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Due Diligence on a Managed Farmland Project: the 20-Point Checklist (2026)
Twenty written checks for a farmland project where someone else farms the land, grouped into five blocks.
Buying managed farmland means buying land and a relationship. This checklist gives twenty points in five blocks, from title to exit. Each asks for a paper, not a promise, so you can tell a titled plot with a service contract from a pooled scheme.
How to use this checklist
A managed farmland project has two layers: the land, and the arrangement wrapped around it. The standard land checks in our land due diligence checklist still apply. This 20-point list adds the checks that only matter when someone else farms the land, or when your money joins other buyers' money. It is grouped in five blocks: title, land use, structure and regulation, money and contracts, and site and operations.
For each point, ask the operator for the document in writing and note the date it arrived. Do not accept a verbal answer, and do not accept a presentation slide in place of a paper. If a point does not apply to the structure on offer, write "not applicable" and the reason. Each unanswered point is a reason to pause payment. This is a checklist for buyers, not a legal opinion; get a lawyer to read the papers.
Start with one question that shapes the rest: what exactly will be registered in my name? If the answer is a registered sale deed for a numbered plot, the checklist is mostly a land purchase with a service contract. If the answer is anything else, the structure and regulation block becomes the most important part.
Block A: Title and records (points 1 to 6)
- Seller's title chain. Ask for the registered deeds going back through the owners; our chain of title guide explains what a continuous chain looks like.
- Current land record. Download the jamabandi, khatauni or equivalent and match the owner, area and survey numbers. See check land records online.
- Mutation history. Confirm each past transfer was mutated in the record. See the mutation guide.
- Encumbrance search. Order an encumbrance certificate for the parent land and for the plot. See the encumbrance certificate guide.
- Litigation and acquisition search. Check for court cases and government notices; see checking land for litigation and acquisition notices.
- Seller identity and authority. If a company, LLP or power-of-attorney holder is selling, confirm its authority; see verify seller identity and authority.
Title is the same question as in any land purchase, but the stakes are higher because the operator may assemble the parent tract from many small farmer holdings. Each source parcel has its own chain. If the tract was bought from many owners, ask for a list of every parent deed.
Block B: Land use and access (points 7 to 9)
- Land-use status. Read the recorded land use. If the pitch involves buildings, ask for the land-use change order; see CLU in India.
- Master-plan zone. Place the land on the master plan; see land use zones explained.
- Access and boundaries. Check legal road access and boundary demarcation; see land demarcation.
A farm-management scheme can be perfectly legal on agricultural land, but a scheme that also sells "villa" or "farmhouse" rights needs the right use and, where a state requires it, permission. See farmhouse rules in India and CLU for a farmhouse versus CLU for plotting.
Block C: Structure and regulation (points 10 to 14)
- What you receive. A registered sale deed for a numbered, surveyed plot is the safer answer. A unit, share or membership is a different asset.
- Pooling. Is your money pooled with other investors and managed on their behalf? If yes, ask the operator for a written statement of why it does or does not need SEBI registration under the Collective Investment Schemes Regulations, 1999.
- RERA position. For plotted projects with shared infrastructure, ask for the RERA registration or the specific exemption relied on; see how to check RERA registration and RERA and farmland.
- Entity papers. If a company, LLP or society is involved, get its incorporation documents, current directors and latest filed accounts. We could not confirm the exact Companies Act or LLP Act sections; ask your lawyer which filings apply.
- Who can buy. Confirm you are eligible to hold agricultural land in that state; see state-wise purchase rules.
This block is where managed farmland differs most from a normal purchase. In the SEBI Regulations we read, a collective investment scheme is defined by reference to section 11AA of the SEBI Act, and Regulation 3 says only a registered Collective Investment Management Company may run one. The earlier wording of the definition covered pooled subscriptions managed for investors who lack day-to-day control, whether or not there are identifiable properties. We could not read the current text of section 11AA, so ask for a legal view on the actual papers. Read managed farmland explained for the structures.
Block D: Money and contracts (points 15 to 18)
- The purchase agreement. Read it with reading a plot buyer agreement. Check payment schedule, possession date and cancellation terms.
- The management contract. It should be separate from the deed, cancellable, and state the fee as an amount or formula, the term, and what happens to the plot on termination.
- Return claims. Any projected return must be labelled as a projection with its assumptions. A fixed or assured return is a red flag; see the red flags guide.
- Exit. Can you sell your plot to anyone, or only back to the operator? Get the answer in the contract, not the brochure.
Check how payments are made. Pay only to the account of the entity named in the agreement, by traceable banking channel, and keep every receipt. If the agreement names a forfeiture amount for cancellation, note that under the Indian Contract Act, 1872, section 74, a party may recover only reasonable compensation not exceeding the named sum.
Block E: Site and verification (points 19 and 20)
- Site visit. Walk the plot with the survey number and a map; see the site visit checklist. Check water, crop condition and who is actually farming.
- Independent legal opinion. Have a lawyer with no tie to the operator read items 1 to 19; see what the lawyer checks.
Score yourself
Count the points where you hold a paper answer. Fewer than all twenty means a named gap; write the gaps down and ask the operator for a date to close each. Do not count a point as done on a verbal assurance.
After you decide to proceed
Register the sale deed promptly, pay the correct stamp duty (see stamp duty and registration charges by state), apply for mutation and keep dated copies of the paid receipts. Put the management contract in the same file as the deed. Set a calendar reminder to download the land record each year and compare it with your deed.
Farmland India's own review of a project is described in how we review a project. It uses documents the developer submits and does not replace your lawyer's opinion.
What is unconfirmed
- The current text of section 11AA of the SEBI Act.
- Companies Act and LLP Act sections that apply to entities holding land for investors.
- State rules on fragmentation of agricultural holdings, which vary by state.
- Tax treatment of income from farm-management arrangements under the Income-tax Act, 2025. Tax rules change; check the current year with a tax adviser.
