Glossary
Indian real estate, in plain words.
153 terms buyers, brokers and builders use, from BHK and carpet area to bigha and DLT.
Property
- 1 RKA single room with a kitchen or kitchenette and no separate living room.
- BHKThe number of bedrooms in a home, with a hall and kitchen — a 2 BHK has two bedrooms.
- Built-up areaCarpet area plus the area of the walls (and, in many definitions, balconies).
- Carpet areaThe net usable floor area of a home, as defined by the RERA Act.
- Freehold and leasehold propertyFreehold and leasehold property differ in who owns the land: a freehold owner holds the land outright, while a leasehold owner holds it on a long lease from an authority or landlord for a fixed term.
- FSIFSI, or floor space index, is the ratio of total built floor area allowed on a plot to the plot’s area; an FSI of 2 on a 1,000 sq m plot permits 2,000 sq m of floor area.
- Loading factorThe share of common areas added to a home’s area to arrive at super built-up area.
- PossessionWhen the buyer takes over the property from the builder or seller.
- Ready to moveA completed property the buyer can occupy straight away.
- Resale propertyA property bought from an existing owner rather than from the builder.
- Saleable areaSaleable area is the area a developer uses to quote the price of a flat, usually the super built-up area: the flat’s built-up area plus a share of lobbies, lifts, staircases and amenities.
- Sanctioned building planA sanctioned building plan is the layout and building drawing approved by the municipal corporation or development authority, fixing floors, built-up area, FSI, setbacks and use.
- SetbackA setback is the minimum open space that must be left between a building and the plot boundaries — front, sides and rear — as fixed by local building bye-laws.
- Super built-up areaBuilt-up area plus a proportionate share of the building’s common areas.
- TDRTDR, or transferable development rights, is a certificate of buildable floor area given to a landowner who surrenders land for a public purpose, which can be sold and used on another plot.
- Under constructionA property still being built, usually bought on a payment plan.
- Undivided share of landUndivided share of land (UDS) is a flat owner’s proportionate share in the land on which an apartment building stands, owned jointly with the other flat owners and not marked out separately.
Land units
- AcreA land unit of 43,560 square feet.
- AnkanamAnkanam is a small land unit used in Andhra Pradesh and Telangana, especially around Tirupati and Nellore. One ankanam is 72 sq ft, which is 8 square yards, and it is mostly used for house sites and small urban plots.
- BighaA traditional land unit whose size differs from state to state.
- BiswaOne-twentieth of a bigha in most North Indian states.
- CentOne-hundredth of an acre — 435.6 sq ft — used in Kerala and Tamil Nadu.
- Decimal (dismil)Decimal, also written dismil, is a land unit equal to one hundredth of an acre, or 435.6 sq ft. It is used in West Bengal, Bihar, Jharkhand and Odisha, and it is the same size as the cent used in South India.
- GajA square yard — 9 square feet — widely used for plots in North India.
- GroundA Tamil Nadu land unit of 2,400 sq ft.
- GunthaOne-fortieth of an acre — 1,089 sq ft — used in Maharashtra, Karnataka and Gujarat.
- HectareA hectare is a metric land unit of exactly 10,000 square metres — a square 100 metres on each side. It is about 107,639 sq ft or 2.471 acres, and it is the unit used in many government land records and acquisition notices.
- JamabandiJamabandi is the record of rights in Punjab, Haryana, Himachal Pradesh and Rajasthan that lists the owners and cultivators of each piece of village land, with khasra numbers, shares and areas.
- KanalKanal is a land unit used in Punjab, Haryana, Himachal Pradesh, Jammu and Kashmir and parts of Delhi. One kanal is 20 marla, which is 5,445 sq ft on the revenue marla and 4,500 sq ft where the 225 sq ft urban marla is used.
- KathaA land unit used in eastern India — 720 sq ft in West Bengal.
- KhatauniKhatauni is the record of rights in Uttar Pradesh, Uttarakhand and parts of north India that lists the land holdings (khatas) of each landholder in a village, with khasra numbers and areas.
- Marla and kanalLand units in Punjab, Haryana and nearby — a kanal is 20 marla.
- MutationMutation is the change of owner’s name in the revenue or municipal records after a property is sold, gifted or inherited, so that land records and tax bills show the new owner.
