helping hand: Both Prabir Basu and Arnab Ghosh suggest that you enlist the help of a lawyer who deals in property matters. The lawyer?s role includes finding out if there are pending court cases involving the land and ?searching? the records of the local district state registration office covering the past 15 years to see whether the property is free from all legal encumbrances. ?It is advisable to involve your property lawyer from the time of booking the flat so that he can scrutinise each document ? including the title deed, conveyance deed and sanctioned municipal plan,? says Ghosh. Basu suggests that ?property lawyers can better understand the financial aspects of the purchase ? such as what actually the going rate is for a piece of land?.

shelling out: Cost of documents and other things:

Stamp duty ? 8 per cent

Calcutta Metropolitan Development tax ? 2 per cent

Registration fee: 1.1 per cent

Lawyer?s fee: 1-1.5 per cent