A buyer in Yelahanka found a spacious flat at a tempting discount earlier this year. Three banks turned down his home loan, one after another. It wasn't his credit score. The property was on B-khata — a term he'd never heard of until it cost him the deal.
In Bangalore, the khata on a property quietly decides whether you can get a loan, register the sale, and resell it later. It's one of the first things to check, not the last.
Before you pay token money: check these first
- Get the final e-khata from the e-Aasthi portal and confirm whether it shows A or B classification, along with the property's PID.
- Check the property tax status — is it fully paid, or are there arrears?
- Ask for the Encumbrance Certificate (EC) covering at least the last 13–30 years, and the sale deed chain (including the mother deed) to confirm how ownership has passed.
- For an apartment or a newly built home, ask for the Occupancy Certificate (OC) or Completion Certificate (CC).
- Buying a BDA-allotted site? Ask for the BDA allotment letter and trace the chain forward — allotment → possession/lease documents → sale deeds → current khata.
- Buying outside GBA limits, in a panchayat area? Ask for e-Swathu Form 9 (and ideally Form 11) instead of a BBMP/GBA khata.
- Run everything past a property lawyer before you hand over token money — this list tells you what to ask for, not a substitute for that.
What a khata actually is (and isn't)
Khata means "account" in Kannada. It's the municipal record — earlier kept by BBMP, now by the Greater Bengaluru Authority (GBA), which took over in May 2025 — that identifies a property for tax purposes and records who's responsible for paying it.
A khata is not proof that you own the property. That's your sale deed. A khata is what lets you pay property tax, get building approvals, apply for water and electricity connections, and — most importantly — get a home loan. Buyers often focus only on the sale deed and RERA registration and treat khata as an afterthought. It shouldn't be one.
A-khata vs B-khata: the real difference
- A-khata: given to properties that fully follow building rules and sit on an approved layout.
- B-khata: a separate list for properties with some issue — an unapproved layout, a pending conversion order, or a deviation from what was originally sanctioned.
Bengaluru has roughly 7.5 lakh B-khata properties. This isn't rare — it's common enough that every buyer needs to check for it specifically.
Where e-khata fits in (and the common myth)
E-khata is simply the digital version of the khata record, issued through the GBA's e-Aasthi portal. It's been required for property registration within GBA limits since 2024.
Here's what people get wrong: going digital doesn't upgrade a B-khata to an A-khata. An e-khata generated on a B-khata property is still a B-khata — just the same B-khata, now online. If a seller tells you "it has an e-khata" and stops there, ask which classification that e-khata actually shows. Many banks now also require this final, digitally issued e-khata — not just an older physical certificate — before they'll process a loan inside GBA limits.
Why this decides your home loan
Most nationalized (PSU) banks won't lend against a B-khata property at all — only private banks, NBFCs, and housing finance companies do. Loan amount is typically capped between 55–70% of the property's value on a B-khata property, against up to 90% on an A-khata one. And the interest rate runs higher than what you'd pay on an equivalent A-khata loan with the same lender.
B-khata to A-khata: what changed in 2026
| When | What applied |
|---|---|
| 16 May – 23 Aug 2026 | Special window: conversion fee cut to 2% of guidance value, for eligible properties inside Bengaluru (GBA limits) |
| From 24 Aug 2026 | Window closed — fee reverted to the standard 5% of guidance value, plus a separate betterment charge of ₹200–250 per sq. metre (zone-dependent) |
| From 9 Sep 2026 | New, separate process opened for areas outside Bengaluru — towns, city councils, and gram panchayats can convert eligible B-khata plots (up to 1,000 sq. m) to A-khata, open until 31 Dec 2027 |
In short: inside Bengaluru, conversion is still possible but costs more than it did a few months ago. Outside Bengaluru, a new path just opened and stays open for over a year.
Separately, GBA's e-Aasthi 2.0 platform — launched in late September 2026 — is rolling out an online module for khata bifurcation (splitting one khata into multiple, for properties being subdivided). It doesn't change A vs B status, but it's worth knowing if you're dealing with a property that's being split or combined.
Red flags to watch for
- The seller says "it has an e-khata" but can't or won't show whether it's A or B.
- The property is on B-khata, and the seller assures you "the loan will come through" without naming a lender or showing an actual sanction letter.
- No OC or CC for an apartment, or the building looks different from what the sanctioned plan describes.
- The property is in a panchayat area, but you're being shown a BBMP/GBA khata instead of an e-Swathu Form 9.
Any one of these is a reason to slow down before you commit token money, not a detail to sort out later.
This doesn't replace a lawyer
Everything above tells you what to ask for and what to watch out for — it isn't a substitute for a property lawyer's title check before you sign anything. Knowing the right questions just means you walk into that conversation prepared, instead of finding out the hard way, like the buyer in Yelahanka.
Want the full picture, not just khata?
Khata is one piece of a much longer process — documents by borrower type, the stage-by-stage loan timeline, B-khata financing, balance transfers, and everything else specific to buying a home in Karnataka. We put all of it together in a free guide.
Download the Karnataka Home Loan Guide →
If you're buying a home in Karnataka, here us out
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Sources checked: Oneindia News, Tradebrains, Deccan Herald, TheBengaluruLive, TheHansIndia (September 2026 coverage of the B-khata conversion order and e-Aasthi 2.0 launch), PKP Advocates and DocuPro (conversion fee timeline and scope), PropNewz and Godrej properties blog (A/B/e-khata mechanics), plus Anil's confirmed lending facts on B-khata LTV and lender types.