- Patta and chittaPatta and chitta are Tamil Nadu land records: the patta records who holds land with its survey numbers, and the chitta records the land’s extent, type and the holder in the village accounts.
- Property cardA property card is the land record for a plot in a city survey (urban) area of Maharashtra, including Mumbai and Pune, showing the city survey number, area, holder and any charges.
- RTC (pahani)RTC, or pahani, is Karnataka’s land record for agricultural land, showing the survey number, extent, owner, tenancy, crops grown and any loans or charges on the land.
Legal and documents
- 7/12 extractMaharashtra’s land record extract showing ownership and cultivation details.
- Agreement for saleThe contract that sets the terms of a sale before ownership is transferred.
- Allotment letterAn allotment letter is the document a developer issues after a booking, confirming the unit allotted to the buyer — tower, floor, unit number, area and price — before the agreement for sale is signed.
- Builder-buyer agreementA builder-buyer agreement is the contract between a developer and a buyer of an under-construction unit, setting the price, payment plan, specifications, possession date and each side’s obligations.
- Commencement certificate (CC)Permission from the local authority to start construction.
- Completion certificateA completion certificate is the document issued by the local planning authority confirming that a building has been built according to the sanctioned plan and building rules.
- Conveyance deedA conveyance deed is a deed that transfers title; in apartment housing it usually means the deed by which the developer transfers the land and common areas to the flat owners’ society or association, separate from each buyer’s own sale deed.
- e-StampStamp duty paid electronically, with a certificate instead of stamp paper.
- Encumbrance certificateAn encumbrance certificate is a statement from the sub-registrar’s office listing the registered transactions on a property — sales, mortgages, gifts, leases — over a chosen period.
- Escalation clauseAn escalation clause is the term in a rent or lease agreement that fixes how much the rent rises on renewal or each year — usually a set percentage — so neither side has to renegotiate from scratch.
- KhataA property’s record in the municipal register, used for property tax — common in Karnataka.
- Leave and licenceThe rental agreement used in Maharashtra, which must be registered.
- Lock-in periodThe time during which neither party can end a rental agreement without a penalty.
- Model Tenancy Act, 2021The Model Tenancy Act, 2021 is a central model law that states can adopt to regulate renting: written agreements reported to a Rent Authority, capped deposits, and fast-track rent courts and tribunals.
- Notice period (rentals)A notice period in a rental is the advance written notice an owner or tenant must give before ending the agreement — commonly one to three months — as set in the rent or leave-and-licence agreement.
- Occupancy certificate (OC)The local authority’s certificate that a building is fit to occupy.
- Possession letterA possession letter is the document a developer issues stating the date on which the buyer can take physical possession of the unit, usually after the occupancy certificate and final payment.
- Power of attorneyA power of attorney is a written authority by which a property owner lets another person act for them — a general power of attorney (GPA) for many acts, a special power of attorney (SPA) for named acts.
- Property documentsThe papers buyers and lenders check before a deal.
- Rent agreementA rent agreement is the written contract between an owner and a tenant setting the rent, deposit, term, notice period and house rules; in India most are made for 11 months.
- RERAThe law that regulates real estate projects and agents, enforced by a RERA authority in each state.
- RERA registration numberThe unique number a state RERA authority gives a registered project or agent.
- Sale deedThe registered document that transfers ownership from seller to buyer.
- Society NOCA society NOC is a letter from a co-operative housing society or apartment association stating that it has no objection to a member selling, letting or mortgaging their flat, and that dues are clear.
- Tenant police verificationSubmitting a tenant’s details to the local police, required in many cities.
- Title deedA title deed is the registered document that proves how the current owner acquired a property — a sale deed, gift deed, partition deed, will with probate or a conveyance — and so proves their title.
- Title searchA title search is a lawyer’s check of a property’s ownership history, records and approvals to confirm that the seller can transfer a clear, marketable title free of hidden claims.
Money and tax
- Agreement valueAgreement value is the price the buyer and seller actually agree in the sale document; market value is the government-assessed value for the property, and stamp duty is paid on the higher of the two.
- BrokerageThe broker’s fee for a transaction — a percentage of the deal value, or months of rent.
- Capital gains on propertyCapital gains on property is the profit made when a house, flat or land is sold for more than its cost; it is taxed as short-term or long-term gain depending on how long the seller held it.
- Circle rateA circle rate is the minimum value per square metre or square foot that a state government fixes for property in an area, below which a sale is not valued for stamp duty and registration.
