Answer six questions to organise the records to check before buying or building near a lake, tank, nala or storm-water drain. This tool creates a checklist; it does not search government records or determine the legal status of a property.
Open the official HMDA lakes portal to search published records. Missing results are not a clearance. For help reading the records, see our FTL and buffer-zone guide.
Nothing is submitted or stored. The checklist is generated in your browser.
Full Tank Level (FTL) is the level a lake or tank reaches when full — and the land area within that boundary. Buffer zone is a prescribed no-construction strip beyond the FTL. The published guidance specifies 30 metres for lakes/tanks/kuntas of 10 hectares and above and 9 metres for those below 10 hectares, measured from the FTL boundary. For canals, vagus, nalas and storm-water drains, it specifies 9 metres from the defined boundary where the watercourse is more than 10 metres wide and 2 metres where it is up to 10 metres wide. Construction within the FTL is impermissible, and construction within the buffer is restricted.
In practice, disputes are rarely about the principle. They are about where the boundary actually falls on your plot, and what record fixes it. The checklist helps organise that investigation. Certified records and a site survey may be needed; the answers here cannot establish a boundary. See G.O.Ms.No.168, rule 3(a) and the HYDRAA FAQs, and verify current site-specific restrictions. Guidance checked: 19 September 2026.
This tool is for checking before you buy or build. If a notice has already been issued or a signboard erected, the position and the timelines are different.
Your rights if you received a notice →The HMDA lakes portal at lakes.hmda.gov.in is the primary public source. You select district, mandal or circle and village, or search by lake name or lake ID. For each lake it publishes the lake ID, the dates of preliminary and final notification, the FTL map, the cadastral map, and a statement of survey numbers and areas affected in the FTL and buffer zone.
A lake's boundary is first published as a preliminary notification, inviting objections, and later as a final notification. The stage matters: where only a preliminary notification exists, the demarcation is not yet concluded, and that can be relevant both to objections you may file and to any later challenge. Always read the actual notification and check its dates, objection deadline and any later correction or order. A blank final-date field is not permission to build.
Published guidance specifies 30 metres from the FTL boundary for lakes/tanks/kuntas of 10 hectares and above and 9 metres for those below 10 hectares. For canals, vagus, nalas and storm-water drains, it specifies 9 metres from the defined boundary where the watercourse is more than 10 metres wide and 2 metres where it is up to 10 metres wide. Confirm the classification, certified boundary and current restrictions.
Approvals matter a great deal but do not by themselves answer an FTL or buffer claim, and a seller cannot convey a better title than they hold. Verify the FTL and cadastral position independently on the portal against your survey number, and keep every approval, plan and receipt.
Not necessarily. Buffer restrictions also apply around nalas and storm-water drains, which are often built over or invisible on the ground while still appearing on drain alignment records. Check the drain alignment as well as the lake polygons.
It does not automatically mean the whole plot is affected, because the listing is by survey number and area, and boundaries can pass through a survey number. This is precisely the point at which to obtain the FTL and cadastral maps, get the position on the ground examined, and take advice before paying any further amount.
No. It produces a checklist of public records to verify and documents to obtain, as a free public awareness resource. It gives no opinion on any particular property. Have the actual documents examined before you commit money.
Contacting the firm is your own initiative and creates no advocate–client relationship.
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