Recently, I was assigned some work on real estate laws. But being a media lawyer, I did not have much idea of how to approach the topic. Then I reached out to a friend of a friend who worked in real estate laws. He helped me tremendously on my article Real Estate Lawyers: The What & How of The Job! Two days later, I had another article to write and I was at a loss yet again!
So, I spoke to a few real estate lawyers for my articles. I needed to know more about the domain before I began writing about it. I just had some theoretical knowledge from back in the days. I have drafted some lease and license agreements, rent agreement, dealt with advising on tenancy laws, etc. But in my present article, I needed some specific insights from the people in the know.
What agreements do real estate lawyers deal on a day to day basis? This question led to many interesting responses. As lawyers we know that contract drafting is an essential skill set for all lawyers. But we gain expertise in the ones we deal with regularly. So for a real estate lawyer, it is important to not only know contract drafting, but also which agreements to draft. Then there is need for knowledge of real estate laws. For this one may do a real estate law course to gain practical knowledge along with theoretical knowledge, to have an extra edge over others.
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Therefore, we asked many real estate lawyers for their inputs and insights. According to Advocate Mrinal Agrawal, “Agreements pertaining to sale deed, lease deed, tripartite agreement are the most common ones.”
Manisha Paranjape, Associate Partner at Dhaval Vussonji & Associates, said that there are a wide range of documents really as property transactions are of various types. “The agreements to sell/ MoUs, conveyance deeds, leases, leave and license agreements, development agreements, joint development agreements, development management agreements, gift deeds, release deeds, powers of attorney, agreements for permanent alternate accommodation are some of the usual ones.”
Based on the above inputs and from other sources, we have come up with a list of agreements that you must know as a real estate lawyer, detailed below:
# Agreement to Sell
This is the initial document between the buyer and the seller which details the terms and conditions of sale of a property. The terms and conditions include the description of the property, amount of payment, the future date of payment, mode of payment, etc. is included in it. An agreement of sale forms the basis of the execution of a sale deed.
You can download a sample of agreement to sell from here.
# Sale Deed
The sale deed acts as the main document for sale and transfer of ownership of a property. It is executed after the terms and conditions detailed in the agreement of sale have been complied with. This document helps the buyer to acquire the ownership of the property. It is also referred to as the conveyance deed.
You can download a sample sale deed here.
# Lease Deed
This deed is used to transfer a right to enjoy property for a certain time or in perpetuity in consideration of a price paid or promised or of money, or any other thing of value to be rendered periodically or on specific occasion to the Lessor by the Lessee who accepts the transfer on such terms. You can read more about it here.
You can download a sample lease deed here.
# Leave and License Agreement
A leave and license agreement is an agreement whereby licensor allows the licensee to temporarily occupy and use portion of an immovable property for business and residential purposes. The license is for a minimum period of 11 months in lieu of a fixed payment of fees. It has to be compulsorily registered before the Sub-Registrar of Assurances in the place where the property is situated.
You can download a sample from here.
# Joint Development Agreement
In case of a joint development agreement, the owner provides the land to the developer for an arrangement with the developer. Usually the arrangement is that the developer will create and construct a real estate project and bear the costs. Various permissions and approvals from authorities are required for this. The owner of the land may get a lump sum amount or a percentage of sales revenue, based on the terms and conditions.
You can download a joint development agreement sample here.
# Gift Deed
As per Section 122 of the Transfer of Property Act, 1882, you can transfer immovable property through a gift deed. Gift “is the transfer of certain existing moveable or immoveable property made voluntarily and without consideration, by the donor to the donee, and accepted by or on behalf of the donee, in the lifetime of the donor.” For a gift deed to be valid, the registration of a gift deed with the sub-registrar is mandatory as per Section 17 of the Registration Act, 1908, and as per Section 123 of the Transfer of Property Act. The mutation of the property can be done only upon due registration of the gift deed.
You can download a sample gift deed here.
This is certainly not an exhaustive list of agreements. There are a variety of different documents involved in the process of acquiring or transferring partial or complete property ownership. Real estate lawyers need to do a lot more before and after drafting these agreements.
Like Srija Choudhury, Advocate, Jharkhand High Court pointed out that the lineage of the property or line of transfer has to be borne in mind. Then the mode of each transfer from the records, i.e., the line of transfer by succession, sale, gift, etc. has to be looked into. Things like mutation certificate, rent receipts, holding tax receipts,etc. have to be retained for examination or presentation of the current right, title, interest and possession.
The real estate lawyers need to have specialised knowledge pertaining to the field. They need practical knowledge to be able to apply their theoretical knowledge. If you want to learn more about real estate laws, you can check out this real estate law course.
Till then keep learning!
