Mr. Raghuram was on the verge of going through with a property deal, when he found out that the seller did not have all the property papers. The seller cited that some of the papers were misplaced by his banker. This is not a very uncommon issue these days. Either due to the carelessness of the holder or neglect of the banker, documents are found missing from banks. Misplacement of property papers is a serious matter, so do not take it lightly. If your banker has negligently misplaced your documents, take stringent action and sort out the matter at the earliest.

Procedure for getting duplicate papers of property when you lose them
Missing documents play a critical role especially in the sale and purchase of property transactions. Selling a property with a missing paper is not an easy task. In case of a lost document, you will have to get a duplicate and also shell out extra money. Here are the steps required to get the duplicate papers for your property:
 

1. File a police complaint immediately
You will need to file a police complaint as soon as possible, after you have realised that certain papers are missing. The FIR or first information report should be filed only by the owner of the house, stating that the property papers have been misplaced, lost or stolen. Take a copy of the FIR and keep it safely with you, as at the time of sale, buyers may ask for that as well.

2. Publish an advertisement
Once you have filed the FIR, you will need to publish an advertisement in an English daily newspaper and in any regional newspaper about the loss of property documents. Then you have to wait for the next 15 days to see if anybody finds it and returns it within that time frame.

3. File an application for share certificate
On the basis of your FIR, you can file an application for share certificate from the housing society. The authorized Resident Welfare Association (RWA) calls a society meeting and checks your proof (FIR) of loss. If your application gets approved, the housing society will charge a fee and in return issue you a share certificate. Also, ask for an NOC (non-objection certificate) from them as it plays an important role in transacting further.

4. Register with the notary
The next step is the preparation of undertaking on stamp paper about the loss of documents of the particular property along with the text of advertisement which was published in newspaper and the police complaint number. Documents will then be attested and registered with the notary, so that your undertaking becomes legal.

5. Get the duplicate sale deed
The final step is to get a duplicate copy of the property's sale deed. For this, you have to deposit copies of the police complaint, text of the advertisement, the share certificate and the undertaking stamped by the notary to the registrar office, since all the records regarding property transactions will be kept in that particular office. Then, you need to pay the fees and they would issue a duplicate copy of the sale deed.

Although, a good sum of money is required to go through all these steps, but at the end of it all, you will get a legally-certified duplicate copy for your property. Bank loans are not easily granted on such properties, but after the verification of all the documents, and the FIR, loans are sanctioned, provided the documents are found to be authentic. Loans in such cases are at the sole discretion of the bank.

Do remember that if you keep the documents in the bank and they are misplaced, you can claim compensation from the bank. It is the duty of the bank to preserve your credentials and they can be penalized for carelessness.