How to buy government property

1. Step 1Find a scheme

   Start from where you want to buy or from what you want to buy, not from an authority's name - most people do not know which body sells in their city. The location menu lists every district with property on offer; the property menu splits flats from plots and residential from industrial.

   Everything open now By property type

   A scheme that closed last week still appears in search results elsewhere. Check the status on the page, not the date on the brochure.

2. Step 2Check whether you may apply at all

   Two separate gates. The first is the scheme's own eligibility - some are restricted to a first-time buyer, an income band, a domicile, or a registered industrial unit. The second is the plot's category, which on a reserved plot decides who may bid and on an industrial plot decides which trade may occupy it.

   Every scheme page carries an Eligibility section, transcribed from the brochure.

   A reserved plot rejects a bid from outside its category whatever it offers, and the money is tied up until it is refunded.

3. Step 3Read the authority's own documents

   Not a summary of them, including ours. The brochure sets the terms, but a corrigendum, circular or price revision published afterwards overrides it - which is why the documents on every scheme page here are grouped with changes since publication first, and why each one opens at the authority's own site rather than being copied here.

   Brochure, terms, fee schedule, inventory, and anything issued since.

   Dates and prices move in corrigenda. Reading only the brochure is how people arrive on the wrong day with the wrong figure.

4. Step 4Work out the real total

   The advertised price is the floor of the bid, not the cost. Add the location premium if the plot is a corner, park-facing or on a wide road; the freehold charge if it is leasehold; GST; stamp duty and registration; and 1% TDS at ₹50 lakh and above.

   Every plot on this site has a full costing that does this arithmetic against the authority's own published charges.

   Budgeting the advertised figure is the most common way a first-time buyer runs out of money between winning and paying.

5. Step 5Register on the authority's portal

   On the authority's own site, never here and never through anyone offering to do it for you. Registration means an account, KYC documents, and usually a digital signature for an e-auction. It takes longer than people expect, and the portal is busiest on the last day.

   Every scheme page links to the portal the authority named, and says which portal it is.

   KYC can take days to clear. Starting on the last date is starting too late.

6. Step 6Pay the fee and the EMD

   The registration or brochure fee, usually with 18% GST, and the EMD. Both close on the registration date, which is earlier than the auction date. The EMD is refundable and is adjusted into the price if you win.

   The EMD each authority asks for is on its scheme page, per plot where the authority publishes it per plot.

   Miss this date and the bid cannot be placed at all. It closes with registration, not on the auction day.

7. Step 7Bid, or apply

   In an e-auction the bidding runs for a set window on the auction day, and a bid landing near the close usually extends it - RIICO adds five minutes each time a bid arrives in the last five, so an auction advertised as ending at 5 pm can run considerably later. In a draw there is nothing to do on the day: the lottery is run and the result is published. On a first come first serve scheme, booking is the act.

   Decide your ceiling before the window opens and do not move it during. An auction is designed to find the highest number somebody will say out loud.

8. Step 8Allotment

   The highest bid is normally accepted subject to confirmation - a committee still approves it. The allotment letter is the formal offer, and it starts the payment clock: commonly 25% of the value less the EMD, within 30 days at RIICO or 90 at MDA.

   Missing the first tranche usually cancels the allotment and forfeits the EMD. Everything paid so far is gone with it.

9. Step 9Payment, registration and possession

   The balance follows as a lump sum or in instalments carrying interest - MDA charges 9.70% over six half-yearly instalments. Then the deed is executed and registered, on its own deadline: six months at MDA, then ₹1,000 a month. Possession is a separate event again, and on a plot in a new sector the services can arrive years after the paperwork.

   Registration is not possession and possession is not infrastructure. Ask what is actually built on the ground before you plan to use the plot.