An EC tells you what is registered against a property, not everything that can threaten it. Here is how to read one properly, what the thirteen-year and thirty-year searches actually cover, and the three entries that should make you stop and ask for the original chain of documents.
Insights
Notes on capital, property and the market
- June 2026
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What circle rate does not tell you
Circle rate is a floor for stamp duty, not a valuation. In parts of NCR the gap between circle rate and market price runs both ways, and buyers who price off the government table alone either overpay or miss a genuine bargain. How we build a price band instead.
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Why a verbal rate is not a quotation
A rate quoted on the phone means nothing without the specification behind it. What a real quotation contains: the priced bill of quantities, the brands and grades included, what sits outside the rate, and what happens when you upgrade a finish midway.
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What a lender checks before releasing a stage
Stage-linked disbursement stalls for the same four reasons every time: the certificate is late, the photographs do not match the claim, the valuer could not get site access, or the sanctioned plan and the built work have drifted apart.
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Buying agricultural land: the traps
Land use, ceiling limits, who is legally permitted to buy, and whether conversion is realistic or merely possible. Agricultural land is where most first-time buyers in NCR lose money, and almost always for reasons that were visible in the records before they paid.
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Pre-leased assets and real yield
A nine per cent yield on paper often becomes six once maintenance, vacancy risk, tenant quality and the lock-in structure are priced in. How to test a pre-leased offer, and which clauses in the lease matter more than the headline rent.
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Why estimates fail halfway through a build
An estimate collapses when quantities were guessed, when the specification was never written down, or when the contractor priced to win the job rather than to build it. How to read an estimate and tell which one you are holding.
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Registration is not the end of the transaction. Mutation, utility transfer and physical possession each carry their own timeline and their own risk, and the weeks between them are where disputes start. A short checklist for the period after the deed.
Mutation, possession and the gap between
We turn down more sites than we take. Here is what makes us say no: no sanctioned plan, a disputed boundary, access the revenue record does not show, or a budget that will not carry the brief the owner has in mind.
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How we decline a job
We turn down more sites than we take. Here is what makes us say no: no sanctioned plan, a disputed boundary, access the revenue record does not show, or a budget that will not carry the brief the owner has in mind.
Where we decline, we tell you what would have to change before we could take the job, and you are welcome to come back once it has. Saying no early is cheaper for everyone than saying it after the foundation is poured, and it is why our clients keep coming back. - Load more...
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