Mumbai Real Estate Terms in Marathi and Hindi: A Buyer's Glossary
Dasadia Editorial Team · Updated August 2026
The three words most likely to stop you at a sub-registrar’s counter in Mumbai are साठेखत, फेरफार and बोजा. They mean agreement for sale, mutation entry and encumbrance. Learn those three and you can follow most of what happens across that table.
Everything official in Maharashtra happens in Marathi. Most of what you’ll hear spoken happens in Hindi.
That split is the reason this glossary exists. Your registered documents, the property card, the ready reckoner and every notice from a cooperative society are drafted in Marathi. The broker showing you the flat, the contractor quoting for the kitchen and the movers on possession day are usually speaking Hindi. The two vocabularies overlap less than you would expect, and a few terms sit one word apart while meaning quite unrelated things. What follows is the working vocabulary in all three languages, grouped by where you will actually meet each word.
We went looking for a state-issued glossary that pairs these terms across English, Marathi and Hindi in one place and could not find one. So this is assembled from the registration department’s own vocabulary, land record documents and standard usage.
Key takeaways
- Marathi is the language of record in Maharashtra. Registration, land records and the ready reckoner all operate in it, and where a translation differs from the original, the Marathi original governs.
- Hindi is the language of the transaction floor, used by brokers, contractors and most of Mumbai's service workforce, but no document is registered in it here.
- चटई क्षेत्र is carpet area. चटई क्षेत्र निर्देशांक is FSI, which is computed on built-up area across all floors. One word apart, unrelated measurements.
- साठेखत is the agreement for sale. खरेदीखत is the sale deed that actually transfers ownership. Holding the first does not make you an owner.
- For a Mumbai flat the relevant land record is usually the मिळकत पत्रिका, the property card, not the सातबारा उतारा, which covers revenue land.
- फेरफार, the mutation entry, is what puts your name into the record after registration. Registration by itself does not do it.
- बोजा means a charge on the property, most often a mortgage. It is checked on the record, not confirmed by the seller saying so.
- You do not sign a lease in Mumbai. You sign a रजा व परवाना करार, a leave and licence agreement.
Which language matters where
Marathi is the language of record. Maharashtra registers documents in Marathi, land records are maintained in Marathi, and the ready reckoner is published as a Marathi document. You can obtain an English translation of nearly anything, but the operative version is the Marathi one, and where the two differ, the original governs. That matters far more than it sounds when the clause in question concerns carpet area, possession or a charge on the title.
Hindi is the language of the transaction floor. Brokers, contractors, movers and much of Mumbai’s service workforce operate in it. Nothing gets registered in Hindi in this state, but a great deal of what you agree to verbally happens in Hindi long before it reaches paper, and that is exactly where misunderstandings about area, price and timelines take root.
Some practical texture. At the Andheri or Kurla sub-registrar’s office the queue token, the form headings and the clerk’s questions all arrive in Marathi, and the biometric operator will ask you to confirm your name as it appears in the Marathi document rather than as you spell it. In the island city, where a large share of the stock is उपकरप्राप्त इमारत, the older files you get shown are often handwritten Marathi from decades back. Nobody is going to translate those for you on the spot, and the clerk has forty people behind you.
Learn the Marathi for the documents. Learn the Hindi for the conversations.
Documents and records
Start with the paperwork, because this is where the wrong word costs real money. Ten terms cover almost every document you will handle in a Mumbai purchase.
Two of these deserve flagging straight away. फेरफार, the mutation entry, is what actually moves your name into the revenue or municipal record after a sale, and registration on its own doesn’t achieve it. Plenty of buyers register a deed and never follow through, then discover years later that the record still names the seller.
बोजा is the other one. It means a charge on the property. When a seller tells you there’s no बोजा, that’s a claim rather than a search of the register, and the two are not the same thing.
Area and construction
Area vocabulary is where the most expensive confusion lives, in all three languages.
Read the first and third rows together, because this is the single worst trap on the page. चटई क्षेत्र is carpet area. चटई क्षेत्र निर्देशांक is FSI. The Marathi name for FSI translates literally as ‘carpet area index’, and yet FSI is calculated on the total built-up area of every floor including walls, not on carpet area at all. Mumbai City carries a base index of 1.33 and the suburbs 1.0. Two terms one word apart, measuring completely different things, and both routinely shortened to चटई क्षेत्र in conversation. We checked this against the state’s own reference material rather than a dictionary, because it is the collision most likely to cost a buyer money.
