A wall that crept over the line, a shed, a fence, someone farming the plot you bought years ago. Unlike an unpaid bill, this gets harder every month you leave it — possession that goes unopposed is exactly what the other side will one day rely on. A formal notice in your own name puts your objection on the record, dated, before that argument is available to anyone.
Serve-ready notice from ₹299, or ₹799 and we post it by Registered Post A.D. — a licensed surveyor's measurement and a formal notice together cost a fraction of one hearing, and far less than the strip of land you are arguing about.
One or two sentences in your own words. We match them against what each document is for and point you at the right one — nothing is sent anywhere, and nothing is saved.
This is the same checklist we show once you've bought the notice. Nothing here is a test you can fail: it tells you what to gather, not whether you're allowed to act.
Missing one of these does not stop you sending anything. It does mean this is the first thing you will be asked for, so it is the first thing worth chasing.
Your property papers and the survey record — the sale deed or patta, and the sketch showing where the boundary runs
Two questions decide an encroachment: is the land yours, and where exactly does it end. Your deed, patta or khata answers the first; the survey sketch with its measurements answers the second, and that is the one actually in dispute. An encumbrance certificate alongside them shows the title is clear.
If you don't have it: If you do not have the survey sketch, it can be applied for from the taluk or revenue office, and you can ask the surveyor to come and mark the boundary on the ground. That measurement is the single most useful thing you can obtain before this goes further — do not wait for a court to order it.
Dated photographs or video of the encroachment — and any older pictures of the same spot before it
You are asking for something to be taken down, so the first thing anyone needs to see is what is there. A picture from before it appeared is worth far more than one from today, because together they show it was not always so — which is what an urgent order to stop the work rests on.
If you don't have it: Photograph it today anyway, from a fixed point you can return to, and keep doing it at intervals — a set showing the encroachment growing is stronger than any single image. Old family photographs, an earlier property listing, and satellite imagery of the plot are all worth digging out for the before.
Not strictly required, and the difference between a demand that gets taken seriously and one that gets ignored is usually somewhere in here.
Anything showing you objected — your messages, letters or complaints, and whatever they said back
This is the entry people skip and later wish they had. If the other side ever claims the land became theirs by long possession, the answer is that their possession was never unopposed — and a dated objection is what proves it. A reply admitting they built over the line is better still.
If you don't have it: Even one dated WhatsApp message asking them to stop is worth adding, and screenshots are fine. If every objection was face to face, write down now what you said and when, and understand that the notice you are about to send becomes the first properly recorded one — keep the posting receipt with your title papers.
Your own dated note of when it started and how it has grown
Every clock in this dispute counts from a date — six months from being put out, three years for compensation, twelve years for the land — and each counts from a different event. This is the fact you are least likely to have written down and the first one a lawyer will ask for.
If you don't have it: Write it now, roughly if you must: when you first noticed, when the structure went up, when you first objected, and whether they ever had your permission to be there. Approximate dates honestly labelled as approximate are useful; a confident guess is not.
Useful context. Skip any of these you do not have — none of them is worth delaying over.
Any complaint already made — to the police, the municipality or panchayat, or your association
It creates a dated official record that the dispute existed on that day, which is useful even when the complaint itself went nowhere. Most encroachment complaints to the police do go nowhere, and that is normal rather than a sign your case is weak.
If you don't have it: Skip this if you have not complained anywhere — it is not a step you have to take first, and a civil injunction does not wait on it.
Missing something? Send it anyway. Most people in a genuine dispute have less on paper than they should. The list is here so you know what to chase, not so you're told to wait.
The law gives you a window, not a wall. Here is what it actually says — never a date, because only you know when this started, and never a verdict on your case, because that is a lawyer's judgment, not this page's.
Compensation for the trespass itself — three years from the date of the trespass
Counted from: the date of the trespass — though an encroachment that is still there restarts this clock at every moment it continues
If you think you're already past it: This is the compensation limb only — three years, while recovering the land itself is twelve. An old start date does not bar this claim while the encroachment continues; it only costs you the compensation for the years now behind the window, so quantify your loss now while you can still evidence it.
