Yes, IT's your dream house. But make sure you are not shelling out those big bucks for any castle in the air.

With rising property rates, lucrative offers and easy payment options, investment in real estate has never so alluring. At least, that is what banks and builders would make you believe. But police records have a different story to tell.

If data available with them is to be believed, more and more real estate investors are struggling to cope with the downside of the property boom. Police said the number of people duped in fraudulent real estate deals in Delhi has almost tripled in the last two years.

UNDER SCANNER

• 9 cases under investigation for pre-launch fraud
  
• 15 Cooperative Group Housing Society scams
  
• 20 cases of sale of mortgaged property
  
• 14 cases of sale of govt land
  
• 30 cases of cheating Figures till February 28, 2008

• Check the land use of the property you are purchasing. This can be done at the respective cities' Town and Country Planning Office. In Delhi, contact the land owning agency, like the Municipal Corporation of Delhi or the Delhi Development Authority.
  
• Check whether the project has been approved by the government.
  
• Check that the property is free of any encum brance - mortgage, lease or sold to someone else.
  
• Check the title of the property or its registered owner.This can be done at the Revenue Office.
  
• Keep your eyes and ears open.
  
• Be rational. Don't buy property being offered at unreasonably low prices.

NCR AND NEIGHBOURING STATES
With a property boom in the NCR and cities in the neighbouring states, the police have been flooded with complaints about builders who operate from swanky offices in Delhi and offer bogus deals of apartments in lavish townships in the neighbouring states.

The police are probing cases against nine such builders but the actual number of victims runs into hundreds. The Economic Offences Wing has, in fact, exposed three such rackets recently.

DELHI
Resettlement colonies and urban villages are the hub of bogus deals for plots and flats. The police are investigating 14 cases where agricultural land, actually partly owned by the government, was sold for crores of rupees. "The sellers had fudged ownership documents in some cas- es. In most cases, the buyers did not even both- er to check the plots' ownership status," said a police officer.

In all, the police are currently investigating 162 cases of land and building fraud. "The increase in such frauds is mind-boggling. People need to be careful while buying a house or investing in real estate," said S.B.K. Singh, additional commissioner of police, Economic Offences Wing.

Bogus deals are on offer in Delhi as well as in the neighbouring cities.

Abdul Bari of Majestic Properties, one of Delhi's big real estate developers and agents, said such frauds are mostly reported in second-sale deals. "Buying a used property is fraught with danger and one should make sure it is free of all liability he said. Several builders ," have also bought land in urban villages like Katwaria Sarai and Kalu Sarai. The terms of purchase are shady and not prop erly recorded with the authorities. Despite this, the builders have constructed multi-storied buildings and sold off flats without proper permission, said an officer.

"We have cases where people have paid lakhs for these expensive flats but could not move in since the property was unauthorised," said an officer. Sale of mortgaged proper ty is also common. The Police said they are currently investigating 20 such cases where people were sold apartments al ready mortgaged with banks and financial institutions.

"In some cases, commercial complexes built on land allotted for residential pur pose have been sold for crores. The investors later faced trouble in acquiring property said an officer.