What FEMA allows an NRI to hold
The Foreign Exchange Management Act 1999 permits a non-resident Indian to acquire most residential and commercial property in India, but it restricts acquisition of agricultural land, plantation property and farmhouses, categories that generally cannot be purchased by an NRI, though they can in some circumstances be inherited. Anyone planning a purchase should confirm at the outset that the property does not fall into a restricted category, since this affects not only the purchase but also how easily the property can later be sold or mortgaged.
Title due diligence from abroad
Title verification in India means tracing ownership back through the chain of prior sale deeds, checking the encumbrance certificate for existing mortgages or charges, confirming property tax payments are current, and, for agricultural land converted to other use, confirming the conversion was properly recorded. None of this requires the owner's physical presence; it is done through document review and searches at the relevant sub-registrar's office, usually by an advocate instructed for the purpose, and it should be completed before money changes hands, not after.
When someone else is occupying your property
A common and painful situation for NRIs is finding that a relative, a tenant who has stopped paying, or in some cases a stranger, has taken and kept possession of a property while the owner was abroad. The available remedy depends on how possession was originally taken: a suit for possession, an eviction proceeding against a tenant under the relevant state rent law, or in clear cases a suit for a mandatory injunction. Acting promptly matters, since a long, unexplained gap between discovering the occupation and taking legal steps can weaken the case and, in some fact patterns, strengthen a claim of adverse possession by the occupant.
Selling through an attorney, and settling up afterwards
Where an owner cannot be present to sign a sale deed, a registered power of attorney can authorise a named person in India to complete the sale, but the document should specify the exact property, the minimum acceptable terms and the scope of the attorney's authority rather than granting open-ended power. On sale, a buyer is required to deduct tax at source at the higher rate that applies to a non-resident seller, and the seller should plan for this when agreeing the price. Repatriating the net proceeds abroad is generally permitted subject to the applicable FEMA rules and supporting documentation, including a chartered accountant's certificate confirming the tax position.
