Search by property and by party. A party-name search can surface a deed indexed under a description you would never have guessed.
Search the parent survey number too, if your property came out of a subdivision.
Cross-check the RTC. A revenue-recorded mortgage can sit in column 9 of the RTC on Bhoomi without ever appearing on an EC.
Pull it yourself. A seller-supplied PDF proves nothing. The digitally signed download from Kaveri does.
What to do with a Form 15 that shows a mortgage
Find the release. A mortgage entry with no corresponding release deed means the charge is, on the face of the record, still live. Sellers will often say the loan was repaid years ago and the bank never bothered to register the release. That is frequently true and entirely beside the point — the record is what a future buyer, and a future bank, will read.
Cross-check the position against the RTC on Bhoomi as well.
Insist the release is registered before completion, not promised after it. Once your money has moved, your leverage is gone.
The EC is one of five or six documents that have to agree with each other. What each of the others is doing is covered in property documents to check before buying a flat.
Frequently asked questions
What is the difference between EC Form 15 and Form 16?
Form 15 is issued when the search finds registered transactions on the property and itemises each one — deed type, document number, date, parties and the Sub-Registrar Office. Form 16 is the Nil EC, issued when no registered entry is found for that property in the period searched.
Does a Form 16 EC mean the property has clean title?
No. Form 16 means nothing was found for the exact property description and date range you searched. Anything unregistered, anything recorded under a different property description, and anything outside your date window is invisible to it.
How many years should an encumbrance certificate cover?
Ask for at least thirty years. Indian conveyancing practice treats a thirty-year title chain as the standard for establishing marketable title, and a shorter EC simply moves the risk to the years you did not look at.
How do you get an EC in Karnataka?
Through Kaveri Online Services at kaveri.karnataka.gov.in. Register, open Online EC, search by property details or party name, choose the period, verify by OTP, pay the fee and download the digitally signed PDF.