Hi. I have been staying in a Mumbai property under "Pagdi" with parents since my birth and my parents have been staying in this property for more than 40 years
Background of case:
My Grandfather had acquired this Pagdi property in Mumbai Charni Road area for my Father during his marriage way back in 1970s. Grandfather had some dues to be collected from the Landowner for which landowner agreed to provide a pagdi house ("Property") to him in part settlement (apprx 15%) of dues for work that was done by my Grandfather. However in those days since more emphasis was on spoken words there was no formal documentation done for entire arrangement. For the balance dues (85%) landlord agreed to pay as and when he had cash availability. He also agreed to not charge rent for the above-mentioned premises taken in liu of settlement of due. Again there was no format documentation done. Also there was no transfer letter issued to my Grandfather for said Property. We have been staying in this Property since then without payment of rent nor any payment of transfer fees to landlord. We have paid all Electricity bills, telephone bills for the said property. All our documents namely Ration Card, Passport, Driving Licence, Aadhar Card contains the above Property address. My grandfather has expired now. During he was alive he had visited many times to landlord and even my father visited ample of times to regularise the settlement that was done years back. However landlord has always been saying that why you are worrying till he is there and who is going to throw you out of the premises. Now the Landlord has also died and their legal heirs have taken charge of the property matters ("Legal Heir")
Query/ Objection from Landlord:
Now after years Legal Heir is asking us to regularise the transfer of property and settle the earlier unpaid rentals by asking hefty amount of 50 lacs. We are agreeable to pay unpaid rent (apprx 2 lacs till date with interest). However Legal Heir is not coming to settlement. We put forth our objections that Legal Heir's father/ grandfather had assured us that we would not be pushed out of the premises, but they are asking for documentation (which is not available with us). We also tried to say that we have just got part settlement of the due my Grandfather had to take (which is also verbal commitment). He is demanding 50 lacs and nothing less. Else he is threatening will proceed for legal course. Since we also don't have any document to provide our tenancy on the said property (i.e. transfer letter from Landlord, rent receipts, etc) we are a bit worried on our rights on the said property. The only document that we have on Property is signed letter from previous tenant to us that the Property has been transferred to us and for which he has received consideration of apprx 30,000 and an unsigned letter written by previous tenant to Landlord of the said Property having transferred to us. Please help in giving your views
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You don’t have any proof of tenancy rights in your grandfather name
2) there is no rent receipt issued by landlord that confers you tenancy rights
3) signed letter from previous tenant has no value as landlord has not give any confirmation in writing
4) in event any suit is filed by landlord claim defence of adverse possession as you are in open , hostile , uninterrupted possession for over 12 years
If the event of your GF being put in possession of the premises in lieu of unpaid dues to the GF by the landlord, is kept aside, and since you have been in possession for almost 4 decades, then you have sufficiently perfected your title to the premises by way of adverse possession
However the only impediment that works against the above plea of adverse possession is the letter written by former tenant to landlord. If that letter is in possession of the legal heirs of the original landlord then you cannot take the defense of adverse possession since for that defence what is required is that the person came in possession without authority and to the knowledge of the true owner and the owner did not take any legal steps to recover his property from the person who so entered into possession. The possession has to be continuous and undisturbed for more than 12 years. These ingredients are present in your case but the letter to landlord by previous tenant defeats that claim of adverse possession
So plz ascertain whether the legal heirs of owner have any iota of knowledge about that letter by previous tenant
If not then if the LHs of owner file any court case against you then you can adequately defend such suit by taking the plea of adverse possession
Infact you can also file a suit seeking declaration on basis of adverse possession
If the above is not possible then I suggest that you atleast pay the arrears of rent to the landlord by money order or by depositing the amount in a bank account maintained for benefit of owners
If the legal heirs wish they can file the suit as threatened and you can very well defend the same by describing how your GF was put in possession and in what circumstances
It is also pertinent that the original owner never demanded any rent from you which confirms to your claim that rent was not payable as originally agreed between landlord and GF, though orally
1. Residing for 40 years in a pagdi house has given you perpetual right of "residing rights", even though you may not have any documentations or paid pagdi rent.
2. With the available documentations with you, your residing rights are safe.
3. Let the legal heirs of landlord go to court, wherein he will not be successful and you will be declared as in "adverse possession" and that you cannot be evicted.
4. When the matter comes in civil court, you can produce all your available documentary evidence of 40 years of residence and at the most court will direct you to pay rent. Don't worry .... the civil case goes on for more then 10+ years and in all probabilities the landlord's legal heirs will come down for settlement.
1. Redevelopment procedures can be conducted in a Pagdi system property, with or without the consent of the LandLord, by following due procedures of law.
2. Prior to above, ALL the pagdi tenants have to form an Association /Society, to start with and then later on using collective authority, redevelopment procedures can be conducted. This can be done.
2. Point no. 2, is important to enforce legally available tenancy rights in the new building with proper systems and hold over the landlord.
You may have to file an injunction suit agaisnt the legal heirs of the deceased landlord seeking to restrain him from forcibly evicting you from the premises other than by due process of law or file a declaration sit to declare your title on the basis of adverse possession, you can plead that the tenancy was oral and no receipts were given by the landlord for the rental amount received so far, this may be a blatant lie but this is the only option you have to protect your interests in the property.
As per the law if any tenant resides in house of landlord for more than 12 years then he can get adverse possession .
If you don't have any document to prove your tenancy then it means they also don't have any document regarding this.
So it will be better for you that you should file suit for adverse possession and permanent injunction against the legal heirs of owner to claim ownership of property.
Verbal commitments have no evidentiary value neither provable in court. Better claim your ownership on the basis of adverse possession. Forget about tenancy but hostile possession since decades.
Actually there is a deed of assignment in your name and the tenancy is transferred in your name by landlord in records after receiving 33 percent of market value
you can take full ownership on the basis of adverse possession filing in the court. By showing last 12 years electricity bills and you're staying more than 12 years.
A person claiming adverse possession has to show the following before the court:
The Limitation Act, 1963, is a key piece of legislation, elaborating on adverse possession. The Act prescribes a period – 12 years for private properties and 30 years for government-owned ones – within which you have to stake claim on your property. Any delay may lead to disputes in the future.
The principle on which the Limitation Act is based is that 'limitation extinguishes the remedy, but not the right'. This means that in case of an adverse possession, the original owner may have the title over the property but he loses the right to claim such right through a court of law.
