Dear Madam,
I have a BDA site measuring 50x80 in Bangalore (Site no100). My neighbour, the owner of site no 101 which is to our left, has built compound walls on all four sides in a manner that it encroaches my site by 1 foot, ie, 1 x 80. His site measurement is 51x80 and mine stands at 49x80.

I have written several letters to the owner and the BDA. The owner of the site has still not responded to my letter. I had BDA officials measure my site who confirmed the dimension as 49x80. BDA has also not responded in writing.

Should I seek legal advice or is there any amicable option?
Parvathi

Dear Parvathi,
You should immediately file a case against the trespasser and pray for an order to get back the encroached land. Alternatively you can file a police complaint. You should not sleep over your rights.

Dear Madam,
We have a three storeyed building in Rajajinagar facing the main road. We have leased the ground floor and 1st floor to 2 brothers separately.

The 1st brother of the ground floor is running a wine shop and restaurant while the 2nd brother is running a bar on the 1st floor - both are doing business jointly but each floor is let out separately in their individual names. The 2nd floor is let out for housing purpose to another person on monthly rental basis.
Meanwhile, the two brothers wanted some more space for their business and they are utilising the 2nd floor for the same without our knowledge. On inquiry, they said they had evicted the tenant of 2nd floor and that they had arranged accommodation for him in a separate house elsewhere and are paying the rent for that separate house. Also, they are not paying the rent to us for using the 2nd floor. 

Now, the 1st brother has evinced interest in buying the property and has offered a reasonably good amount. If we want to sell the whole building to the 1st brother, the questions now are:

 (1) Do we have to take an undertaking from the 2nd brother for his willingness to vacate the 1st floor since the lease agreement is in his name also?

 (2) The tenant on the 2nd floor is unavailable for talks for the last 3-4 years and has not contacted us since. Can we sell the entire property without him being notified or paying his advance back? What is the implication if we ignore him?

 (3) Is it sufficient if we mention in the sale deed that the 1st brother is buying the entire property as vacant?

 (4) When can we safely hand over the original documents to the purchaser - at the time of advance payment or after full sale proceeds?
A reader

Dear reader,
First of all the tenant on the second floor has vacated without informing you for a long period. You can send him a legal notice stating that he has absconded the premises and the lease is not in force. You can call upon him to collect the refundable security deposit.

Any action taken by the 2nd brother in evicting this tenant is unauthorised. Second, regarding the sale, you can sell a tenanted property and the new landlord will take your place vis-à-vis your tenant.

It is not necessary to state that the property is vacant. You are not advised to hand over the original document until the registration of the sale deed. If fact, if a bank loan is not resorted to by the purchaser, you can directly register a sale deed and avoid a sale agreement altogether.

Dear Madam,
I purchased a site in BTM 6th stage (site 180, 2nd phase, 6th phase, BTM layout) for Rs 28,40,000 and registered it at that value. When I applied for Khata transfer, I received a tax challan from BDA which completely awed me. Here is what it says, 

   1) BDA charges 1% of registered value as annual tax ie, Rs 28,400 + some minor charges for my vacant site.

   2) My site got registered on August 8, 2006, and the seller had paid property tax for 2005-06 of Rs 675 which was based on the price that she purchased from BDA (upon allotment) 12 years ago. Even though she has paid the tax for the whole year, according to them, the tax gets recomputed for 2005-06 based on the new property value and I am supposed to pay that for 2005-06 (it is not even prorated for the remaining period of the financial year).

 3) The layout where this site is located does not have a road, water or electricity connection. There is no way I can build a house there to live until they have these basic facilities.

4) I enquired if there is an appeal process to request a reconsideration of tax amount.

The official there said, “You can appeal but let me tell you that the tax amount will not get reduced.” Upon asking what the appeal procedure is and the basis on which the tax will be reconsidered she refused to give me an answer.

My questions are:
1) Is there an appeal mechanism or something similar, wherein I can get this assessment revised downward. Property taxes in developed layouts like Jayanagar are at a fraction of this value. I really don’t understand why BDA should turn out to be such extortionists.

2) Am I really liable to pay tax for 2005-06 even though the seller had paid taxes of the full year at prevailing rates? My site was registered on August 8, 2005.
Prashanth Kamath

Dear Prashanth, All layouts managed by the BDA have been handed over to the Corporation. However, you can always file a case in the court regarding the property tax, which is excessively high and can be challenged. 

Dear Madam,
My mother has received 0.25 acres of land of her parental property from her brothers in a village near Belgaum.
Is she eligible to purchase agricultural land near Bangalore? If yes, what documents does she have to produce at the time of registration. Subsequently, do my brothers and I inherit rights to own this agricultural land although we are all engineering professionals.

Secondly, the land my mother is wanting to buy is in the Mysore road area. With peripheral ring road and the Bangalore-Mysore corridor coming up, where can we get the authenticated information on acquisition of the land by Government for making this road?

Also, is the sub-registrar expected not to allow the registration of agricultural land which falls within the planned acquisition by the Government?  Finally, for agricultural land purchase, how recent should the EC (the duration being 13 years) be prior to the purchase?
Bhushan

Dear Bhushan,
Yes, your mother can purchase agricultural lands in Bangalore. At the time of  change of khata in your names, if there is an enquiry about your income, you will have to face the proceedings. It may be added that several such changes of RTCs are not challenged by the government. Regarding the acquisition you can approach the BMICP for information on the same. To determine how many years the EC should be applied for, the history should be studied. However, as a general thumb rule, EC should at least be available for the last 12 to 30 years, depending on various factors.