30 Second Summary
- Legal experts say a buyer who has got such a legal notice should, as an alternate recourse, file a criminal case against the property developer or real estate firm and its directors.
- The court doesn’t hold buyers deliberately responsible for occupying disputed properties, but they expect buyers to have taken due consideration of the property before buying it.
- Buyers should see if the property has all the legit certificates, including NoC (No objection certificate).
- The courts do not take action against default occupants until they respond properly to the notice served in view of the legal status.
What will you do if you get caught in a situation when the court serves you a legal notice, stating that the property you occupy is illegal?
This is certainly one of the most critical situations anyone would find not to easily cope up with. While you may think of blaming the developer or your luck for not taking due cognizance prior to purchasing the property, there is however this fine line understanding, telling you that there is nothing you can do at this juncture, except seeking justice from the court and few basic things on the line.
What happens when a property is declared illegal?
If the experts are to be believed – when a property is declared illegal, the most optimal recourse the occupant can take is to seek justice from the court. This is because of the reason that the passage of such legal notice takes place after the concerned authority does not get response for several years from the related property owners.
That said, the courts do not take action against default occupants until they respond properly to the notice served in view of the legal status of the property. Expectation of leniency from the court after showing disregard to the legal notice is just baseless probability, given the fact that the court takes cognizance of the previously happened cases regarding the buyers occupying illicit property. The court doesn’t hold buyers deliberately responsible for occupying disputed properties, but they expect buyers to have taken due consideration of the property before buying it. That said, buyers should see if the property has got all the legit certificates, including NoC (No objection certificate).
What a buyer should do?
Considering the opacity of the real estate matters, property owners or those planning to purchase a property should take the cognizance of the fact that whether or not the property is legally acceptable so as to avoid future conflicts. The legal experts say a buyer who has got such a legal notice should, as an alternate recourse, file a criminal case against the property developer or real estate firm and its directors. Another alternate step that the buyer should take is to approach the consumer court and give the account of his narratives.
Moreover, creating a pressure group like voicing displeasure/grievances on social media platforms and in group discussion forums on social media is a wise step to ensure that the problem is heard by the people. That said, a widespread exposure to this kind of problem you face after receiving legal notice must be done in order to expose the negligence and nefarious activity of builders. This is also a noble idea of spreading awareness to the first-time homebuyers to exercise caution before buying any property that may fall in legal turf eventually.
When a property is declared illegal?
This is really a very tough question to answer, considering opacity of the real estate market today. Means, you can’t say exactly what may be the potential factor for your property falling in legal turf. This seems more apparent if we talk about occurrence of a recent case in Noida where the authority had to declare illegality of a disputed property. Here’s the story:
Okhla Bird Sanctuary, NGT Issue
Do you remember National Green Tribunal creating ruckus over the nearly completed property, just because the property fell within the predetermined radius of the eco-sensitive zone of the Okhla bird sanctuary?
Well, in first place, the builders obtained legit permission from the Noida Authority, which means the land did not have any legal dispute, thus allowing the builders to carry on the construction activity on the land. Later, the lending institutes were also ready to offer loans on the property as all the papers related to the property were observed to be valid. After four years when the ongoing projects were close to completion, there came surprising court notice from the green tribunal, disallowing the Authority from issuing completion certificates to the builders.
The key reason was that the court found the properties not complying with the specified distance (10-km radius) between the construction site and the Okhla bird sanctuary zone. As a result, the green tribunal declared the property illegal, eclipsing the fate of nearly 50,000 buyers who had purchased flats under the impression that the assets were undisputed.
The court observed that it was not the fault of the builders alone, but buyers were equally responsible for showing non-compliance with the guidelines of MoEF (Ministry of Environment And Forests). The court found non-compliance of the green norms during the construction process of the projects. Therefore, the court had them stalled until further notice. The verdict literally sealed the fate of nearly 20 projects then.
This is just the tip of an entire iceberg
In most cases, buyers stumble upon the similar fate when they landed in legal turf owning to negligence of the builders. There are buyers who just assume that the lending institutes which have granted them home loans may have done background check of the property beforehand, but ended up in legal dispute when the buyers come to know that their property has been declared illegal. All their dreams, hard-earned money and cash outflow as EMI go in vain.
Piece of advice
Never ever trust the assurance given by your builder. Make a proper research on your own. Consult a reputed real estate consultancy firm if needed. Do proper background check about the legality of the property. Keep yourself updated with real estate happenings around your town on social media. If a particular project intrigues you, go for site visit, observe things closely by yourself. If needed, take along with you a real estate expert. Mind you, it is not the property you wish to buy, but the amount of time and research done onto it that ultimately rewards you the joy of ownership and peaceful occupancy in your dream home.
