My father gift deed a Property to my sister in his lifetime. At the time of execution of gift deed the property was already rented to me and even after the execution of gift deed to my sister i continued to pay rent to my father. My Father is Expired Gift Deed is never challenged in any court, yet. later, Me and My sister executed Family Settlement Deed in which i accepted that my sister is the owner of the property by virtue of that Gift Deed. Recently, it came to my knowledge that the Gift Deed executed by my father is not valid as the possesion of the property was never transferred and my father continued to take rent from me as owner of property even after the execution of gift deed to my sister. Q1. Can i still challenge the validity of gift deed in any court on any ground ? PS: i dont want to challenge the settlement deed on grounds of unsound mind. Q2. Can my sister enforce the terms and conditions of rent agreement executed by my father and me in court on the basis of gift deed and family settlement deed ?
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Dear Sir,
Thank you
You cannot challenge gift deed as in deed of family settlement you have accepted that sister is absolute owner of property
she can enforce rent agreement
It depends on whether the gift deed is registered or not. If the gift deed is registered it cannot be challenged whether the possession property was given to sister or it was with you, whether the rent is paid you to or father it make no difference. For further clarification you may contact me through Pathlegal. Hit the like button if the advice is useful to you.
1. Just because your father had been collecting the rental amounts, it cannot be said that the gift deed was not acted upon by the donee.
The done might have authorised your father to collect the rent on her behalf, hence you please ascertain the factual ingredients before you leap into with a suit to declare the gift deed as invalid.
2. She can very well do it becasue she is the current owner of the property by virtue of the registered deed on her name.
- As per the Transfer of Property Act , A Gift deed is the transfer of certain existing movable or immovable property made voluntarily and without consideration, by one person, called the donor, to another, called the donor, and accepted by or on behalf of the donee.
- Further, this gift deed must be registered from the office of Registrar , and property should be transferred from donor to donee with the execution of gift deed.
- Further , a registered gift deed cannot be cancelled except by the donor , if there was any condition for the same.
1. No, after the death of father , this gift deed cannot be challenged , as the condition of gift deed already fulfilled after the demise of donor.
2. Further, you acceptance with the execution of settlement deed also will go in her favour.
Dear Querist
My opinion on your queries are as under: -
1. yes can challenge the validity of gift deed, (whether the Gift Deed is registered or not?) if yes then there is a clause in that gift deed that the possession of the same has been handed over to your sister, if yes then your case will be dismissed on this ground alone. if you raise this point that you were in the possession at the time of Gift Deed and even you were in the possession of the property after that and still you are in possession then also the Family Settlement Deed will work against you in which you admitted that your sister is the owner of that property and you are the tenant.
Paying Rent to your father is not a ground to challenge the registered Gift Deed, she may rebut your point with the remark that she authorized her father to collect the rent from you. that It.
2. Yes, she can enforce the terms and conditions of the rent agreement executed by your father with you on the basis of that Gift Deed and family settlement as she is the absolute owner of that property now.
If the Gift Deed is not registered then you may file the case and challenge the same.
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Please answer while making an assumption that 1. GIFT DEED IS INVALID 2. Both Gift Deed and Settlement Deed are duly registered. 3. Settlement Deed is Registered without paying 2% stamp duty as required as per property value under the heading MEMORANDUM OF SETTLEMENT. Q1. whether my accetance in family settlement that my sister is the absolute owner of the property is on the basis of LEGALLY INVALID GIFT DEED, even then is it legally binding on me or not ? Q2. In a suit of recovery of possession by my sister, can i take defence that GIFT DEED IS INVALID and thus Family Settlement is also INVALID ? I only want to know that if i still have the legal right to take such defense or not ? I win or loose is latter part.
Dear Querist
1. Your acceptance based on that Gift Deed which is invalid(as you informed) then you may raise this defense and this defense will be accepted by the court as valid defense and even the will frame an issue regarding the Gift Deed i.e. Whether the Gift Deed executed and registered by the father is valid or not? if there is an issue then your acceptance has no value.
2. Yes, you can, apart from these defenses you have nothing to fight the case.
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Dear Sir,
1. If the gift deed as you said is invalid then you are not legally binding to consider your sister to be absolute owner.
2. You can take the defense of invalid deed and can challenge this deed and can have share in the property.
3. Yes you can take this defense of gift deed is invalid. Moreover you can fight for your legal right on your property.
Thank you
Once you have in deed of family settlement accepted that sister is absolute owner of property it would be binding upon you
2) you can take the defence that gift deed is invalid
1. The possession of property by you was not adverse to you because you have admitted that your sister is the absolute owner of the property by the virtue of the gift deed the executed in her favor.
