Physical access
What route is actually used today from a public road to the property? Record width, surface, gradient, gates, turning points, shared segments and any visible obstruction.
Property Buyer's Handbook · Land / access / boundary
Before buying land, separate road access, legal access, survey identity and measured boundary.
These four questions are often collapsed because a buyer can drive to a fenced plot. They are not the same. A visible road can exist without establishing the legal right to use it, and a visible fence can exist without establishing the measured boundary.
Direct answer
Check four separate things before buying land: the road that physically exists, the legal right supporting access, the survey / document identity of the parcel and the measured boundary on the ground.
A good land file keeps them separate until each has the evidence and professional conclusion it needs.
Four questions
Do not let one answer stand in for another.
Legal access
What legal right supports that route where it crosses or depends on another property? This is a legal-document question for the buyer’s lawyer, not something proved by vehicle use alone.
Documentary extent / survey identity
Which survey, subdivision or town-survey identifiers and recorded extent describe the land in the available deeds and government records?
Measured boundary
Where exactly are the parcel limits on the ground when measured and reconciled by the appropriate survey professional / authority? Fences, hedges, compound walls and seller-marked corners are not a measurement conclusion.
Survey framework
Tamil Nadu’s survey law treats survey as measurement and recording of boundaries.
The Tamil Nadu Survey and Boundaries Act, 1923 defines “survey” broadly to include operations incidental to determining, measuring and recording boundaries, including resurvey. Tamil Nadu Land Records e-Services also provides current routes to FMB / Chitta / TSLR and related survey records.
On-site method
Walk the route before walking the boundary.
- start from the nearest clearly identifiable public road and record the full route to the gate / parcel;
- note every private-looking, shared, gated or ambiguous segment instead of calling the whole route “public road”;
- record carriageway width, surface, bends, gradient, drainage and vehicle-turning practicality where material;
- photograph / note visible survey stones or boundary markers without treating them as verified boundary points;
- compare the property being shown with the survey / subdivision / extent described in the records;
- identify encroachments, overlapping occupation, fences or walls that appear inconsistent with the represented boundary;
- record whether utilities or drains cross neighbouring land where this could create a separate rights question;
- keep any discrepancy open until the lawyer / survey professional resolves it;
Evidence matrix
Know what each input can and cannot establish.
InputUseful forLimit
Road seen on site
Observed physical route
Does not establish ownership of the road or legal right of use.
Seller / broker statement
Representation about access or boundary
Needs documentary / professional support where material.
FMB / TSLR / survey record
Government survey-record evidence
May require current field reconciliation; not a legal-access opinion.
Deed / registered instrument
Legal-document evidence
Buyer’s lawyer interprets rights, reservations, easements and legal effect.
Current field survey
Professional measurement evidence
Should be reconciled with the documentary property and any dispute / occupation.
Stop / escalate
Resolve these before treating the land as purchase-ready.
- the property cannot be reached except through land whose legal-use basis is unclear;
- the physical road differs materially from the access described in the documents or seller representation;
- the survey / subdivision identity cannot be reconciled across deeds, revenue / survey records and the site;
- the represented extent depends on fences, hedges or walls that do not match the measured position;
- an adjoining owner disputes the route, boundary or possession;
- the buyer’s intended construction / use depends on access width or geometry that has not been established;
- a Nilgiris or sloping-site access is physically usable in fair weather but route / drainage resilience remains unresolved;
Four questions, four evidence streams
Do not buy land because the road and fence look convincing.
Establish the route, the legal right, the documentary parcel and the measured boundary before the next material commitment.
See Due Diligence Coordination