Understanding file, plot and possession

Three words used as though they mean the same thing

File

Money paid into a scheme before balloting. You have no plot number and no identified land. A file is a tradeable claim on a future plot, priced as though it were property. It is not property.

The specific danger: a society can issue more files than it has land. Nothing in your file prevents this, and you will not discover it until balloting. Compare the sanctioned plot count on the approved layout plan against files issued (Guide 3).

A file may still be a reasonable purchase. It should simply be priced and understood as what it is — a claim carrying developer risk, not land you can stand on.

Plot

After balloting, a specific identified piece of land with a number, block, size and dimensions, recorded in your name. This is the point at which you own something locatable.

But owning a plot on paper and being able to use it are still different things.

Possession

The right and ability to physically occupy and build. This is where the largest gap sits, and it is the word most abused in marketing.

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Term used What it actually means

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Paper possession The society has allotted the plot to you on record. The land may be undeveloped, unreachable, or not yet demarcated.

Physical possession You can stand on your plot, its pegs are marked, and you may begin construction.

Possession subject to development The block exists but roads, water and sewerage are not complete. You cannot practically build.

Possession under litigation Allotted, but the underlying land is disputed.

Possession with encroachment Yours on record, occupied by someone else in fact.

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Three questions that separate them

1. Can somebody physically walk to my plot today and find its markers?
2. Is the society issuing possession letters for this block, and has construction begun on neighbouring plots?
3. If I applied for a building plan approval tomorrow, would it be granted?

If the answer to any of these is no, you have allotment without possession, whatever the brochure calls it.

WHY THIS MATTERS MORE FOR AN OVERSEAS BUYER

Non-construction penalties usually begin running from possession, not from purchase. A buyer who accepts "paper possession" may be accumulating a penalty on a plot he cannot physically build on.

Ask, in writing, when the penalty clock starts and whether it is suspended while development is incomplete.