Dictionary of real estate terms

Conveyance refers to the act of transferring the title, ownership, rights and interests in a property from one entity to another.

A type of home ownership, in which the residents of a housing complex own shares in the cooperative corporation that owns the land/ property, with each resident having the right to occupy a specific apartment or unit.

A coparcener is a person who inherits the rights in an ancestral property by birth and has the right to demand for the partition of the family property.

A credit score is a numeric representation of an individual’s credit borrowing and repayment history. A higher credit score indicates that the person is a responsible borrower, while a low score indicates the opposite.

Crowdfunding refers to a financial model, wherein, a real estate project or venture is funded by raising monetary contributions from a large number of people.

Debt-to-income ratio is the percentage of your monthly income that you spend, on repaying your outstanding liabilities. It is a ratio of all your monthly debt repayments (including mortgage, insurance, car loans, personal loans, etc.) to your gross monthly income.

Deemed conveyance means that the land and building is deemed to have been conveyed to the housing society or any legal body of the flat purchasers, if the promoter fails to convey the land and the building to them, within the stipulated time. To obtain a deemed conveyance, the aggrieved party has to file an application with the competent authority with all the necessary documents.

Development control refers to the process through which of urban development is regulated, to achieve specific objectives. Development control regulations govern the development and use of land curbs on misuse and promotion of planned development.

An ‘encumbrance’ refers to any liability that is created on a property. An encumbrance certificate for a specific requested period, is a note of all the registered transactions pertaining to the property for that period. This certificate can be obtained from the sub-registrar’s office, where the property is registered.

The escalation clause in a lease agreement, refers to a provision that allows the lessor (landlord) to increase the base rent when the lease agreement is renewed at the end of its term. The quantum of escalation, is usually a percentage of the rent and is agreed upon by both parties.

In a home loan with a fixed rate of interest, the equated monthly instalments (EMIs) will remain constant over the tenure of the loan. However, fixed interest rates are usually higher than floating interest rates at any given time.

In a home loan with a floating rate of interest, the equated monthly instalments (EMIs) will fluctuate as per the market dynamics, as interest rates increase or decrease.

The floor area ratio (FAR) number denotes the maximum floor space that you can construct on a given piece of land. In other words, it is a ratio between a building’s total constructed floor area and the land area. It is also known as Floor Space Index (FSI) in some markets.