New Delhi, Nov. 18 -- The Maharashtra government plans to include the names of individual flat owners in land records and issue 'vertical property cards' to them, stating their share in a property. The new cards will provide clear legal proof of a person's ownership, potentially benefiting thousands of homeowners, buyers and lenders.

Mint explains how.

The proposed vertical property card would serve as a legal document showing two main things: the total land area of the building and a flat owner's individual share of that land. It may serve as a supplementary document to the main property card.

For instance, a single building or housing society may have 100 different flat owners, but the current property records don't clearly divide th...