Jeetu (Manager) 06 July 2012

Non registered property gift

Hi all there, I have a house in my name in Bhopal, MP that was built in year 2001. Its has a ground floor and a first floor with three bedrooms. The house was built on a plot thaand t was bought by my father in my name arounf 25 yrs ago, and then me 1999 me and my dad put money to built the house, and we all shifted there in year 2001. Me and my family, my brother and his family, my mom and Dad lived there since it was built. In the year 2008, I moved to USA with my family but before that I gifted the first floor of my house to my brother on a Rs.100.00 stamp paper which was never registered. All the bill's i.e. property tax, electricity and water bill's are still in my name, but my brother, his family and my mom are still living there and have possession on the property, and since 2008, I am living abroad with my family. My Dad passed away in the year 2007. Now I don’t want to gift him any portion of the property because my mom has given/gifted all the family gold to his wife, that worth's more that what the house worths. Do I need to revoke that gift deed which was never registered by law?. Does my brother has any legal right because he has been living there since last 11 yrs. Thanks for you time and reply. Regards

Reply Follow

6 Replies

sridhar pasumarthy (ADVOCATE) 06 July 2012

An unregistered gift deed is not valid in the eye of law. It won't confer any rights on your brother. No need to revoke an invalid gift.

Simply because your brother lived in your house over a considerable period of time with your permission, he will not become owner of it.

Refer the recent supreme court judgment in the following attachment

Attached File : 788450947 sc(2012) judgment on possession.pdf downloaded: 190 times

Jeetu (Manager) 06 July 2012

Thank's Shirdhar, I read somewhere that even if the gift deed is not registered but the donee ha accepted it and has possession of the property and has lived there for atleast 12 years, he woud be he natural owner of the property.

Adv.R.P.Chugh (Advocate/Legal Consultant (rpchughadvocatesupremecourt@hotmail.com)) 06 July 2012

Dear Mr.Jeetu,

Such gift deed as it is, is ineffective in the eyes of law. Any document by which one purports to transfer immoveable property more than 100 rupees has to be compulsorily registered otherwise it is just worth the paper it is on !

And as regards your subsequent query as regards 12 years of living, that is also not applicable here because a title by adverse possession of 12 years is acquired only when the possession is hostile and adverse, if your brother was permitted to reside in the property gratitously and permissively he wont perfect his title even by a 100 years of living. Only when the situation turns hostile the period of 12 years has to be counted.

Hence in the ultimate analysis - your title is safe and secure, only getting him actually out would be a problem, as a civil suit would have to be filed but that too can be expediated by certain steps !

Good Luck !

1 Like

Rama chary Rachakonda (Secunderabad/Highcourt practice watsapp no.9989324294 ) 06 July 2012

My understanding is that adverse possession operates on the basis of Articles 64 and 65 of the Schedule to the Limitation Act. Essentially, when a person illegally dispossess the rightful possessor, and continues in open, peaceful, and continuous possession (which is adverse or hostile to the possession of the true owner) for a period of 12 years (the limitation period for filing suits for possession), he can claim that he has a better title due to adverse possession.

You can file suit for eviction against him.

In my opinion, he is only a permissive occupier and is not entitled to claim adverse possession.

Jeetu (Manager) 07 July 2012

Hi There,

I want to thank SRIDHAR PASSAMURTHY, ADV. BHARAT CHUGH, ASHISH DEVESSAR AND RAMA CHARY for their valuable advice. Due to your advise I now know my exact legal position. I now understand that I do not need to revoke that gift deed which was not registered and also that even after living there for such a long period, he would not have any rights on the property. I am also not thinking of any legal proceedings as my mother is also living there and situations are not too bad.

Thanks all for your advise.

Much appreciated.

Regards

Jitendra