- Construction-linked plan (CLP)A payment plan where instalments fall due as construction milestones are reached.
- Corpus fundA corpus fund is a one-time deposit the builder collects from each buyer at possession, to be handed to the residents’ association as a reserve for major repairs and capital expenses.
- Cost sheetThe itemised price of a unit: base price, premiums, charges and taxes.
- Demand letterA builder’s request for the next instalment when a milestone is reached.
- Distress saleA distress sale is the sale of a property at below market price because the owner needs money quickly — for a loan default, medical bills, a business need, a transfer abroad or a family dispute.
- Floor riseAn extra charge per square foot for each floor above a set level.
- Home loan sanction letterA home loan sanction letter is the lender’s written approval of a loan, stating the amount, interest rate, tenure, EMI and the conditions the borrower must meet before money is disbursed.
- Loan disbursementLoan disbursement is the lender’s release of the home loan money to the seller or builder — all at once for a resale or ready flat, or in stages for an under-construction one.
- Loan-to-value ratioThe loan-to-value ratio is the home loan amount as a percentage of the property’s value; RBI caps it in slabs, so the buyer must pay the rest as their own contribution.
- Maintenance chargesMaintenance charges are the monthly or quarterly amounts flat owners pay to the society, association or builder for running common areas — security, cleaning, lifts, electricity and repairs.
- PLCA premium for a unit’s better location — park-facing, corner, higher view.
- Pre-EMIPre-EMI is the interest-only payment a home loan borrower makes on the amount disbursed so far, before the full loan is released and regular EMIs of principal and interest begin.
- Price per square footThe price divided by the area — the standard way to compare properties.
- Property taxProperty tax is the annual tax that a municipal corporation or local body levies on owners of buildings and land in its area, used to fund civic services such as roads, drainage and street lights.
- Registration chargesFees paid to register a property document with the sub-registrar.
- Rental yieldAnnual rent as a percentage of the property’s price.
- Security depositMoney the tenant pays the owner up front, refundable at the end of the tenancy.
- Sinking fundA sinking fund is money a housing society collects from members and keeps aside for major future repairs, structural work or reconstruction of the building, separate from routine maintenance.
- Stamp dutyThe state tax paid on property documents such as sale deeds and agreements.
- Subvention schemeA plan where the builder pays the pre-EMI interest on the buyer’s loan for a period.
- TDS on property purchaseTax a buyer must deduct from the payment to the seller on purchases above a threshold.
- Token amountA small advance that shows a buyer or tenant is serious and holds the property.
- Transfer feeA transfer fee is the amount a housing society charges when a flat changes hands and membership moves from the seller to the buyer; the permitted amount depends on state law and the bye-laws.
Sales
- BookingThe step where a buyer commits to a unit by paying the booking amount.
- Call dispositionA call disposition is the outcome recorded after a call — such as connected-interested, RNR, busy, switched off, wrong number, call back later or not interested — used to decide the next action and to measure how a calling team performs.
- Call trackingCall tracking is recording every business call — who called whom, when, for how long, and the outcome — and linking it to the lead, so managers can see follow-up activity and, with a tracking number, which ad or listing made the phone ring.
- Channel partner (CP)A broker who sells a builder’s project for a brokerage.
- Click-to-callClick-to-call is starting a phone call by tapping a number or call button in an app or website instead of dialling it by hand — used by agents to call leads from the CRM, and by buyers to call a broker from a listing or ad.
- Co-brokingTwo brokers working one deal — one with the buyer, one with the property — and sharing the brokerage.
- Conversion rateConversion rate is the share of leads that reach a chosen next stage — for example leads to site visits, visits to bookings, or leads to closed deals — calculated as the number that converted divided by the number that could have, times 100.
- EOIA refundable amount buyers pay to register interest in a new project, often before launch.
- Follow-upA follow-up is the next planned contact with a lead — a call, WhatsApp message, email or visit — with a date and time set at the end of the previous conversation, so that no enquiry goes quiet because someone forgot to get back.
- Hot, warm and cold leadsHot, warm and cold leads are a three-level way to rate how ready an enquiry is to buy or rent: a hot lead wants to act soon and fits your inventory, a warm lead is interested but undecided, and a cold lead is early, vague or not responding.
