Property Disputes

Property litigation is unforgiving of loose preparation. A title dispute may require ownership to be traced through several transactions across decades. A possession suit that appears straightforward at the outset often discloses competing claims, an incomplete chain of documents, or a jurisdictional difficulty that was not visible in the plaint. And the values involved mean that the cost of handling a property matter poorly is rarely recoverable.

The firm approaches property litigation as a documentary exercise first. Before a strategy is settled, the documents are read and the position on title, stamping, registration and possession is assessed honestly — including where that assessment is unwelcome.

Matters We Handle

Title and Ownership

Suits for declaration of title, challenges to sale deeds, gift deeds and wills, cancellation of instruments, and questions arising under the Prohibition of Benami Property Transactions Act, 1988. Title work is document work: the chain of conveyances, the mutation record, the encumbrance position and the manner of execution of each instrument are examined before the pleading is drafted.

Possession and Injunction

Suits for recovery of possession, suits to restrain dispossession otherwise than in due course of law, and applications under Order XXXIX of the Code of Civil Procedure, 1908 for interim protection. Whether the client is seeking to recover property or resisting dispossession, the first question is what the documents establish about possession, and the second is how quickly interim protection can be obtained.

Partition and Co-ownership

Partition suits among co-owners, whether family members, business associates or unrelated co-purchasers. These matters have a legal dimension and a human one, and both have to be managed. We advise on partition by metes and bounds against partition by sale, on the treatment of improvements and rents, and on the realistic prospects of a negotiated division — which, in most family partitions, is the outcome that actually serves the parties.

Landlord and Tenant

Proceedings under the Delhi Rent Control Act, 1958 and under the Transfer of Property Act, 1882 — eviction on the statutory grounds, bona fide requirement, recovery of arrears, and disputes as to standard rent. We act for landlords and for tenants. In long-standing tenancies the documentary position is frequently thin on both sides, and early advice materially affects what can be established later.

Development and Construction

Disputes between landowners and developers under collaboration and development agreements — claims for specific performance, for possession of the owner’s allocation, and claims arising from delay, cost escalation or departure from the sanctioned plan. Where the agreement carries an arbitration clause, the forum question is addressed at the outset.

Where a Property Dispute Becomes a Criminal One

Allegations of forgery of title documents, impersonation before the sub-registrar, or the routing of unaccounted funds through real estate can convert a civil dispute into parallel criminal and regulatory proceedings, including under the Prevention of Money-Laundering Act, 2002. The firm’s combined civil property and criminal defence practice means these overlapping proceedings are handled as one matter with one strategy, rather than by separate counsel working in ignorance of each other.

Stamping, Registration and the Validity of Documents

The Prohibition of Benami Property Transactions Act, 1988, as amended in 2016, prohibits holding property in the name of one person where the consideration has been provided by another and the property is held for that other’s benefit, subject to the statutory exceptions. Property found to be benami is liable to confiscation, and the Act carries criminal consequences for the benamidar, the beneficial owner and any abettor.

The position on the reach of the 2016 amendment is currently unsettled. The Supreme Court’s 2022 judgment in Union of India v. Ganpati Dealcom, which had held the unamended Section 3(2) unconstitutional and the 2016 amendment prospective only, was recalled by the Supreme Court in October 2024 on the ground that no party had in fact challenged the constitutional validity of the provisions, and the appeal was restored for fresh adjudication. Any advice in a benami matter must be given on the position as it stands when the advice is given. Do not rely on the 2022 declarations.

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What is the difference between a suit for declaration and a suit for possession?

The position on the reach of the 2016 amendment is currently unsettled. The Supreme Court’s 2022 judgment in Union of India v. Ganpati Dealcom, which had held the unamended Section 3(2) unconstitutional and the 2016 amendment prospective only, was recalled by the Supreme Court in October 2024 on the ground that no party had in fact challenged the constitutional validity of the provisions, and the appeal was restored for fresh adjudication. Any advice in a benami matter must be given on the position as it stands when the advice is given. Do not rely on the 2022 declarations.

It depends on the nature of the dispute. A dispute arising under a contract containing an arbitration clause — a development agreement or an agreement to sell, for example — is generally arbitrable as between the parties to it. A claim that determines title to immovable property as against the world is a right in rem and is not arbitrable. Tenancy disputes governed by a rent control statute are also outside arbitration.

An instrument that is not duly stamped is generally inadmissible in evidence until the deficiency and the prescribed penalty are paid. This is a live issue in a great many property suits, and it should be identified before the document is tendered rather than when an objection is taken.

An agreement to sell does not itself transfer title. An unregistered instrument that the law requires to be registered cannot be received in evidence of the transaction it records, though it may be admissible for certain collateral purposes. What can be done with such a document depends on precisely what is sought to be proved by it, and requires advice on the specific facts.

This page is provided for general information about the firm’s areas of practice. It is not legal advice, and no advocate–client relationship arises from reading it or from an enquiry. The law stated is current as at the date of publication and may change.