Field note · coastal second homes
Weekend homes on the coast are chosen on a Sunday afternoon and lived with for twenty years. The checks take about a fortnight, and the feature that sells the villa, the sea view, is the one most likely to carry a legal condition.
The short version. Under the CRZ Notification, 2019, the no-development zone in less crowded coastal stretches runs 200 metres from the high tide line. Check the plot against the approved coastal zone map, its land use against the 7/12 extract, and any rental pitch against net income rather than gross.
The coast
CRZ 2019
The Coastal Regulation Zone Notification, 2019 splits rural coastal areas by population density. In CRZ-III B, areas with fewer than 2,161 people per square kilometre, the no-development zone runs 200 metres landward from the high tide line. In denser CRZ-III A stretches, it is 50 metres.
A view that close to the water has to be checked against the approved coastal zone management plan for that stretch. A brochure, a drone shot or a seller’s description is not a substitute.
The land
Is the plot converted to non-agricultural use, and does the 7/12 extract say what the seller says it does? A villa on unconverted agricultural land is a different asset, and one an NRI cannot buy. The NRI desk covers what can be bought from abroad.
A title search going back decades, mutation entries in order, and no heirs missing from the chain. Rural titles break most often at an unrecorded inheritance.
A road on a layout plan is not a right of way. Confirm the access is recorded, not just used.
Ask what the borewell gives in May, not in October.
The rental pitch
Worked example with illustrative numbers. It is not a yield promised or offered on any property.
| Nights let | Gross rent | Operator fee | Fixed costs | You keep | Net on price |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 120 | ₹24.0 lakh | ₹4.8 lakh | ₹5.5 lakh | ₹13.7 lakh | 4.6% |
| 80 | ₹16.0 lakh | ₹3.2 lakh | ₹5.5 lakh | ₹7.3 lakh | 2.4% |
Reading it
At 120 nights the gross reads as 8% on the price. After the operator and the fixed costs, it is 4.6%, before income tax. A third fewer nights almost halves the net, because staff, upkeep, insurance, property tax and utilities don’t fall when bookings do.
The price is not the whole outlay either. Stamp duty, registration and furnishing go on top, so the yield on what you actually spent is lower again. The rental yield calculator lets you put those costs in.
Before signing a managed-rental agreement, ask for month-by-month occupancy records from a villa the operator already runs, whether the fee is on gross or net revenue, how many nights you can use the house yourself, and what happens to the agreement if you sell.
Buy a coastal home for the weekends you’ll spend in it, and count any rent as help with the running costs.
This note explains a regulation and a piece of arithmetic. It is not legal or tax advice, and GST and income tax on rent are deliberately left out because they depend on how the letting is set up. Verify CRZ status and title through your own advocate.
Questions
Under the CRZ Notification, 2019, rural stretches with fewer than 2,161 people per square kilometre (CRZ-III B) have a 200 metre no-development zone from the high tide line; denser rural stretches (CRZ-III A) have 50 metres. Check the specific plot against the approved coastal zone management plan.
Not on unconverted agricultural land. NRIs can buy residential property, but agricultural land, plantation property and farmhouses are outside what they can acquire. Confirm the plot’s non-agricultural conversion on the 7/12 extract first.
It depends mostly on nights let, because the fixed costs don’t fall when bookings do. In an illustrative example, a ₹3 crore villa at ₹20,000 a night nets about 4.6% at 120 nights and 2.4% at 80 nights, before tax. Ask any operator for real occupancy records, not projections.
Send me the location and the pitch. I’ll run the net numbers and tell you which checks the plot needs before a token.