Property and real estate law

The work

A registered sale deed records that an instrument was executed. It is not an adjudication that the seller owned what he sold. Most property litigation traces back to a defect that was visible in the record before the money moved, which is why a share of this practice is verification rather than litigation.

When clients come with this

• You are about to pay an advance and the papers have not been examined.
• A co-owner, sibling or heir has surfaced claiming a share.
• A seller has taken your money and will not execute the deed.
• A builder has not delivered, or has delivered less than was sold.
• Somebody is in possession of your property and will not leave.
• Property you inherited stands recorded in another name in the revenue records.

What this covers

• Title suits, partition and declaration
• Specific performance and injunction proceedings
• Possession, eviction and encroachment matters
• Builder disputes over delay, area and specification
• Thirty-year title searches and written title opinions
• Drafting and vetting of agreements, conveyances and settlements

Verification before payment, not before registration

Buyers routinely instruct a lawyer after the advance has been paid and days before registration, which is the point at which advice is least useful. By then the money has moved, the bargaining position has gone, and a defect discovered converts a negotiation into a dispute.

A proper examination traces the chain for thirty years or to the first grant, reads the encumbrance certificate alongside a CERSAI search, checks revenue records and mutation, confirms approvals and land use with the development authority, and searches for litigation in the names of every owner in the chain. It takes seven to ten working days and costs a fraction of what the transaction is worth.

Defects that recur

Four problems account for most property litigation. A co-owner or legal heir who never signed and can seek partition years later. A loan shown as closed where the release was never registered and the originals never returned. Construction that departs from the sanctioned plan, which makes that part unauthorised and unfinanceable. And a suit pending at the time of purchase, which binds the buyer under the doctrine of lis pendens regardless of good faith.

None of these is exotic and none is invisible. Each is discoverable from records available before payment, which is the whole argument for doing the work in that order.

Suits, and choosing the right one

Where a dispute has already arisen, the remedy has to be matched to the objective. A seller who refuses to complete after taking the money calls for a suit for specific performance, which must be brought promptly and requires the buyer to show continuous readiness and willingness. A co-owner denying your share calls for partition. A trespasser in possession calls for a suit for possession, and if you were dispossessed within six months, the summary remedy under Section 6 of the Specific Relief Act is faster than anything else available.

Choosing wrongly costs years. A declaration obtained where possession was needed leaves you with a decree and no house.

Builder disputes

Delay, altered layouts, area shortfalls and one-sided agreements are the standing complaints against developers, and the remedy depends on what you now want. Possession is generally pursued before the real estate regulator. Refund with interest and compensation is generally pursued before the consumer commission. Where the developer is insolvent, the buyer becomes a claimant before the NCLT and the calculus changes entirely.

The agreement is examined first, because the clauses on delay compensation, forfeiture and dispute resolution decide how much of the grievance is actually actionable and where.