Limitation Act, 1963 — Schedule, Article 87 (compensation for trespass upon immovable property): three years from the date of the trespass; Article 85 (compensation for obstructing a way or a water-course): three years from the date of the obstruction; read with Section 22 (in the case of a continuing tort a fresh period of limitation begins to run at every moment of the time during which the tort continues)
Recovering the land itself — twelve years, counted from when their possession became adverse to you
Counted from: when their possession turned hostile to you — not necessarily when the encroachment began
If you think you're already past it: Unlike most limitation periods, running out of this one does not just bar a court case — the law extinguishes your right to the land itself, and their possession can harden into title. Twelve years sounds like forever, which is exactly why an old, undisputed boundary is worth acting on now rather than later; a written objection on record is the cheapest thing that keeps this clock from ever finishing.
Limitation Act, 1963 — Schedule, Article 65 (suit for possession of immovable property or any interest therein based on title): twelve years from when the possession of the defendant becomes adverse to the plaintiff; Article 64 (possession based on previous possession and not on title): twelve years from the date of dispossession; read with Section 27 — at the determination of the period limited for instituting a suit for possession of any property, the right to such property is extinguished
Describe what happened
Tell us the facts in plain words — where the land is, what has appeared on it, and roughly when it started. You confirm every detail before anything is final.
Preview your notice free
See the full serve-ready legal notice in your own name — the property, what you are asking to be stopped or removed, and a firm deadline — before you pay.
Download, or let us post it
Download the serve-ready PDF for ₹299, or pay ₹799 and we send it by Registered Post A.D. and email you the tracking number.
We post it on Wednesday 2 September. Miss that date and we refund your ₹799 in full — guaranteed.
Should I do this now, or wait and see what happens?
Now, and this is the one crisis on this site where we say that plainly. Money owed to you does not change while you decide; an occupation does. The structure advances, the people who saw it start moving away, and the photographs you did not take this month cannot be taken next year. The single most useful thing you can do is get a licensed surveyor to measure against the FMB sketch and put a dated objection on the record — the notice is that objection.
What papers do I actually need before I send it?
Your title and the survey record: the sale deed or patta showing the land is yours, and the FMB sketch showing where the boundary runs — that second one is usually the thing actually in dispute. An encumbrance certificate alongside them shows the title is clear. If you do not have the sketch, it can be applied for at the taluk or revenue office and a licensed surveyor can mark the boundary on the ground. Our free guide walks through each one by the name the office uses.
Does a legal notice settle who owns the land?
No, and anyone telling you otherwise is selling you something. A notice asserts your claim, dates it, and demands that the encroachment stop or be removed. Title itself is decided by a civil court, and the point of the notice is that it is the recognised, cheap first step that everything after it rests on — including proof that the possession was never unopposed.
Can I handle this from another city or from abroad?
Mostly, yes. The encumbrance certificate and the patta can be checked online, a surveyor can be engaged remotely and paid on delivery of the sketch, and a local contact can photograph the boundary on a stated date. The notice itself goes out in your name without you being present — or we post it by Registered Post A.D. and email you the tracking number.
The other side is a builder who has not handed over my flat — is this the same thing?
No, that is a different notice and we have it: a builder delay or possession dispute runs under RERA and the demands are different ones. Start from our documents page and pick the builder/possession notice rather than this one, or read the free guide first if you are not sure which situation you are in.
What does this cost compared to a lawyer?
An advocate commonly quotes several thousand rupees to draft and send one notice, and you wait days. Here the serve-ready notice is ready in minutes for a fraction of that, in your own name — or we print and post it by Registered Post with Acknowledgment Due so the proof of service is yours. We are a document service, not a law firm. Title defects, partition, acquisition, or anything already in court needs an advocate, and we will say so rather than sell you a document.
Free preview · from ₹299 · ready in minutes
What this costs, and what you get for it
Not ready to send anything yet? Read the free step-by-step guide first
Been sent a notice yourself? Check what it means, free — upload the notice, summons or letter that landed on you and find out what it says and whether it's genuine, in plain English, Tamil, Telugu or Hindi. Nothing to pay, and it's a separate job from sending one of your own.
Agreements.co.in is a document service, not a law firm — we don't give legal advice or guarantee outcomes. You send the notice in your own name and confirm every detail before you pay.