Q.1118 Inherited land in India by

NRI now a Malaysian citizen

Question: Hi, my father in law just recently found out about agricultural land that his father owns and will be inherited between his 3 siblings. My father in law left India when he was 7 years old to come and work in Malaysia and later became a citizen here. His father passed away 9 years ago in India. My FIL holds an OCI card. Our question is, can he keep his portion of the land and build house etc in the future? My FIL's brother wants him to sign a power of attorney letter but FIL is not keen to sell the land. We feel that his brother is not disclosing the actual size of the land. How do we find out about the actual size of the land to know the portion that my FIL is entitled to? Aprreciate your assistance. Thank you Regards, Answer: Foreign nationals, regardless of whether they are of Indian origin or not can inherit and hold property in India. Such property can be residential, commercial or even agricultural land. Your father therefore can legally inherit agricultural land in India and do whatever he wants with his property. The only condition that applies is that in case he decides at some point of time to sell this inherited agricultural land, he must sell to a citizen of India who is also resident in India; he can sell agricultural land to a non-resident. While no income tax is payable at the time of inheriting property, capital gains may apply when property is eventually sold, such tax would depending on the type of property sold and Indian laws in effect at the time of the sale.

Finding details of inherited land

To find the details of the inherited agricultural land, the registration office in the area where land is located should be contacted. You may prefer to seek help from a local lawyer to guide you through this process. However, be careful when hiring a lawyer in India, keep your original documents instead of handing them over to people you do not know. Lawyers in India are not subject to regulatory laws as per western standards and NRIs should exercise extreme care when hiring a lawyer.