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Tuesday, October 30, 2012

DEPOSIT AMOUNT CAN BE FORFEITED AND NOT THE AMOUNT PAID TOWARDS PART PAYMENT OF THE SALE CONSIDERATION - SUPREME COURT RULING


Whether the seller is entitled to forfeit the entire deposit amount where the sale of an immovable property falls through by reason of the fault or failure of the purchaser. HELD yes by the Apex Court.

Whether the seller is entitled to retain the entire amount received towards earnest money or not. The fact that the purchaser was at fault in not paying the balance consideration was also not disputed. The question whether the seller can retain the entire amount of earnest money depends upon the terms of the agreement. The Hon’ble Supreme Court of India in Satish Batra Vs Sudhir Rawal  observed:

“Law is, therefore, clear that to justify the forfeiture of advance money being part of ‘earnest money’ the terms of the contract should be clear and explicit. Earnest money is paid or given at the time when the contract is entered into and, as a pledge for its due performance by the depositor to be forfeited in case of non-performance by the depositor. There can be converse situation also that if the seller fails to perform the contract  the purchaser can also get the double the amount, if it is so stipulated. It is also the law that party payment of purchase price cannot be forfeited unless it is a guarantee for the due performance of the contract. In other words, if the payment is made only towards part payment of consideration and not intended as earnest money then the forfeiture clause will not apply”.

In the above case, the Supreme Court held that the seller was justified in forfeiting the entire amount of Rs.7,00,000/- as per the relevant clause, since the earnest money was primarily a security for the due performance of the agreement and, consequently, the seller is entitled to forfeit the entire deposit. 

Prepared by: S. Hemanth