Immovable Property in India? Indian Law Governs, No Matter Where You Live

Where is your Immovable Property?

The modern Indian family is increasingly spread across borders. A son works in Dubai. A daughter settles in Toronto. A cousin relocates to London. Parents stay back, or split their time, or themselves retire abroad. Somewhere in the middle of all this movement sits the family flat in Bandra, or the plot of land in a tier-two town, or the farmhouse outside the city.

Which country’s law decides what happens to that property when an owner dies?

If you have ever had this question — or been told different things about it by different people — there is a surprisingly simple answer for one part of it.

The core rule: land in India follows Indian law

Indian succession law, as set out in the Indian Succession Act, 1925, says that succession to immovable property situated in India is regulated by the law of India, wherever the deceased may have had their domicile at the time of death.

In plain English: if the property is immovable — that is, land, a flat, a house, a shop, a plot — and it is located in India, then Indian succession law or their personal law governs what happens to it when the owner dies. The owner’s domicile — the country they treated as their permanent home — does not change that rule for immovable property.

Movable property is a different matter. For movables — things like bank balances, shares, jewellery, mutual fund units, deposits — the rule is governed by the law of the country in which the deceased was domiciled at the time of death.

So two different conflict-of-laws rules operate side by side.

Immovables: the country where the property sits. Movables: the country of domicile.

Domicile, for this purpose, roughly means the jurisdiction a person treats as their permanent home — a technical concept different from residence or citizenship. A full discussion of domicile is its own subject.

The Subramanian family

Consider a hypothetical retired couple, Mr. and Mrs. Subramanian. Mr. Subramanian worked his career in Germany and never really came back. He took German domicile many years ago. His wife remained in India. Together they own a flat in Chennai — the one they bought in the 1990s as their retirement plan.

Mr. Subramanian also holds substantial savings in German banks, and a portfolio of shares on a German exchange. He made a Will in Germany.

He passes away in Munich. What happens?

For the Chennai flat — an immovable property located in India — Indian succession law especially Hindu Succession Act in his case governs. The fact that Mr. Subramanian was domiciled in Germany does not change the rule. Indian law applies to the Chennai flat.

For the German bank balances and the German shares — movable property — the law of Germany, the country of his domicile at death, governs.

The family will therefore find themselves having to administer two separate estates, under two different legal systems, at roughly the same time. One of them for the Chennai flat. The other for everything abroad.

The pattern is real, and you will see it in every family with members settled overseas and property left behind in India.

Why this matters

It matters because many non-resident Indians, and many Indian families with NRI children, assume that one Will drafted in the country of residence will handle everything. Sometimes it does. Often, it does not — especially for immovable property sitting in India.

It matters because Indian immovable property often triggers rules of Indian succession that do not exist in foreign systems. Rules about coparcenary for Hindu ancestral property. Rules about the one-third limit for Muslim bequests. Rules about probate in certain jurisdictions within India. These rules do not politely step aside because the deceased was living abroad.

It matters because the legal heirs under Indian law, and the legatees under a foreign Will, may be different people. A foreign Will that bequeaths “all my property, wherever situated” to one person may run into Indian rules that say some or all of the Indian immovable property has to pass differently.

And it matters because tax, stamp duty, registration, and transfer of title for Indian property are Indian processes. No Dubai will, no Singapore grant of probate, no American trust instrument, will bypass that. The Indian law of the land applies to the land.

Practical takeaway

If you own immovable property in India, and you are domiciled anywhere — in India or outside — the Indian succession law applies to that property.

A few things follow from this.

First, if you have assets in multiple countries, it is often wise to consider whether you need more than one Will — one covering Indian immovable (and arguably Indian movable) assets, and another covering assets abroad. The two Wills have to be carefully drafted so that they do not contradict or unintentionally revoke each other.

Second, do not assume that a Will drafted abroad will be automatically accepted by Indian authorities for the Indian property. It may need to be recognised and given effect to through Indian procedures.

Third, do not assume that Indian law will step aside because you live elsewhere. It will not. Your Indian flat — the one you bought twenty years ago and now lies locked and empty for most of the year — does not know where you are. When the time comes, Indian law decides.

This is an area where a little preparation in advance saves your family a great deal of running around afterwards. It is not glamorous work. It is exactly the kind of thing many people put off. But the question “what happens to the Chennai flat?” is better answered by the person who owns it than by a judge in front of grieving relatives.

Property in India. Indian law. Wherever you live.