All you need to know about Relinquishment Deed

In India, a relinquishment deed is a legal tool through which a legal heir releases his or her legal rights that he or she inherited in parental property in favour of another legal heir who could be anyone but a co-owner or such person having a share in the property, such as his or her mother, son, daughter, brother, sister, etc.

In legal terms, relinquishment refers to the abandoning of the rights, title, and interest by one co-owner of the property in favour of another co-owner/s. As a result, this causes the creation of new property shares, which increases one of those of beneficiaries.

For example, three sons of a person who died without leaving a written will received a significant property in their hometown. If two of the three sons work in distant cities and find it difficult to manage the estate in their hometown, they can transfer the rights to the third brother, who resides near the ancestral land and is capable of handling the estate well. Assuming the two brothers want to surrender their rights to the third brother; a deed of relinquishment or relinquishment deed would be created and recorded to formalise the process.

A relinquishment deed can only be used to surrender property rights when the property is inherited. These would include all ancestral possessions to which you have a right by birth under Hindu Succession Law, as well as your father's self-acquired property in circumstances where he dies intestate (Without a Will).

According to Section 17(1) b of the Registration Act of 1908, any instrument that creates or transfers a right over immovable property must be registered. As a result, a relinquishment document must be recorded in order to provide the necessary legal legitimacy.  As per section 49 of the Registration Act, an unregistered relinquishment document will not be acceptable in a court of law if a dispute develops over it.

The unregistered relinquishment deed is not a legal document and cannot be challenged in court. Any transaction involving immovable property is only effective when the deed is executed and properly registered by paying stamp duty and registration fees. In Telugu Kishna Mohan and Others vs. Smt. Boggula Padmavathi and Others, the court ruled that an unregistered relinquishment deed is inadmissible in evidence due to a lack of registration under Section 17 of the Indian Registration Act.

Now, a relinquishment deed must be prepared on Rs.100 stamp paper. Ensure that the deed includes all detail about the relinquished property.

Once the deed is prepared on stamp paper, it is sent for registration to the sub-registrar of assurances under whose jurisdiction of the property is located, along with a registration cost that varies by state but is usually between Rs. 100 and Rs. 250.

To register a deed, two witnesses' signatures will be necessary. Other documents, such as passport-sized pictures and evidence of identity (driver's licence, Adhar card, etc.), will be required.

A relinquishment deed is irrevocable since it can only be set aside on the same grounds as a contract may.

The grounds for cancelling a relinquishment deed are similar to those for cancelling a contract such as  Fraud, Misrepresentation, Undue influence, Coercion etc.

As a result, the deed can only be cancelled where there is a lack of free consent and cannot be set aside on any other basis at your discretion.