I am a builder and have entered into a registered builders agreement with a land owner. The agreement does not have any termination clause but says the work has to start in 6 months from the agreement date and if not finished with in 5 years, the builders have to pay a monthly penalty of X amount per month to the land owner and then if the land owner wants to construct there share of flats, then the builder has to fund them. We got delayed by 4 years due to some NOC issues as the land is in sensitive security area. Now we have all the required noc and have got approval from development authority. We have further applied for amendment in authority due to RERA enforcing. We have also started depositing fees in devlopement authority. Now the owner is saying that he does not want us to make the building and is not allowing us to make site office and has locked the site gate for us. In this case can he unilaterally cancel the registered agreement as no construction has still started or will this breach be taken to the court where the owner can be asked to allow us the constitution. Till now the owner has not demolished his existing structure completely and his servents still stay there. We have till now not done any construction there and when we went there for making site office we were stopped. Kindly guide if I am stuck in this situation.
1) it is necessary to peruse development agreement entered into ti advice
2) there must be force majeure clause in the contract
3) if work delayed due to reasons beyond your control then you can invoke the said clause
4) there is no termination clause in the contract
5) landowner cannot unilaterally terminate the agreement
6) file suit and obtain court orders to direct landowner to permit you to carry on construction
1.Yes, he can unilaterally cancels the agreement on the false pretext of doing nothing.
2.Hence before he does something like that you can file a suit for declaration and injunction so your entry and causing further constructions in the site would not be hamered.
3. If you get he injunction order then the landowner would be total backfoot and he should make a compromise.
4.Even if he dsnot comeformwardimmdieatley to make settlement then also after sometime you should expect a positive outcome once you file the suit as his proeprty would remain encumbered till the deadlock is over.
5.Talk to the owner and make a fresh agreement t set new deadline if he agrees.
Basically, since you were to the commence construction within 6 months from the date of commencement of this agreement, you have already breached this agreement. Going by the relevant terms of this contract, it appears that time was the essence of this agreement, and now since, the project has already been delayed substantially, the agreement has been breached already.
Having said that, since there is no termination clause in this agreement, the unilateral cancellation/termination by the landlord does not appears to be sustainable.
Contact a local lawyer and file a suit for specific performance of contract.
In my advise the landlord can not terminate the contract unilaterally.
The MOU will have to be perused, if there is clause of force majeur then you may take that defense go for specific performance of that MoU
Since the other person is not allowing you to perform the work you can claim damages
You may initiate the task by sending a legal notice to the person.
Regards
Within 6 months the work should have commenced which could not be done due to delay in obtaining permissions. This fact is also known to the land owner. Thereafter now since you have obtained all the necessary approvals and sanctions, you intend to commence construction. The land owner must allow you to start the construction, the development agreement has not been terminated and therefore you are legally right to take the possession of the land for purposes of construction.
You can obtain an Injunction from a competent civil court and take possession of the land for commencing the construction activities. The land owner cannot stop you from doing this.
If the landowner violated the terms and conditions of the agreement or breached the same, you can file a mandatory or permanent injunction suit against the owner and seek relief as per the conditions of the agreement entered between two.
Alternately you can seek compensation for this breach of trust and the mental agony created by him to you.
You can either approach civil court or consumer court seeking relief against the owner.