Therefore the gift deed in favor of your sister cannot be considered as invalid especially for the flimsy reasons you have stated here.
2. The proposed defence you would like to take in her suit for possession is not maintainable because of the fact that you have admitted that your sister to be an absolute owner of the gifted property b y the virtue of the registered gift deed executed in her favor.
She can very well state that she had properly acted upon the gift deed made in her favor and had orally authorised her father to collect the monthly rental amount on her behalf, therefore your stand that the gift deed was not acted upon by her will stand nullified or not maintainable.
1. If the Gift deed is invalid , then legally your sister is not the absolute owner of the property , and mere your acceptance by way of family settlement will not make her owner of the property legally , specially in the absence of a Release deed by you , as after the death of your father , your share also existed there.
2. Since there is no registered gift deed or invalid gift deed, then after the death of your father , his property would be devolved upon all the legal heirs equally, and your sister cannot claim full right over the property.
- Yes, the said settlement deed is also invalid due to lack of property stamp duty .
You can contact me in Delhi, if further suggestion needed.
(1) my Sister approached me to mutually settle the dispute (2) it is mutually decided that i can stay in the property for as long as i needed, till then i will pay her a sum of rupees 25k per month, whensoever i feel comfortable, at my own will, i can vacate the property and handover the property to her (3) my sister wanted a rent receipt of 25k from me (4) i refused as it is not rent its settlement money and i have never accepted her as landlord (5) now my sister wants me to pay monthly 25k by cheque in her bank account. (question) does in any future my sister can claim that 25k paid to him monthly in bank account was rent of the property thus i accepted her as landlord and basis of this file suit for eviction of tenant as a landord ?
You have not entered into any rental agreement
however if you are paying Rs 25 k month to sister she can claim it is for rentals
The fact is that you were a tenant in the house property even before it was transferred to your sister's name by your deceased father vide a registered gift deed.
Thus you will become the tenant of your sister now instead of the your previous owner i.e., your deceased father.
Whether you make the payment by cheque or cash to your sister, she will certainly issue a rental receipt for the money that you are paying every month.
Even otherwise the amount what you pay every month can be construed as monthly rental amount hence the landlord tenant relationship has been established.
If you don't accept her as the landlady then you would be termed as an unauthorised occupier in the property, for which she can file a suit for ejectment to eject you from the property instead of filing an eviction suit.
The substantial documents in her support would be sufficient to enable the court to pass an order to eject you from the property, hence you may better think about it properly and take a wise decision instead of agitating the matter.
Yes she can claim it's better the same is decided through a mutually registered document deciding ownership of the said property between you and her
- YES, she can show that amount received by her is rent and you are a tenant in the property due to having no right in the property .
(1) My sister is herself an advocate in delhi. (2) Probably after consultation with her senior colleagues, she has been advised that the GIFT DEED IS INVALID and probably she has also been advised that MEMORANDUM OF SETTLEMENT based on an INVALID GIFT DEED do not create property rights . THAT may be the only reason that inspite of serving me legal notice 6 months back she has not filed suit against me. (3) My sister is trying to apologise with me since last 3 months for her behaviour but initially i insisted that she should file suit against me as my defence is ready but later i thought i should listen to my sister's offer and then decide. (4) In my sister's own words she dont want to file suit as it will create property dispute which will take 20 years to decide therefore she again and again requested me to listen to her offer. (5) My Sisters offer is that i pay her 25k per month and she has no problem with me staying in the property with my family for as long as needed. I can vaccate the property at my own will and convenience and she will not bother me in any manner. (6) Then on whatsapp msg she asked me for a rent receipt but i refused saying that since we never had any rent agreement between us, i cannot and will not give you any rent receipt. I also said since there is a property dispute between us this 25k is the settlement money. (7) She agreed on whatsapp that ok this 25k is the settlement money and not rent of property. (8) She then asked me to give 25k by bank transfer only. (9) So i doubted her since she is an advocate she might be upto something. (10) Therefore i am taking legal advice (Q1): if my sister in future claims in court that this 25k by bank transfer is monthly rent, can i take defence in court by showing whatsapp chats as proofs that this 25k is settlement money and not rent ? (Q2): can i counter claim title of property as i have only admit to vacate the property and not accept her owner in whatsapp chats?
Obtain in writing from her on affidavit that Rs 25 k is settlement money and not rentals
2) you can file suit claiming share in property
The WhatsApp evidences are not permissible as primary evidence in court of law.
Dear client,
1) yes, you can show that it's settlement money and not rent.
2) you can do that.
Thank you
1. Yes
2. Yes you can file counter claim