Whether or not the heirs of your aunt (father's sister) can stake a claim depends on the fact as to when your grandfather and aunt passed away. For others, you can rightfully stake a claim in this property inasmuch this property automatically devolves upon the legal heirs of the two brothers upon your death. File a suit for partition and in the Civil Court and seek an injunction against the occupant from creating third party rights in the said property. Also seek measne profit.
Succession rights in a tenanted property not having occupancy
Dear Sir's Brief - Our grand father had 3 children, 2 sons & 1 daughter, Daughter by virtue of marriage moved out, after certain further years the elder son (my father) moved out with the family & the property was occupied by the younger son & family from 1982. The said property is a tenanted chawl property in Mumbai, which is going under redevelopment under MHADA - 33/7 in today's date (July 2017) . What is the claim rights for the daughter & the elder son's heirs to claim right to the property, since the occupant is the younger son's wife. All the 3 children mentioned above have passed away, & only their heirs are present today. I am given to understand that MHADA has done a survey & declared the younger son's wife as Occupant, we have not much information as of now. The landlord is to be contacted too. We don't have any documents pertaining to the property as well. Only available records is birth proofs from that address of ours & our ancestors, includes our parents & bit of our grandfather. We could be able to establish that the property was originally tenanted by our grandfather. Also, the landlord has not kept any records & issued receipts in our aunt's name since she used to pay the rent. Await your views in this, which tribunal would be needed to approach with your help.
Asked 8 years ago in Property Law
Religion: Christian
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5 Answers
1) since elder son and daughter moved out of the property only the younger son who was staying with grand father on his demise would be the tenant of the premises
2) on demise of younger son his wife would be the tenant and landlord has issued rent receipts in her name
3) to claim tenancy rights on the property you will have to approach the small causes court
basis 1) grand father had passed away a long time back, around 1960 before my(grandsons) birth in 1977. So he wasn't living with the younger brother. Both grand parents had passed away before any of the children could get married. Daughter got married & shifted from the house by virtue of marriage, the elder brother & his wife (my parents) couldn't get along with the younger brother & his wife due to constant fights & abuses from their end, hence chose to live separately. basis 2) rent receipts were being issued by the landlord only until 1993, after which he stopped receiving any payments for reasons unknown. He has now after legal intervention from my Aunt & others from the chawl (tenants/occupants) people taken lump sum payments for the period not collected till date & receipts are issued in her favor after 1993 onward's (don't have concrete proofs as of now) we are yet to get in touch with the landlord, as we have got no connection of his whereabouts; which we are trying to locate. I have been given to understand that the landlord has no records of original tenants & has issued receipts adhoc 3) my father passed away in 2001, thereafter there has been no claim from our end. Do you still think that we could secure tenancy rights & occupancy rights on the property. Cause even if you get tenancy rights, MHADA recognizes only occupancy rights, for which survey is already done as of now & most probably is under their favor. I would like to understand going through the Succession Act, if there is any route, since the property was originally tenanted by our grand father. Apparently, the landlord has kept no records. The probability of procurement of documents of our grandparents on the same address would be through the Church by - Birth/Marriage & Death Proofs (, a little possibility would be incase the electricity bill was not transferred in their name, before my father died in 2001, I would need to search that out. Additionally, I would be able to get hold of certain old rent receipts (around 4 receipts), which I had seen at my place in my father's name, unable to trace them as of now. Those receipts would be dating 90's. How do we represent it ? Unable to trace it as of now at home. Also, to be noted that all the children & grand children were born out of the same house. We also looked at an amicable solution, but that doesn't seem to be working out. We went & met our Aunt who is in Occupancy of the property, she flatly refused to give any right over the house, stating that in the interim years from 1982 (approx) onward's she has taken care of the property, for which we argued that since you are living there its obvious. we have taken an audio recording of the discussion (English & konkani language) where she acknowledges that its ancestral, but just claims that its all her's. The audio recording of the entire discussion done is of today. Would need your guidance on this subject. John
Asked 8 years ago
on demise of grand father your father , aunt , uncle would be the legal heirs
2) gather all documentary evidence in your possession of rent receipts issued in father name on demise of grand father , ration card , electricity bills etc
3) contact a local lawyer and then take legal proceedings to claim share in the property
There is no inheritance rights in the rented premises.
This is basically a pagdi system property.
In general Pagdi system is an erstwhile system in the city where a house is said to be pagdi when it has a landlord and a tenant, not unlike regular renting. However, under this system the tenant is the part owner of the house and the rights of the land where the house is located belongs to the landlord. In case a tenant wants to sell the house he/she will have to pay the premium of 33 per cent out of the total value of house to the landlord.
In your situation since your grandfather's younger son alone had been residing with his family since the year 1982, They are deemed to have have tenancy rights, even otherwise the law of adverse possession may operate in this situation, hence ther may not be any rights in the pagdi system rented property to the grandsons i.e.l, the heirs of the deceased legal heirs.
The contents in the subsequent post may not have any legal recognition for your claim.
However if you have documentary evidences for all such claims, you may produce them before local lawyer and take his advise on all such further issues.