• Can father's acquired property be claimed after 20 years

dear sir,
my father (still alive) having a flat in chs in mumbai, gifted to my cousin around 20 years back on piece of plain paper.
on the basis of this paper he changed membership of the flat to his name but all the documents/agreements are still with us. we are demanding our flat back but they are not bothered.
please advise if a case can be made against society as well as my cousin.

please advise.
Asked 9 years ago in Family Law
Religion: Hindu

4 answers received in 2 hours.

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11 Answers

1. No immovable property can be transferred through a plain paper.

2. The paper your cousin is banking upon does not appear to have any legal value.

3. File a civil suit for declaration of title and recovery of possession against your cousin.

4. You ma make the society a party to the said suit.

Devajyoti Barman
Advocate, Kolkata
22774 Answers
484 Consultations

5.0 on 5.0

Hello,

1. Your father has to send a legal notice to the cousin and the society asking him to vacate the premise and hand over possession to him.

2. Your father also needs to take steps to cancel the Gift Deed if any that he made and send the copies of the same to the society and your cousin.

3. Make a newspaper publication of the same.

4. If your cousin refuse to comply you will need to file a suit in the court to evict him.

S J Mathew
Advocate, Mumbai
3545 Answers
175 Consultations

5.0 on 5.0

1) gift deed has to be duly stamped and registered .

2) merely on basis of plain paper your cousin cannot claim ownership rights on property .

3) society cannot transfer flat merely on basis of document executed on plain paper .

4) your father can file declaratory suit that your father is owner of said flat and seek injunction restraining cousin from selling said flat . society should eb made party to said suit

Ajay Sethi
Advocate, Mumbai
94510 Answers
7484 Consultations

5.0 on 5.0

Dear Querist

If there is no written/registered gift deed the your cousin can not claim anything, file a civil suit for possession against him and society before civil court with the help of a lawyer.

Nadeem Qureshi
Advocate, New Delhi
6307 Answers
302 Consultations

4.9 on 5.0

1. The gift deed is required to be stamped and registered.

2. If the gift deed made by your father is not stamped and registered then there is no gift made in the eyes of law. As such, your father continues to be the owner of the property.

3. Share transfer effected by the society on the basis of a plain paper is illegal.

4. Your father, as the owner of the land, can file a lawsuit to claim his property and also seek a stay order against your cousin to restrain him from selling the property and creating third party rights.

5. Society can also be dragged to court for transferring the flat to your cousin when he did not have the ownership thereof.

Ashish Davessar
Advocate, Jaipur
30763 Answers
972 Consultations

5.0 on 5.0

1. No. Unregistered Gift Deed is not acceptable before the court,

2. The property can be claimed by its owner only i.e. your father,

3. If he wants it back, he can file an eviction suit against the occupants.

Krishna Kishore Ganguly
Advocate, Kolkata
27191 Answers
726 Consultations

5.0 on 5.0

Gift deed can not be made on a piece of plain paper and did it hasn't got any legal force in eye of law.

Thanking you,

Subash M R
Advocate, Bangalore
176 Answers
8 Consultations

4.4 on 5.0

1) flat in cooperative housing society fall within preview of mahrashtra cooperative societies act

2) you can request society to furnish inspection of documents on basis of which transfer of flat was done

3)but the million dollar question that arises is what were yo doing f or 20 years . why did you not raise issue earlier ? why did you not move court challenging transfer of flat for 20 years ? when did you discover the fraud?

Ajay Sethi
Advocate, Mumbai
94510 Answers
7484 Consultations

5.0 on 5.0

1. No. The property is still owned by your father,

2. The Socierty is not bound to handover copies of letters which your father had issued in favour of your cousin,

3. If your father files eviction suit against him, he can produce those papers which your father had issued to him 20 years ago to convey the title of the property in his favour.

Krishna Kishore Ganguly
Advocate, Kolkata
27191 Answers
726 Consultations

5.0 on 5.0

if all the documents are still with you then how could it be transferred. you should approach to society for inspection of papers, it could not be done without nexus of members of society. you should collect all evidence. no title can be transfer on plain paper.

immovable property can't be gift without registered deed and attestation of at least two witnesses. so that gift deed is invalid and have binding effect/ value in the eye of law.

you should inquire into and file criminal case against society and your cousin because your cousin has applied for transfer of name on forged documents.

Shivendra Pratap Singh
Advocate, Lucknow
5127 Answers
78 Consultations

4.9 on 5.0

1. Your father continues to be the owner of the property. He can file a suit for eviction against his cousin as the latter is in possession of the property owned by your father.

2. The 20 year delay in filing the case will work against your father as he will have to answer many tough questions in the court such as when did he detect the unauthorized possession of the property owned by him, etc.

Ashish Davessar
Advocate, Jaipur
30763 Answers
972 Consultations

5.0 on 5.0

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