Step 05 of 35 · stage 1, checks before you pay
Search the Sub-Registrar registers
Searches the sub-registrar's registers for every registered document affecting the property, so a buyer can trace the chain of title and find transactions the seller did not disclose. Book 1 holds immovable-property documents; Book 2 holds the record of reasons for refusing registration.
- Official wording
- Take a record search of Book No. 1 and Book No. 2 at the Sub-Registrar office (title search)
- Where you go
- Sub-Registrar and Garvi
- Online or in person
- Offline at the Sub-Registrar office; an online alternative exists via the 'property...
- What it costs
- Court fee ticket of Rs. 5/- affixed on Form No. 3, PLUS search fee of Rs. 20/- for the...
- How long
- No timing stated
- Record id
- GJ-DD-05, step 05 of 35
Where you go, and how
Sub-Registrar office in whose jurisdiction the property falls; Inspector General of Registration and Superintendent of Stamps, Government of Gujarat
Mode: Offline at the Sub-Registrar office; an online alternative exists via the 'property search' option on garvi.gujarat.gov.in
This office handles 10 of the 35 steps in the register. What else it does, and what it charges.
What to have with you
The source names 6 things the office asks for. Take them all in one go and the visit is usually one visit.
- Form No. 3 completed
- Description of the document
- Name of executant and claimant
- Description of the property
- Village name and name of the office where registered
- The year or years to be searched
Quoted from the prerequisite list in the register. Where the source names a detail rather than a document, such as a survey number, it is listed as the source words it.
The form you fill in
Form No. 3 - 'શોધ લેવાની અથવા નકલ માટેની અરજી' (Application for search or for copy), downloadable from the FAQ menu at garvi.gujarat.gov.in
What it costs
Quoted from the government source, in its own words:
Court fee ticket of Rs. 5/- affixed on Form No. 3, PLUS search fee of Rs. 20/- for the first year and Rs. 10/- for each subsequent year. Worked example given in the source: searching survey number xyz for 2007 to 2010 = 20 + 10 + 10 + 10 = Rs. 50/- total.
No part of this figure has been rounded, converted or updated by us. If the department has revised it since 4 August 2026, the correction address is in the footer. Every published fee in the register sits on one page.
How long it takes
No timing stated. A department that does not publish a service standard cannot be held to one, which is worth knowing before you plan around a date.
Registration department SLA / turnaround times for issuing a certified copy, Index-2, EC or a completed registration are NOT PUBLISHED in any source examined. All stated_timeline values for those steps are null; only the statutory presentation window (four months) and the statutory deemed-approval periods are recorded.
What to watch out for
The register keeps a note against this step. It is the part most people find out too late, so it is printed in full rather than summarised.
Search of Book No. 3 (wills and adoption deeds) and Book No. 4 can only be done by the Registering Officer, not by a member of the public. The same FAQ also notes the Sub-Registrar has NO power to stop a registration on a private objection application - only a court injunction served through the court can stop it.
The law behind it
The Registration Act, 1908 (Part XII, of searches and copies); Bombay Registration Rules (code order 474 cited in the same FAQ)
Where this came from, and what comes next
Citation: gARVI_FAQ.pdf page 5 (scanned citizen charter of the Registration department, read from a 150 dpi render); form title confirmed from gARVI_form3.pdf page 1
Government page: https://garvi.gujarat.gov.in/frmPropertySearch.aspx
Value date: Undated departmental citizen charter; retrieved from garvi.gujarat.gov.in and captured in _source-artifacts on 2026-08-04
Local file read: gARVI_FAQ.pdf (page 5, section XIV); form itself downloaded from https://garvi.gujarat.gov.in/Download/HelpFile/gARVI_form3.pdf
Last verified: 4 August 2026
- The step before: 04. Get a digitally signed land record
- The step after: 06. Encumbrance certificate at the office
- This stage: Checks before you pay
- All 35 steps in one table
Found something wrong here? Send the government page that corrects it to corrections@dholera.support and the register is changed at the source, so the fix reaches every page at once.