Hello All, I am planning to buy a property (newly built house) from a reputed builder in coimbatore. The property is part of a RERA approved project. A couple of banks have approved the project and readily willing to offer home loans to buyers of this project. When I checked the property documents with couple of lawyers, one of the lawyer pointed out that the ownership of the land on which the house was being constructed passed over from the owner that time (in 1995) to his heirs after his death. There was no supporting death certificate or succession certificate provided by the builder. The land has changed hands by subsequent selling in 2002 2012 and finally in 2020, when my builder purchased this land. The builder says he will provide a public notification for a week and provide an updated legal opiniom document after the public notification is complete. He also mentioned that he can provide in writing under his companys letter pad that any future claim/disputes raised by someone related to the deceased person in 1995 will be the responsibility of his company to handle/settle it. Please advise me with your opinion if I can go ahead with the purchase
The builder can issue a statement in writing and assure you but he cannot take away what is valid in law wrt other heirs. That means that if anybody claims the land/a portion of the land you will also be made a party to it.
Therefore you may seek detailed ownership rights wrt that land and a due diligence must be carried out through a lawyer.
Hi, the death of the owner has taken place in the year1995. Now it is difficult to get the death certificate or previous documents. Nothing will be happen.
Don’t purchase the house
the title of builder is not clear and marketable
litigation is long drawn and expensive proposition in India
Thank you for the helpful inputs. As death/succession certificates is missing for the deceased owner in 1995, below are the options provided to me by the builders legal team 1. The builder is posting a public notification about the sale of land for one week time. The builders lawyer will provide a fresh legal opinion by mentioning about this public notification as an action taken for the missing succession certificate. 2. The builders legal team says it has been 26 years now after the sale in question happened and so any claim of ownership by people related to the deceased owner will not hold to file a legal suit in the court of law. The petition will be considered as wasting of court time. 3. Also as mentioned earlier the builder will give a letter in writing under his companys pad that he will take ownership of any disputes/claims by any people related to the deceased previous owner in 1995. 4. Also since it is a RERA approved project, the builder is responsible for any legal disputes/claims on the ownership title of the property. I would like to know if all the facts mentioned above is sufficient to consider the property title is clean and good to go ahead with the purchase
Yes if he gives that undertaking then it's ok. He should also file a declaratory suit and obtain a decree with respect to the land in question.
A death certificate or succession certificate has nothing to do with any immovable property. It is issued only to dependants of deceased government employee or to the legal of deceased ancestor for claiming movable property like bank deposits, share certificates, insurance claims etc. Check with the https://www.tnesevai.tn.gov.in/citizen/portallogin.aspx. So far as death certificate, it is public document furnished by Municipal Authority to anyone on payment of Rs. 50 online. Project is registered r.e.r.a. and bank are ready to advance loans. You can safely proceed with the deal. After changing so many hands the legal heirs of owner died in 1995 cannot have any claim over property.
It's better you get indemnity bond also in addition to what you have mentioned above
1. i am NOT in agreement with the 'opinions' of the builder's lawyers
2. how can someone know who all are the legal heirs of the deceased owner who died in 1995?
3. generally the legal heirs have to apply for an heirship certificate which would declare that they are the only surviving legal heirs of the deceased
4. what if all the legal heirs did not enter into any agreement with the purchaser of the land? what if any legal heir lays a future claim over the land and files any litigation ?
5. what is the utility of the letter which the builder will give you? he will take the money and then if anything happens then it will be the flat purchasers who will be in a soup
6. if the builder is ready to state all that on his letter head, why is not he willing to say and agree all that in the agreement for sale which he will be signing with the flat buyers?
7. though the builder has to provide an affidavit at the time of RERA registration of his project that his title to the land is clear and marketable, but then despite that any possibility of a future court case cannot be ruled out
8. it appears that the builder's title is not clear and marketable
9. i do no agree with the builder's lawyer that any litigation filed by any claimant after 26 years will not be entertained by the Court. Limitation to file a suit by any claimant would begin to run from the date of his knowledge that he is deprived of his lawful right in the land
10. none of the options suggested by the builder's lawyers will cure his title defect
It is your call whether you want to purchase property where title is not clear and marketable
Go by your lawyer advice
Dear Sir
Seeing that the previous owner died in 1995 and he did not seem to have any legal heirs who claimed it till now, it should not be a problem.
However there is still a small risk involved with the title deed of the property being unclear and possibly disputable in the future.
Thank you
Before buying any property what is to be confirmed first is the 'title' of the seller, which includes the confirmation of title to his/her predecessors too.
From your contents it can be seen that the previous and original property owner die, whereas there is no proof of his death neither there is any legal proof to prove the list of his successors to succeed to his estates.
The builder is not even a seller nor a title holder, he is just a power of attorney holder on behalf of the land owner to develop and promote the sale of the flats, hence his notification through a newspaper in this regard and the proposed undertaking to make him responsible for all future litigation in this regard is not legally maintainable.
Just because the bank is approving home loan, it may not be considered that the title to the seller is genuine.
The lacuna pointed by your lawyer is absolutely right and if this problem is not rectified now, it may go unnoticed till the time you are selling the property and you may face problem at that time.
1. It is not sufficient neither proper.
2. A vague and unjustified reply by the builder's team which is not legally tenable.
3. The builder's undertaking or affidavit by an unregistered document, i.e., his letter head is not enforceable on court of law.
4. RERA approved the project alone, RERA will not go deep into the title issues, it is not responsibility of RERA to ascertain the title and chain of title, therefore this reason also appears to be a false assurance from the builder's team, it appears that the builder is frantically trying to promote the sale of property suppressing such lacunae
Hence buyer beware policy is very important
1 A public notification cannot replace the succession certificate as this certificate issued by the court , and hence a copy of the same can be received from the court .
2. Such reply is not true , and attract court cases even after getting the possession of the property.
3. No acceptable
4. Yes, but RERA is not an authority to check the ownership of the property developed by the builder