Money, tax and charges
These are the most standardised of the five groups, because the state prints them on every receipt you’ll be handed.
मोबदला is the one to memorise. It is the consideration, meaning the amount actually recorded in the deed, and it is the figure stamp duty attaches to unless the reckoner value happens to be higher. Anything negotiated outside that number sits outside your legal record and outside any protection it gives you.
Society and redevelopment
In most Mumbai buildings the society owns the land, and you own shares in the society plus the right to occupy a flat. The vocabulary reflects that ownership structure, and it is worth knowing before your first सर्वसाधारण सभा.
मानीव अभिहस्तांतरण, deemed conveyance, is the term to carry with you if your building’s title never moved from the builder to the society. It is a remedy rather than a formality, and a very large number of Mumbai societies still hold no title to their own land decades after possession. We’d ask that question before buying rather than after, because a society without conveyance has limited control over its own redevelopment.
Renting
Renting carries its own vocabulary, and in Maharashtra the instrument itself has a name most tenants get wrong.
You don’t sign a lease in Mumbai. You sign a रजा व परवाना करार, a leave and licence agreement, which grants permission to occupy rather than any interest in the property itself. That single distinction is why Maharashtra’s rental framework works the way it does, and why registration of the agreement is compulsory rather than optional.
The five pairs that catch buyers out
None of these is a translation error. They are near-collisions in the source language itself, which is why an English glossary alone will not save you.
- चटई क्षेत्र vs चटई क्षेत्र निर्देशांक. Carpet area against FSI. FSI is computed on built-up area across every floor, so the two share a name and measure nothing in common.
- साठेखत vs खरेदीखत. The agreement for sale against the sale deed. The first is a promise to transfer, the second transfers. Being handed a साठेखत and told the flat is yours is not the same as owning it.
- सातबारा उतारा vs मिळकत पत्रिका. The 7/12 covers revenue land. For a flat inside Mumbai's city survey limits the relevant record is the property card. Asking for a satbara on a Mumbai flat gets you the wrong document, or none.
- बोजा नाही as a statement vs बोजा as a record entry. A charge is something you verify on the property card and through a search report, not something you accept on assurance.
- ताबा and कब्ज़ा vs title. Both words mean possession, and possession in fact is not ownership in law. Take both, and take both in writing.
Ask for every document by its Marathi name. It changes how you are dealt with at a registration office, and more usefully it strips out the ambiguity that loose English shorthand creates. ‘The papers are clear’ means nothing at all. ‘मिळकत पत्रिकेवर बोजा नाही’ means something specific, and it can be checked.
That’s the point of learning these words. Not fluency. Precision at the counter.
Frequently asked questions
चटई क्षेत्र or चटई क्षेत्रफळ in Marathi, and कालीन क्षेत्र or कार्पेट एरिया in Hindi. This is the RERA basis for pricing and the area your sale agreement must state.
Saathekhat is the agreement for sale, the contract in which buyer and seller fix the terms and agree to complete the transfer by a registered sale deed later. Full stamp duty and registration apply to it in Maharashtra.
साठेखत is the agreement to sell. खरेदीखत is the sale deed that actually transfers ownership. Holding only the agreement does not make you the owner of the property.
Pherphar is the mutation entry, the change in the revenue or municipal record that puts the new owner’s name on it. Registering your deed does not automatically trigger it, so follow it through separately.
Boja means an encumbrance or charge on the property, most commonly a mortgage. Verify it on the property card and through a search report rather than relying on the seller’s assurance.
Milkat patrika is the property card, the urban land record showing ownership and the CTS number. It is also called मालमत्ता पत्रक. Sub-registrar offices check it during registration and it is primary evidence in a title dispute.
Usually not. The सातबारा उतारा is a revenue land record used mainly outside city survey areas. For a flat within Mumbai’s city survey limits, the मिळकत पत्रिका or property card is the relevant document.
मुद्रांक शुल्क in Marathi. In Hindi it is स्टाम्प शुल्क, though मुद्रांक शुल्क is also used. It is a state tax charged on the higher of the agreement value or the ready reckoner value.
Bhogvata pramanpatra is the occupancy certificate, which certifies that a building is complete and fit to be occupied. In Hindi it is अधिभोग प्रमाण पत्र.
