Legal Notice Received - Please advise
Querist :
Anonymous
(Querist) 11 May 2010
This query is : Resolved
Hi,
I had earlier posted a query which can be found under :
http://www.lawyersclubindia.com/experts/Refund-of-token-amount/84611/
In a gist, we were in conversation with a buyer who lied to us stating he had an approved bank loan and wanted to purchase our property.When we realised his loan was not approved, we informed him that we do not wish to pursue sale with him.He had issued a cheque of Rs 1 lak as token money to us which we offered to return back however he did not give us any contact details and instead said he wants 4 lakhs as compensation.We had not signed any MOU or agreement, no written agreement at all between buyer and us for sale of our flat.
Now he has sent us legal notice with some lies stating that we agreed to sell our flat, we were aware he was applying for loan, we drafted an MOU and sent it to him which he signed but we did not and we sent him a copy of our property papers such as Sale Deed, Leave and Licence with our tenant etc when in fact the sale deed and Leave and license was given to him by the Broker involved.We have never even seen the copy of the MOU mentioned by him in the notice sent to us.
He is stating in the notice that unless we enter into a contract with him and sign an MOU for sale of our flat , he will file a suit against us.
1.What is the validity of this legal notice?
2.Is it mandatory to respond to this notice via a lawyer?
3.Can we claim compensation for these legal proceedings from this person as he has no agreement with us whatsoever and despite our repeated requests to take back his cheque of 1 lakh, he refused to do so?If yes, what amount should be claimed by us and how should we charge him for the same?
4.In case we argue the validity of the notice sent by him, what could be his further course of action?
5.We earlier did not have any contact info for the buyer.The legal notice has this information.Should we send a cheque of Rs 1 lakh to him along with a reply to the notice.
Please advise on what would be the best course of action for us.
All previous replies sent to us were highly valued and your opinion was extremely important to us.
Querist :
Anonymous
(Querist) 11 May 2010
Just wanted to add that this is undue harassment on this persons part.I am pregnant in my 9th month and he is aware of my due date approaching, his father threatened my husband on the phone that we are entering forbidden zones by not proceeding with the sale.
Under no circumstances we want to have any deaings with this kind of person and want to close this matter.I think he believes that being a lawyer, he can force us to sell our flat to him as we are unaware of the law.Please help.
R.R. KRISHNAA
(Expert) 11 May 2010
First lodge a police complaint against the person for harassing you and your husband over phone and seek necessary action.
Since you have not signed the agreement no legal obligations rest on you to fulfil his demands and hence his claim has no legal value. You have to send a reply legal notice and you also have to refund the advance amount of Rs.1 lakh along with the reply legal notice.
Immediately seek legal assistance from an advocate of your locality on this issue.
Good luck…
N.K.Assumi
(Expert) 11 May 2010
I will give three options.1.Oral agreement for sale is permissible in India and he has given you one lakh cheque,and he is willing and ready to perform his part of the contract so let him perform the contract and in the event of his failure to perform his contract you do what ever you wish with ypur flat.2.In the alternative,he has surpressed materisl facts from you in the present case which disqualify him from obtaining any relief against you from the court, but since he has served you a notice repond his notice as mention by krishnaa, but let him make the first move in dragging you to the court. 3.Lastly, simply ignore his notice and sell off the flat to another person as it will not mount to cheating and not returning the tender cheque will not amount to missappropriation.
Querist :
Anonymous
(Querist) 11 May 2010
@n.K Assumi,
Thank you sir,
Please elaborate on suggestion 2.
How will he prove verbal agreement with us?
In his notice he claims that we were aware he was applying for loan which was not true, he had told us it was pre approved.
After such a bad experience we have decided against selling our flat currently, in my situation of pregnancy it is not possible to run around these brokers and buyers.
Querist :
Anonymous
(Querist) 11 May 2010
Mr Krishna,
Thank you Sir.We were speaking to this buyer 10 days back only.Can we now file an FIR for harassment.
Who do we need to send the cheque to :
1.Buyer 2.Advocate who issued the notice
3.Person who issued cheque
As all 3 are different people.
Would we just attach the cheque along with reply to the notice by registered post?