- IVRIVR (Interactive Voice Response) is an automated phone menu that greets callers and routes them by key press or speech — for example “press 1 for buying, 2 for renting” — before connecting them to the right team or taking a message.
- LeadOne enquiry or opportunity — someone who wants to buy, rent, sell or let a property.
- Lead managementLead management is the process of capturing enquiries, assigning them to the right person, following up until the buyer or tenant either converts or drops out, and recording every step so nothing is lost between people or channels.
- Lead rotationMoving an untouched lead to another agent after a set time.
- Lead scoringLead scoring is giving each lead a number or grade that estimates how likely it is to convert, based on what you know — budget fit, timeline, response to calls, site visits, and how the enquiry arrived — so agents call the best leads first.
- MandateAn owner’s authorisation to a broker to sell or rent a property — exclusive or not.
- NRI buyerAn Indian citizen living abroad, buying or renting out property in India.
- Pre-salesThe team that qualifies new leads by phone and books visits for the closers.
- Real estate ERPA real estate ERP (enterprise resource planning) system runs a developer’s back office — land, project planning, procurement, contractor billing, construction progress, accounts and customer collections — whereas a real estate CRM runs the sales side: leads, follow-ups, site visits and bookings.
- RequirementWhat a buyer or tenant wants: budget, BHK, localities, possession and more.
- RNRA call that rang but wasn’t answered.
- Round-robin assignmentGiving new leads to agents in turn, so everyone gets a fair share.
- Sales pipelineA sales pipeline is the set of stages a lead or deal moves through from first enquiry to closing — for example new, contacted, qualified, site visit, negotiation, token, booked or agreement — showing how many deals sit at each stage and their value.
- Site visitA buyer or tenant visiting a property or project with an agent.
- Site visit conversion rateSite visit conversion rate is the share of site visits that lead to a booking, token or agreement — bookings divided by completed visits, times 100 — and sometimes also the share of booked visits that actually happen (visit show-up rate).
- Speed to leadHow quickly a new enquiry gets its first response.
- TelecallerA telecaller is the person who calls leads by phone — in real estate, the pre-sales executive who contacts new enquiries quickly, qualifies their budget and requirement, and books site visits for the sales team or closing managers.
- TelecallingTelecalling is making and taking phone calls to enquiries and prospects — in real estate, calling portal and ad leads to qualify their requirement, answer questions and book site visits — usually done by a dedicated pre-sales team.
- Unit blockingUnit blocking is reserving a specific project unit for a buyer for a short period — often 24 to 72 hours, sometimes against a small refundable amount — so no one else can sell it while the buyer arranges the token or booking amount.
- Unit inventoryUnit inventory is the live list of every unit in a project — tower, floor, unit number, type, area, facing, price and status (available, on hold, booked, sold) — that builders and channel partners use to know what can still be sold.
- Virtual numberA virtual number is a phone number provided by a cloud telephony company that is not tied to one SIM or desk phone; calls to it are routed over the internet to one or more agents’ phones, with logging, recording and IVR options.
- Virtual site visitA virtual site visit is showing a property or project to a buyer remotely — over a live video call, a recorded walkthrough or a 360° tour — so they can shortlist before travelling, which is useful for NRI buyers and buyers in another city.
Compliance
- Auto dialerAn auto dialer is software that places phone calls automatically from a list and connects the answered ones to an agent or a recorded message. In India, calls made by auto-diallers for commercial communication must be declared to the telecom operator in advance under TRAI’s rules.
- Cold callingCold calling is phoning people who have not enquired or shown interest — for example from a bought database or a society directory — to pitch a property or service. In India, promotional cold calls to numbers without consent are restricted by TRAI’s rules and the DND registry.
- Consent ledgerA record of who agreed to what, when, on which notice — and when they withdrew.
- Data fiduciaryA data fiduciary is the person or business that decides why and how personal data is processed, as defined in India’s Digital Personal Data Protection (DPDP) Act, 2023. A brokerage that collects buyers’ and owners’ details is the data fiduciary for that data.
- Data principalA data principal is the individual whose personal data is being processed, as defined in India’s Digital Personal Data Protection (DPDP) Act, 2023 — in real estate, the buyer, tenant, owner or visitor whose name, phone and preferences sit in a broker’s records.
- DLTTRAI’s system where businesses register as senders, with their SMS headers and templates.
- DNDA customer’s registered preference not to receive commercial calls or SMS.
