Agreement to Sell
7 articles
An Unreplied Legal Notice and a Wrongly Dated Stamp Paper: Kerala High Court Affirms a Specific Performance Decree
In Francis @ Kuruvila v. N.T. Joseph, the Kerala High Court upheld a trial court's decree for specific performance of a 2007 agreement to sell 56.5 cents of land, rejecting the defendant's claim that the agreement was fabricated from blank stamp papers he had handed over for an unrelated 2002 loan — a claim undone by his own admitted signature on a later payment endorsement, an unanswered legal notice, and a stamp paper that was, on the record, purchased only in 2007.
13 min readSupreme Court: A Second Appeal Cannot Trade an Upheld Specific Performance Decree for Cash
In Sobaran Singh v. Gordhan Singh, the Supreme Court reversed a High Court order that had upheld a trial court's findings on a decades-old specific performance suit, yet substituted the decreed sale with a large cash payment 'to maintain equity.' The Court restored the original 1979 decree, holding that once the buyer's readiness and willingness stood affirmed and the sale had already been executed through the court in 1979, there was no discretionary room left to convert the transaction into compensation four and a half decades later, particularly where the buyer had been in continuous possession throughout.
13 min readMadhya Pradesh High Court: Once a Specific Performance Suit Is Filed, a Buyer's Good Faith No Longer Matters
Deciding two connected first appeals from a decree for specific performance of an agreement to sell agricultural land near Indore, the Madhya Pradesh High Court applied the Supreme Court's recent reconciliation of Section 19(b) of the Specific Relief Act, 1963 with Section 52 of the Transfer of Property Act, 1882, holding that a sale executed after suit is filed is bound by the doctrine of lis pendens regardless of the buyer's good faith. The Court went on to correct a structural defect in the trial court's decree: a pendente lite transferee is not simply written out of the title by declaring the sale deed void, but must be directed to join the original vendor in executing the conveyance to the decree-holder.
14 min readA Housing Board's Highest Bidder Gets No Vested Right to Allotment, Rajasthan High Court Holds
Across thirteen connected appeals, homebuyers who had offered the highest price at Rajasthan Housing Board auctions saw their allotments quashed after the Board relied on departmental comparisons of nearby, similarly sized properties. The High Court held that being the highest bidder is not enough where approval is still pending — but the authority's own reasons must survive scrutiny too.
12 min readEarnest Money Forfeited, Part-Payment Refunded: Delhi High Court Draws the Line in a Failed Agreement to Sell
A buyer paid Rs. 17.5 lakh under an Agreement to Sell, then defaulted. The seller kept it all. The Delhi High Court had to work out how much of that money was truly earnest money — and how much was simply price paid too early.
14 min readSpecific Performance When Litigation Drags On and Property Prices Rise: Should the Buyer Still Get the Decree?
Price escalation alone is not a defence. Buyer-caused delay is. This guide explains how Indian courts separate the two, and how a decree can be moulded to balance equities.
14 min readHe Who Seeks Equity Must Do Equity: V.N.A.S. Chandran v. S. Venila on Conduct, Delay and Discretion in Specific Performance
The buyers may well have been able to pay. They still lost the property. This case note examines how inconsistent conduct, a retaliatory FIR and two decades of delay defeated a decree of specific performance.
14 min read