Upgrad
LCI Learning

Share on Facebook

Share on Twitter

Share on LinkedIn

Share on Email

Share More

raju mahajan (manager)     06 April 2013

Unregistered lease litigation

 

Unregistered lease agreement of more than 15 years - Property Law Forum - Law, Lawyers, Advocates, Law Firms,Legal Help, Legal Experts,Judgements,Law Help, Indian Lawyers

Please advise me on the following issue....

 

Dear Sirs/Madams i have purchased a property i.e. Land plus building where a Commercial entity used to operate few years back....it is closed since 10.09.2006 .

Let me explain the situation....

The lessee offered to sell the building along with the land which he had taken on unregistered lease from the lessor. I was aware of the fact that he was not the owner of the land therefore i questioned him how can he sell their land. He replied saying he had a discussion with the owners and they have too have agreed to sell their land. i beleived him and then made a written bainanama agreement wherein his son was the witness....on a 10 rupees stamp paper ...... i kept the condition that either he would buy the property in his name first and then sell the same to me or get the owners to sell directly to me ...all on his own responsibility....i further kept the condition that since there is huge dues of rent, staff salaries,etc,.....all the previous dues of staff, security guard, rent dues, etc have to be cleared by the lessee and then he has to take out his furnitures like chairs, benches,,,machineries only leaving the building and land......The total land is 0.48 acre.

 

it so happened that after around 2 years lessee puchased 0.14 acre in his son's name and then gave us registry of the same..... i further mention that this particular land position is the front portion of the buildingl......then 2 more years passed but they could not give us registry of the remaining land and then he told us orally that he cant get the remainig land for us and therefore if i want i can purchase the remaining and from the owners directly.....i got the remaining land registered from the land owners directly and then completed the mutation as well.

Now the problem is that he is not giving us possession of the property and applied to different authorities to reopen the cinema hall....On knowing we have filed objections to all suh authorities.

My queries are:

1. Is their unregistered lease enforceable as the lease is more than 15 years old and is an unregistered one? 

2. Since he have purchased a part of the land in his son's name and gave us the registry of the same....Does that terminate the lease agreement?

3. The agreed consideration mentioned in the bainanama agreement whose copy is only with me... was much more than the total sale deed value ......Does that have any legal bindings toward me? Can they demand more money for that? 

4. I want to know that if i forcefully vacate the land and buildingl and take the possession of the same then in legal way can they object my possession? 

plz reply .....

Thanking you.

M Hossain

 



Learning

 7 Replies

Rajendra Shrivastava (advocate)     06 April 2013

problem no. 123 s answer is yes 4 s answer is no.

Adv k . mahesh (advocate)     06 April 2013

the litigation is very big before answering first consult a local lawyer and show him the points of your bainanama because what terms you have mentioned in that is also a point 

1, unregistered will have many complications in future like now and anytime once if you register the document then no one even court will not have can vacate you 

2. your told he bought on his sons name and gave registry on your name means only on unregistered document again why cant your deal directly with the owners of that land and make the registration on your name with proper stamp duty 

3. if the consideration is more then make registration as pr the market value and register 

4. yes they can vacate but only with unregistered document you have to take possession again time cosuming before court 

in all it is better to register land with proper stamp duty paid 

raju mahajan (manager)     06 April 2013

Thank you ...Mr rajendra and Mr. mahesh...

Further query...to Mr. Rajendra

1. Again i want to know that is an unregistered lease agreement valid??  The agreement is more than 15 years old

2. The lease agreement which he is showing to me has only the signature of land owners....The lessee's signature is not there at all so is it a valid lease agreement...?

3. There is a condition in the lease agreement that  the lessee can only use the land till he operates his business but once he stops the operation he shall have vacate the premises. The lessee have not done his business activities from last 6 years. Does that indicate that his Lease has been terminated ?

 

 

To....Mr. Mahesh

Reply to No.2

2. I have got into an a Bainanama agreement with lessee who had promised to get the deal done acting as a mediator between the land owners and me..... since he had an unregistered lease agreement with the land owner he was trying to blackmail the land owners saying he would never vacate their land for that reason he tried to convince tem saying it is better for them if they sell their land to him....but the he offered to the land owners was too less for tem to sell the land....therefore he could not get te deal done and surrendered saying to me that it is better if i get the deal done directly with the land owners..... so when i called the owners directly they agreed and sold the lnad directly to me via registry and .... now te problem is that the lessee ( also the mediator ) is in possession and does not want to vacate the land and buildings.... also he is blackmailing saying he would again start his business operation there.....

1.Now the question is does the lessee have any right to possess the said land?

2. If i forcefully vacate the land ? can any authority object? i frgotto mention te said land is recorded inmy name fully....

aruna (Partner)     06 April 2013

Firstly, unregistred lease agreements are not enfoceable in the courts except for the purpose of specific performance;

Secondly, I understand, as of now, the entire land is registered in your name including part of the land being sold by the Lessee himself. You are the absolute owner of the property and therefore you can certainly initiate legal proceedings against that so-called lessee. He is not any lessee but is in unlawful possession of your property. You can initiate civil and criminal proceedings against that person.

raju mahajan (manager)     06 April 2013

Thank You ms aruna....as of now you have understood the entire situation perfectly...Now can you please tell me what can be specific performance? like for example.....

One more thing is that under which section of which act unregistered lease  is not enforceable under law?

aruna (Partner)     07 April 2013

Specific Performance is not applicable to your case and so lets not get into it.

Further, as per Registration Act, 1908, documents which are compulsorily required to be registered under law, if unregistered, the Parties cannot enforce the same in the court of law.

raju mahajan (manager)     07 April 2013

Thank you Ms Aruna.....


Leave a reply

Your are not logged in . Please login to post replies

Click here to Login / Register