Kattha, decimal, sq.ft — what you are actually buying

West Bengal uses Kattha as its everyday land unit, and the trouble starts immediately: a Kattha is not a fixed national measure. In and around Asansol, one Kattha is taken as 720 sq.ft. Cross into Bihar and the same word means roughly 1,361 sq.ft. Search the term without adding your state and you will get the wrong answer with total confidence.

So the first rule is simple. Whatever unit a seller quotes, ask for the figure in square feet as well, and check that it matches the deed.

You will encounter all three of these on a single transaction, often on the same afternoon.

• Kattha — the conversational unit. 1 Kattha = 720 sq.ft in this region. Plots are advertised as '2 Kattha', '3 Kattha'.
• Square feet — how the price is actually calculated. A 2 Kattha plot is 1,440 sq.ft.
• Decimal — what appears on the record of rights and in older deeds. 1 decimal = 435.6 sq.ft, so 1 Kattha ≈ 1.653 decimals.

Two failure modes account for almost every dispute we have watched play out.

The first is the frontage trick. Two plots can both be 1,440 sq.ft while one is 30ft wide and 48ft deep and the other is 20ft by 72ft. On the narrow one you will struggle to fit a standard three-bedroom layout with setbacks. Always ask for the dimensions, not just the area.

The second is buying on the mouza map alone. The map shows a plot number; it does not show what has since been sold off, gifted, or partitioned out of it. The record of rights and the current mutation do. Ask for both.

Take five things away from any first site visit: the plot number, the area in both Kattha and sq.ft, the frontage and depth in feet, the road width, and the name currently on the mutation. If a seller cannot give you all five on the spot, that is the answer to your question.