I Gave My Brother a Power of Attorney Over My Bengaluru Property and He Is Misusing It: Revoking It From Abroad

Yes. You can revoke a power of attorney from abroad, and your brother does not have to agree. Section 201 of the Indian Contract Act, 1872 ends an agency when the principal revokes his authority, Section 203 lets you do that at any time before the authority has been exercised so as to bind you, and the only power you cannot pull back is one coupled with the agent's own interest in the property under Section 202, which a brother managing your flat and site does not have. A registered power is, in practice, revoked by a registered deed of revocation presented at the sub-registrar office that registered it. The deed alone protects nothing: Section 208 says the revocation takes effect against third persons only when it becomes known to them, so the notices matter as much as the deed.

Part of the NRI succession and inheritance practice at S Jain & Attorneys, Bangalore.

This is for the owner abroad whose relative holds a general power over a Bengaluru flat and a site, has let the flat to a friend at a nominal rent, is negotiating a sale of the site and does not answer calls. What a holder can and cannot do is in our guide on buying property through a GPA. This guide, from our NRI legal services practice, is about ending the power from where you sit.

The six steps, in the order they have to happen:

1. Get a certified copy of the registered power and read what it allows.
2. Sign a deed of revocation before the Indian consulate or a notary public where you live, plus a special power for one trusted person in Bengaluru to present it.
3. Courier both to that person, not to your brother. Three months from first receipt in Karnataka to stamp, four months from arrival in India to present.
4. Stamp and register the deed at the office that holds the original and collect a certified copy.
5. Serve notice with the certified copy on your brother, the tenant, the association, the khata office and the bank, and publish a public notice in two dailies.
6. Demand the original power, the title deeds, the keys and an account of rent, and appoint a narrow, time-limited replacement.

The notices that make it bite:

Can I revoke the power of attorney I gave my brother, and does he have to agree?

You can, and he cannot stop you. Section 201 lists revocation by the principal first among the ways an agency ends, Section 203 allows it at any time before the authority has been exercised so as to bind you, and Section 207 says revocation may be express or implied in your conduct. The exception people fear is Section 202: where the agent "has himself an interest in the property which forms the subject-matter of the agency", the agency cannot be terminated to the prejudice of that interest without an express contract, and the Supreme Court in Amar Nath v Gian Chand (28 January 2022) called such an agency "clearly irrevocable". The word irrevocable typed into the deed does not create that interest, and a brother who collects rent, pays tax and deals with the association for you has none.

Key takeaway. The power ends by your act alone. What your brother's refusal cannot change is the other half of the rule: a revocation nobody in Bengaluru knows about protects you against nobody.

How do I revoke a power of attorney from abroad without flying to Bengaluru?

By signing where you live and sending the deed to someone other than your brother to stamp and register. Section 33(1)(c) of the Registration Act recognises, for a principal who does not reside in India, a power "executed before and authenticated by a Notary Public, or any Court, Judge, Magistrate, Indian Consul or Vice-Consul, or representative of the Central Government", and Section 84 of the Bharatiya Sakshya Adhiniyam, 2023 makes a court presume that a power so authenticated was so executed. Sign both the special power and the deed of revocation that way. Where the Hague Convention of 5 October 1961 applies, have the notary's act apostilled: India's accession has been in force since 14 July 2005, and the Ministry of External Affairs says an apostilled document from a member country needs no further legalisation in India.

Then the stamp and the clock. Section 3 of the Karnataka Stamp Act, 1957 charges an instrument executed outside the State that relates to property in Karnataka once it is received here, Section 18 allows an instrument executed only out of India to be stamped "within three months after it has been first received in the State of Karnataka", and Section 34 bars registration of an instrument not duly stamped. Section 26 of the Registration Act lets the officer accept a document executed out of India if satisfied that it was so executed and presented "within four months after its arrival in India". Both periods run from the day the courier lands.

Three things that decide acceptance in Bengaluru:

Does the deed of revocation have to be registered?

In law, no. In practice, where the original was registered, yes, at the same office. A power of attorney is not in the compulsory list in Section 17 of the Registration Act, and the Supreme Court in Manik Majumder v Dipak Kumar Saha (13 January 2023) said so: the Section 17 list is exhaustive, a power falls under Section 18(f), and a notarised power is valid without registration. Amar Nath left open whether a registered power can be cancelled only by a registered deed and held that even without a registered cancellation "there must be cancellation and it must further be brought to the notice of the third party".

Registration puts the revocation where people look: a document relating to immovable property goes into Book 1 under Section 51(2), open to inspection under Section 57, the record an encumbrance certificate search is built on. The office can be chosen, because Section 28 fixes it by the property's location only for the documents it names, and Section 29(1) lets a document be presented at any sub-registrar office in the State that the persons executing and claiming under it choose. You are the only executant, and your representative presents it under Section 32(c).

One change is coming. The Registration (Karnataka Amendment) Act, 2025, passed by the State legislature and reported as gazetted in July 2025, inserts in Section 17(1) a clause (f), "power of attorney authorizing transfer of immovable property with or without consideration", and adds to Section 33(4) a proviso that "a proof to the effect that the person executing the power of attorney is alive shall be produced as specified in the rules". It commences on a date the State notifies, and as at 28 September 2026 no commencement notification has been verified.