- DPDP ActIndia’s law on how organisations collect and use personal data.
- Pre-launchPre-launch is the period before a real estate project is formally launched for sale, when a developer gauges demand and sometimes collects expressions of interest at an introductory price. In India, a project that needs RERA registration cannot be advertised or sold before it is registered.
- Principal entity (DLT)A principal entity (PE) is the business on whose behalf commercial SMS or calls are sent, registered on a telecom operator’s DLT platform under TRAI’s rules. The PE owns its headers and message templates and is responsible for the content and for having consent.
- SMS sender IDAn SMS sender ID, or header, is the short name or number shown as the sender of a business SMS in India, such as “AB-PZOLOR”. Every header must be registered by the sending business on a DLT platform, along with the message templates it will use.
- TCCCPRTRAI’s regulations on commercial SMS and calls in India.
- TRAI 7-day enquiry windowCommercial SMS and calls based on an enquiry are allowed only for seven days after it.
- WhatsApp opt-inWhatsApp opt-in is a customer’s permission for a business to message them on WhatsApp. Meta requires businesses on the WhatsApp Business Platform to get opt-in before sending messages, to say clearly what kind of messages they will send, and to honour requests to stop.
Marketing and WhatsApp
- Click-to-WhatsApp ads (CTWA)Facebook or Instagram ads that open a WhatsApp chat with the business.
- Conversions API (CAPI)Sending conversion events from your systems to Meta so ads can optimise.
- Cost per lead (CPL)Cost per lead (CPL) is the money spent on a marketing channel divided by the number of leads it produced in the same period — for example ₹50,000 of ads that bring 250 enquiries cost ₹200 per lead.
- Drip campaignA drip campaign is a planned series of messages sent automatically to a lead over days or weeks — for example a welcome on day 0, a brochure on day 2 and a visit invitation on day 5 — stopping when the lead replies, books or opts out.
- Lead attributionLead attribution is deciding which marketing source or touchpoint gets credit for a lead and, later, for the booking it produced — first touch, last touch or shared across several — so that budget goes to the channels that actually bring buyers.
- Lead formA lead form is a short enquiry form attached to an ad or page that collects a prospect’s name, phone and a few answers. Meta instant forms and Google Ads lead forms open inside the ad, prefilled from the user’s account, so the person does not visit your website.
- Lead generationLead generation in real estate is the work of producing enquiries from people who may buy, rent, sell or let out property — through portal listings, social and search ads, a website, referrals, channel partners, hoardings and events.
- Lead nurturingLead nurturing is staying in useful, permitted contact with leads who are not ready to buy or rent yet — sharing matching listings, price updates, project progress and answers — so that they come back to you when they are ready.
- Lead sourceA lead source is where an enquiry came from — a portal such as 99acres, a Meta or Google ad, the website, a referral, a walk-in or a channel partner — recorded on the lead so the team can measure which channels produce visits and bookings.
- Lookalike audienceA lookalike audience is a group of people an ad platform such as Meta finds because they resemble a source list you provide — for example past buyers or leads who booked a visit — used to reach new prospects similar to your best customers.
- Marketing automationMarketing automation is software that runs repeatable marketing steps without someone doing them by hand — sending scheduled messages, reacting to triggers such as a new enquiry or a missed visit, updating lead fields and creating tasks — based on rules you set.
- RetargetingRetargeting is showing ads to people who have already interacted with you — visited your project page, watched a video, opened a lead form or are existing leads — to bring them back, usually on Meta, Google or YouTube.
- UTM parametersUTM parameters are tags added to the end of a link — utm_source, utm_medium, utm_campaign and optionally utm_content and utm_term — that tell analytics tools and your CRM where a website visitor or form lead came from.
- WhatsApp 24-hour windowAfter a customer messages you, you can reply freely for 24 hours; after that only templates.
- WhatsApp Business PlatformMeta’s official way for businesses to message customers on WhatsApp at scale.
- WhatsApp CRMA WhatsApp CRM is a CRM that sends and receives WhatsApp messages inside each lead’s record — usually through the official WhatsApp Business Platform — so the whole team shares one inbox, uses approved templates and keeps chat history with the lead.
- WhatsApp message templateA WhatsApp message template is a pre-approved message format that a business must use to start a conversation or message a customer outside the 24-hour service window. Meta reviews each template and places it in one of three categories: marketing, utility or authentication.
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