Maniv abhihastantaran is deemed conveyance, a legal route through which title is transferred to a cooperative housing society when the builder has failed to execute the conveyance. Many older Mumbai societies still need it.
Raja va parvana karar is the leave and licence agreement, Maharashtra’s standard rental instrument. It grants permission to occupy rather than an interest in the property, and registering it is compulsory.
चटई क्षेत्र निर्देशांक. The name reads literally as carpet area index, but FSI is the ratio of permitted construction to plot area and is computed on built-up area across all floors. Mumbai City has a base index of 1.33 and the suburbs 1.0.
Registration and land records operate in Marathi. English translations are widely available, but the Marathi version is the operative one, so read the original or have it read to you before signing.
Duyyam nibandhak is the sub-registrar, the officer before whom documents are registered. उप-पंजीयक in Hindi. Your registration appointment happens at their office.
Upkarprapt imarat is a cess building, the older rent-controlled housing stock found mainly in the island city. These fall under separate redevelopment provisions.
Verified key facts
- Maharashtra maintains registration and land records in Marathi. Documents are executed and registered in Marathi, with English translations available but not operative (IGR Maharashtra).
- मिळकत पत्रिका, also called मालमत्ता पत्रक, is the property card. Sub-registrar offices check it during registration and it serves as primary evidence in title disputes.
- सातबारा उतारा is the revenue land record, distinct from the property card and used mainly outside city survey areas.
- दुय्यम निबंधक is the sub-registrar. मुद्रांक शुल्क is stamp duty, a state-levied tax (IGR Maharashtra).
- कुलमुखत्यारपत्र, a power of attorney relating to immovable property valued above one hundred rupees, must be stamped and registered (Powers of Attorney Act, 1882).
- साठेखत is the agreement for sale and attracts full stamp duty and registration in Maharashtra, at the value of the property.
- चटई क्षेत्र निर्देशांक is the Marathi term for Floor Space Index, defined as total construction area divided by plot area, computed on all floors including walls (Marathi Wikipedia, Satbara.in).
- Base FSI is 1.33 in Mumbai City and 1.0 in the suburbs, with 0.5 to 0.8 in industrial zones.
- Registration fee in Maharashtra is 1% of value, capped at ₹30,000 (IGR Maharashtra).
- रजा व परवाना करार, the leave and licence agreement, is the standard rental instrument in Maharashtra and requires registration.
- मानीव अभिहस्तांतरण, deemed conveyance, is the statutory remedy where a promoter fails to convey title to the society.
- Terminology in this glossary is drawn from registration department usage, Maharashtra land record documents and standard trade usage. Regional variants exist.
Sources and references
- IGR Maharashtra – Department of Registration and Stamps
- MahaRERA – Maharashtra Real Estate Regulatory Authority
- Maharashtra Bhumi Abhilekh – land records
- Aaple Sarkar – Maharashtra citizen services portal
- MCGM – Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation
- Marathi Wikipedia – chatai kshetra nirdeshank (FSI)
- Satbara.in – FSI explained in Marathi
- 99acres – FSI in Mumbai
- HomeFirst – property card and 7/12 extract in Marathi
- NoBroker – property card meaning in Marathi
- NoBroker – stamp duty meaning in Marathi
- PRAB – Maharashtra revenue law questions on saathekhat and kulmukhtyarpatra
Disclaimer: This glossary is a plain-language reference, not a legal dictionary and not legal advice. Marathi and Hindi property terminology carries regional variation, and a word used one way at a Mumbai sub-registrar’s office may be used slightly differently in another district or in older documents. Where a term appears in a registered instrument, the meaning given in that instrument and in the governing statute prevails over any translation here. We are not translators, lawyers or conveyancers. Before signing anything in a language you do not read, have the original document explained to you by an advocate who does, and verify records yourself on the IGR Maharashtra, Bhumi Abhilekh and MahaRERA portals.
Buying in Andheri East?
153 East by Dasadia Developers LLP is a freehold residential development in J.B. Nagar, Andheri East, with 1 to 4 BHK configurations close to the Aqua Line at Marol Naka, the Western Express Highway and both airport terminals. MahaRERA registration no. PR1180002502968, with approvals and चटई क्षेत्र (carpet areas) verifiable on the MahaRERA portal. Ask us for the configuration sheet with RERA carpet areas and indicative pricing, or book a site visit. Pricing is indicative and subject to change.