Common mistake. Treating the deed as done once it is notarised abroad. Until it is stamped, registered and served, the record still shows a live power, and a buyer who checks it and finds nothing has the Section 208 defence handed to him.

Whom must I inform, and what happens if I do not?

Everyone who might deal with your brother on the strength of the power, because under Section 208 their knowledge is the moment the revocation starts to work against them. Section 3 of the Powers of Attorney Act, 1882 says the same from the other side: a person who pays or acts in good faith under a power is not liable because the donor had revoked it "if the fact of ... revocation was not, at the time of the payment or act, known to the person making or doing the same". The tenant who keeps paying your brother is that person. The newspaper comes last because nobody can name in advance the buyer he is negotiating with. Serve each by a route that leaves a receipt. Amar Nath turned on the absence of exactly this: no cancellation on the record, no notice sent, only oral evidence that the buyer knew.

What I tell people at the first call is that the deed is the easy half. A revocation signed before a consul in an afternoon is a good document, and it changes nothing in Bengaluru until it is stamped, sits in the sub-registrar's book and has reached the tenant, the association and the newspaper. These cases are rarely lost on the wording of the deed. They are lost on a tenant who was never written to and a buyer who can honestly say he checked the record and found the power alive.

He has already signed a lease or an agreement to sell: is it valid?

Three questions decide it: was the act within the words of the power, was it done before the other side knew of the revocation, and was it a dealing for his own benefit. An act inside the power, done before notice, binds you under Section 208 and Section 3 of the Powers of Attorney Act. An act outside the power was never yours: a power to manage and let does not authorise a sale, so an agreement to sell signed under it does not bind you. An act inside the power but for his own benefit can be repudiated under Section 215 where it was to your disadvantage, and Section 216 gives you any benefit he took. A lease that survives those tests binds you until it ends, as our guide on tenant eviction in Karnataka describes.

A registered sale deed is the serious case. Section 31 of the Specific Relief Act, 1963, in the text the Supreme Court set out in Mukund Bhavan Trust v Shrimant Chhatrapati Udayan Raje Pratapsinh Maharaj Bhonsle (20 December 2024), allows any person "against whom a written instrument is void or voidable, and who has reasonable apprehension that such instrument, if left outstanding may cause him serious injury" to sue to have it adjudged void or voidable and "delivered up and cancelled", and sub-section (2) sends a copy of the decree to the registering officer, who notes the cancellation. The same judgment restates the limitation: three years under Article 59 of the Limitation Act from the date the facts entitling you to have the instrument set aside first became known to you. Order 39 rule 1 of the Code of Civil Procedure allows an interim injunction where property in dispute is in danger of being alienated.

The criminal side is slower than people expect. Section 316 of the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita, 2023 makes dishonest misappropriation or use of entrusted property criminal breach of trust, and sub-section (5) punishes it, where the entrustment was "in the way of his business as a ... attorney or agent", with imprisonment up to ten years or for life, with fine. Section 318(4) punishes cheating that induces delivery of property with up to seven years and fine. Police often call a quarrel between brothers civil, so build the civil case as if it will stand alone.

How do I recover the rent he pocketed and take the property back?

Demand an account first. Section 213 binds an agent "to render proper accounts to his principal on demand", Section 211 makes an agent who departs from the principal's directions make good the loss and account for any profit, and Section 216 adds the benefit of any dealing on his own account, so the gap between the nominal rent and the market rent is claimable. A suit for accounts and recovery in the civil court in Bengaluru follows silence, with the tenant's bank trail as the evidence.

Taking the property back has two parts. The site is safe once the revocation is on the record and the notice is out. The flat depends on the friend's tenancy, and the eviction route is the ordinary one for a Bengaluru landlord, so change the locks only when possession is lawfully yours. Then appoint the replacement: a special power to one person, limited to collecting rent into your account, dealing with the association and the khata office and paying the tax, with an end date and quarterly statements. Keep the power to sell, mortgage, gift or lease for years out of it, and record in it that the earlier power stands revoked.

What closes the file:

Mistakes NRIs make when cancelling a power of attorney from abroad

The first is revoking by message. A voice note telling your brother the power is cancelled is a revocation between the two of you under Section 207 and nothing to the tenant, the association or the buyer. Amar Nath was lost on exactly that. The second is not registering the revocation where the original was registered, and the third is letting the deed sit, because the three-month and four-month windows run from the day it lands in India. The fourth is replacing one wide power with another: a general power to a sister with the same clauses has changed the name and kept the risk. The fifth is leaving the papers with him, because a registered power in the wrong hands is dangerous for as long as it travels with the title deeds, the khata extract and the tax receipts. The sixth is skipping the newspaper, the one notice a careful buyer's lawyer looks for, as our verification checklist before buying a home explains. Our property and real estate law practice runs both sides of that search.

Frequently Asked Questions

This article is for general informational purposes only and does not constitute legal advice. Consult a qualified advocate for advice on your specific situation.

Related Guides

Revocation deeds, notices and the suit that follows are handled by our NRI legal services and property and real estate law practices.

• Buying Property Through a GPA: Why a Power of Attorney Sale Does Not Transfer Title
• Know Your Rights in Property Disputes & Verification Checklist Before Buying a Home
• How an NRI Should Make a Will for Indian Assets