How to protect property from illegal possession?

726 votes

Often people who invest in lands or properties as investment leave it unattended for long periods of time. This is espeiclaly true in case of NRIs, who purchase multiple apartments and lands with the idea of investment and resale at a future date. However, another sad aspect of the situation is that often many of these purchasers find it problematic, sometimes next to impossible, to sell these properties as they are often encroached and occupied by squatters and thugs. This can happen to anyone who leaves his/her property unattended for a few years or sometimes months.

how to prevent illegal possession

One of the people I know left his property unattended for around an year s he moved out of India. The land was barricaded and fenced before leaving. However, after one year when he checked the status of the property, he found out that his neighbor had built a part of his house on a part of the property. This neighbour had destroyed a part of the fence in the process. The neighbour also had documents to prove his ownership of that part of the property. When asked about why the original owners were not informed, the neighbour blamed it on their sudden move and not having an address to contact. With the documents and an year old property on a part of the land, my friend could do little about the issue. To summarize, it was a long and expensive court case.

Even though we all think, and to some extent pray, that such an incident will not occur in our lives, often such incidents might turn out to be true. The legal way of dealing with such situations, even though possible, can be quite prolonged and costly. Such cases become especially troublesome if the case is on a property rented out to a tenant. This is because our law protects tenants from being harassed or mistreated by owners of properties. Some miscreants can take advantage of these same rules and use them to their advantage. The problem worsens in case of NRIs who do not stay within the country and are forced to depend on someone else to keep an eye on the property.

Illegal occupation can take place in two ways. Sometimes thugs staying in the locality of an owner try to take over a property by producing forged documents and hiring goons to scare the landlord away. Often, these people are pretty well to do and have good contacts to ensure that the owner cannot easily escape from their grip. They often try to squeeze some cash out of the legal owners before letting go of their illegal hold on the property. Then there are cases where a tenant continues to stay in a rented property without even paying the rent. The rent paymentwhen made by such tenants could often be inadequate. These problems can also occur due to poorly drafted rental contracts.



To ensure that such issues do not occur, owners should ensure that they have got their documents right. The owner should have all documents like jamabandi, khata, title deed, sale deed, electricity bill, water bill, copy of will, etc.

In case any of the documents is missing, ensure that you lodge a complaint with the police and at least obtain a non-traceable certificate. This non traceable document can be used to obtain duplicate documents in some cases and obtain certified copies of documents from authorities in other cases. These documents also serve as proof of problems and actual loss in case another person enters the picture with forged documents. Also ensure that you do not shirk the duty of paying property tax, etc. on time to ensure and to show as proof the continued possession of the property.

In today's world, not everybody has time to "Know thy neighbour" but maintaining good terms with your neighbors is an important aspect especially if you need these neighbours to vouch for you in case of trouble or inform you of any unusual activities around you property.

How to stop such illegal possessions?
Build fence and place a board of warning.
Keep in regular contact with your neighbors to get updated information about the property.
Perform regular inspections of your property. If someone constructs a property on your piece of land, then it might be difficult to demolish it. Regularly checking on your property or asking someone to check on it could provide you some time to react to the situation.
If you intend to provide a Power of Attorney to someone, ensure that the person is well known to you. Also ensure that you have a copy of the PoA agreement. Sometimes properties are sold by PoA holders without consent of the owner. Hence, one needs to be careful.
Create strong tenancy agreement that does not have loopholes.
Check if you are receiving rents on the property that has been leased out.
Check the details of the tenant and do a background check. Collect information on the tenant's work place, salary, permanent home address, etc. so that these details can be used in case of problems.
If your parents are renting the property, then ensure that the new tenant does not try to fool them. Often fraudsters try to take older folks for a ride.
Renew lease agreements and do not allow a tenant to stay in the property after the agreement has expired.
It might also be preferable to change the tenant once in two or three years.

Advocate Siddhant Sharma LawRato

901 votes

regarding for the purpose of protect property from illegal possession on the side of your aunt filed a suit for permanent injunction and in such case the competent hon'ble court may be granted relief interim injuction / temp. injuction .

Advocate Ajai Behari Bajpai LawRato