Before you look at any plot or farm land seriously, pull its 7/12. You don't need to visit the talathi office for a first look. Maharashtra's land records are online, and there are two kinds of copy.
Free copy or signed copy?
The free copy on the Mahabhulekh website (bhulekh.mahabhumi.gov.in) is fine for reading. It shows who the holders are, the area and the entries, but it's for information only. For a bank loan, a court matter or anything official, you'll need the digitally signed 7/12 from the Digital Satbara portal (digitalsatbara.mahabhumi.gov.in), which is paid. Both are run by the state's Revenue Department.
The free copy, for reading
- Open bhulekh.mahabhumi.gov.in and choose your division. Ahilyanagar comes under Nashik division.
- Choose 7/12, then the district, the taluka and the village.
- Search by survey number or gat number. You can also search by the holder's name if you don't know the number.
- Type the captcha and open the extract.
If the village or number doesn't show up, check the spelling of the village in Marathi and try the gat number instead of the survey number. Many villages were renumbered when the gat system came in.
The digitally signed copy, for official use
- Open digitalsatbara.mahabhumi.gov.in. You can log in with an OTP on your mobile, or register as a new user.
- Add money to your account. The portal's own guide asks you to pay between Rs 15 and Rs 1,000, in multiples of 15, and it gives you a payment reference (PRN). Note it down.
- Choose the district, taluka and village, then search for the survey or gat number.
- Click Download. The charge is taken from your balance once the file downloads.
The same portal gives the 8A extract and property cards, so if you're checking land, pull the 8A too. Our guide on the 8A extract explains why.
Reading what you downloaded
The area on a 7/12 is written as hectare, are and square metre, which confuses almost everyone the first time. We've written a short post on reading the area on a 7/12, with a converter. For the holders, the mutation entries and the "other rights" column, go through our 7/12 extract checklist.
What the 7/12 doesn't tell you
A clean-looking extract is a good start, not the end. It shows the record today, not the full history of how each holder got the land. That's what a title search by a lawyer is for. And inside the city, where a survey was done, the property card may be the record that matters, not the 7/12.
Questions people ask
Is the free 7/12 valid for a home loan?
Banks usually want the digitally signed copy or a certified one. Ask your bank what it accepts.
The website isn't loading. What now?
Government portals are often slow in the daytime. Try early morning or late evening, or ask at the talathi office or a nearby service centre.
Can I download an old 7/12?
Old records are scanned on a separate state portal for some areas. If you need one for a title search, your lawyer will usually get it.
Your next step
Download the free 7/12 of the land you're interested in tonight, check the holder's name against the seller, and message us on WhatsApp if anything looks off.
Written by the Nagari Guntha team in Ahilyanagar: a DPIIT-recognised property company with zero brokerage for buyers. We write about what buyers and owners ask us every day. About us