• Right of legal heirs of tenants to compensation on surrender

There is a tenanted premises located in a cessed building in south mumbai. The original tenants (husband-wife) died intestate. They have 10 surviving children (legal heirs). 5 of their legal heirs continue to be in possession of the premises. Today a developer, who has aquired a majority share in the land, seeks to acquire tenancies, including that of the premises, to redevelop the building. Which of the legal heirs would be entitled to a share of the compensation paid by the developer for surrender of the tenancy and in what proportion ?
Asked 11 months ago in Property Law
Religion: Hindu

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11 Answers

Hello,

 

As per provisions of Transfer of Property Act, On the death of the original tenant, subject to any provision to the contrary either negativing or limiting the succession, the tenancy rights devolve on the heirs of the deceased tenant. The incidences of the tenancy are the same as enjoyed by the original tenant. It is single tenancy which devolves on the heirs. There is no division of the premises or of the rent payable therefor. The heirs thus succeed to the tenancy as joint tenants.

 

So all heirs would be entitled to compensation.

 

Please share more details for further advice.

 

Regards

 

Anilesh Tewari
Advocate, New Delhi
18077 Answers
377 Consultations

5.0 on 5.0

if the 5 children were residing in the house alongwith their parents, then on the death of the parents, the 5 children would become the joint tenants 

however if the 5 children were not residing with the parents, then all the children will be entitled to become the joint tenants

the compensation has to be shared equally. In the first case above, equally between the 5 children and in the second case, equally between the 10 children 

Yusuf Rampurawala
Advocate, Mumbai
7485 Answers
79 Consultations

5.0 on 5.0

 

Section 7 (15) (d) of the Maharashtra Rent Control Act, 1999, states that a tenant’s family member who has been living with the dead tenant at the time of his/her death shall be eligible first from the family as the successor to succeed the tenancy. Upon the demise of a current pagdi tenant, the tenancy rights can only be transferred to that legal heir(s).

 

Ajay Sethi
Advocate, Mumbai
94523 Answers
7486 Consultations

5.0 on 5.0

10 surviving children than 1/10th each. Possession does not effect inheritance right. 

Yogendra Singh Rajawat
Advocate, Jaipur
22596 Answers
31 Consultations

4.4 on 5.0

According to Section 7(15)(d) of MRCA and Section 5(11)(c) of the Bombay Rent Act, upon the death of a tenant, the tenancy passes on to a member of tenant's family who has been residing with the deceased tenant or operating the premises for commercial purposes at the time of his death.

n this regard, some of the judicial pronouncements that have illuminated the discourse on tenancy rights are discussed here below:


  • Anand Nivas Private Ltd v. Anandji Kalyanji's Pedhi & Ors : The Supreme Court (SC) held that the expression 'tenant' under Section 5(11)(c) of the Bombay Rent Act means only a person who is a contractual tenant because rent in payable by a contractual and not by a statutory tenant.

  • Miss Gool Rustomji Lala v. Jal Rustomji Lala2 : The Bombay High Court interpreted the Section 5(11)(c) of the Bombay Rent Act and held that the Court can declare only one member of the family as a tenant. This view was later reaffirmed in Smt Parvatibai w/o Bandu Marathe v. Smt Radhabai Chaggan Bhadarkar , Shamkant Tukaram Naik v. Dayanabai Shamsan Dighodkar , and Vimalabai Keshav Gokhale v. Avinash Krishnaji Binjewale & Ors. 

  • Kanti Bhattacharya & Ors. v. K.S. Parmeshwaran & Anr : In this case, it was contended by the legal heirs that upon the death of the deceased, they were entitled to inherit his right and as the notice of eviction suit was not addressed to them but only to the widow of the deceased, the same was invalid and, therefore, there was no termination of the tenancy. In this case, the Bombay High Court rejected such contentions and concluded that there was an agreement between members of the tenant's family and the widow of the deceased who was treated as a tenant by the tenant's family. Therefore, the notice served upon her is binding on all family members.

  • Ramesh Ramgopal Daga v. Vasant Baburao Khandare : The question of considering other relatives as a tenant or joint tenant was completely disregarded once the petitioner was recognized as a tenant.

  • Ashok Chintaman Juker & Ors v. Kishore Pandurang Mantri & An8 : The SC conclusively held that the tenancy rights upon the demise of the original tenant of premises can be inherited only on fulfilment of two requisites:

    • The person must be a member of the tenant's family
    • He must have been residing with the tenant at the time of his death

T Kalaiselvan
Advocate, Vellore
84724 Answers
2172 Consultations

5.0 on 5.0

After death of origional owner, the tenancy right is also inherited by all the legal heirs of tenant which includes his wife, children and mother being class-1 legal heirs in terms of Hindu Succession Act and also Indian Succession Act. In present case, since there are only children hence the tenancy right shall devolve to children and if other children who are not residing in the tenanted premises have not surrendered their tenancy right in favour of other children who are residing in the tenanted premises then then tenancy rights shall be infavour of all children hence Developer shall be liable to pay proportionate compensation to all children but if surrendered then accordingly compensation shall be paid. However, if original tenant have left any WILL then tenancy shall devolve accordingly in favour of beneficiaries and accordingly compensation too would be paid. 

Siddharth Srivastava
Advocate, Delhi
1233 Answers

5.0 on 5.0

All the children of the original tenants are entitled for equal share. Even if the couple had more children than the surviving 10 children and the deceased children had family, then their families also to get share.  Since you have given the figure of 10 children, then each child gets 10% share.

 

Shashidhar S. Sastry
Advocate, Bangalore
5068 Answers
314 Consultations

5.0 on 5.0

All heirs are entitled in equal proportion. 

Netra Mohanchandra Pant
Advocate, Navi Mumbai
1545 Answers
5 Consultations

4.4 on 5.0

Only the legal heirs if they have stayed with the parents during their lifetime. Tenanted proper is not matter of rights like self acquired 

Prashant Nayak
Advocate, Mumbai
31807 Answers
176 Consultations

4.1 on 5.0

Dear client,  

In this case, since the original tenants died intestate, the legal heirs would be entitled to the share of compensation paid by the developer for surrender of the tenancy in equal proportions. This means that each of the 10 surviving children would be entitled to an equal share of the compensation.

However, it is important to note that if any of the legal heirs have already relinquished their rights to the tenancy or if any of them have been legally evicted, they would not be entitled to any share of the compensation. Additionally, if any of the legal heirs have reached an agreement with the 5 heirs in possession of the premises regarding the distribution of the compensation, such agreement would be binding and would determine the distribution of the compensation.

Anik Miu
Advocate, Bangalore
8742 Answers
109 Consultations

4.7 on 5.0

In a situation where the original tenants of a tenanted premises in a cessed building have died intestate and have 10 surviving children as legal heirs, the distribution of the compensation paid by the developer for the surrender of the tenancy would typically depend on the applicable laws of inheritance and succession.

When someone dies without leaving a valid will, the applicable laws of intestate succession come into play. These laws determine how the deceased person's estate, including assets and rights like the tenancy, will be distributed among the legal heirs.

When there are multiple legal heirs, the estate is often divided equally among them. This means that each 10 surviving children would be entitled to an equal share of the compensation.

In situations like this, it is common for the legal heirs to go through a legal process to establish their rights and obtain a share of the compensation. This may involve filing necessary applications or claims with the appropriate courts to ensure a fair and equitable distribution.

 

Sukumar Jadhav
Advocate, Mumbai
31 Answers

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