Real Estate and Property

Real Estate and Property

Real estate in India is governed and impacted by a combination of Federal (Central) and State-specific laws.  This is because, in accordance with Article 246 of the Constitution of India, ‘Land’ is a subject matter covered under the State List or List-II of the Seventh Schedule to the Constitution of India, which enlists subjects on which only States can legislate, while ‘transfer of property other than agricultural land, registration of deeds and documents’ and ‘contracts other than for agricultural lands’ are enlisted under the Concurrent List or List-III of the Seventh Schedule to the Constitution of India, which are subjects on which both the Parliament (central legislature) and the State legislature can legislate.  Additionally, since India is a country with diverse sects, laws relating to various aspects such as devolution, inheritance, etc., are often based on various customary principles and practices applicable to different sects, in addition to codified laws.  Over the years, the higher judiciary in India has also made various judicial pronouncements on matters relating to real estate law, which act as judicial precedents and govern the interpretation of applicable laws.