I Paid an Advance and the Seller Refuses to Register the Sale Deed: Can I Force the Sale?

Usually yes. Where your agreement to sell was signed on or after 1 October 2018, section 10 of the Specific Relief Act, 1963, as substituted in 2018, says that the specific performance of a contract shall be enforced by the court, subject to sections 11(2), 14 and 16, and a decree can end with the court itself signing and registering the sale deed in the seller's place. What decides most of these suits is not the refusal but three things: whether you sue within the three years that Article 54 of the Limitation Act, 1963 allows, whether you can prove under section 16(c) that you were always ready and willing to pay the balance, and whether the property is still with the seller or has passed to a later buyer who knew of your agreement.

Part of the property and real estate practice at S Jain & Attorneys, Bangalore.

This page is for a buyer who signed an agreement to sell a site, a house or a resale flat in Karnataka, paid an advance, and now faces a seller who will not come to the Sub-Registrar's office. A flat bought from a builder in a RERA-registered project has its own route before K-RERA and is outside this page. The difference between an agreement to sell and a sale deed is covered in the guide on sale agreement and sale deed.

Five questions decide the suit, and each has its answer in your papers:

Four rules frame everything that follows.

Can a court really make the seller sign and register the sale deed?

Yes. If the seller ignores a decree for specific performance, Order XXI Rule 34 of the Code of Civil Procedure, 1908 lets you lodge a draft sale deed in court. After hearing his objections, the judge or an officer appointed for the purpose signs it, with the same effect as the seller's own signature, and the court causes it to be registered.

The 2018 amendment is why that decree is now the expected outcome. Before 1 October 2018, section 10 said specific performance may, in the discretion of the court, be enforced, and the old section 20 listed when a court could decline it. The Specific Relief (Amendment) Act, 2018 replaced section 10 with one sentence: the specific performance of a contract shall be enforced by the court subject to the provisions contained in section 11(2), section 14 and section 16. It removed the discretion in section 20, put substituted performance in its place, and came into force in full on 1 October 2018 under S.O. 4888(E).

Key takeaway. For an agreement governed by the amended Act, the court no longer weighs whether ordering the sale would be hard on the seller, as the old section 20 allowed. It asks whether a statutory bar applies, whether you sued in time and whether you have proved your own readiness. Most of these suits turn on the last two.

My agreement was signed before October 2018. Does the new law still help me?

Do not count on it. In 2022 a three-judge bench of the Supreme Court held the 2018 amendment prospective, not applying to transactions before it came into force. That judgment was recalled on review in November 2024, but in a judgment of 29 October 2025 (2025 INSC 1267) the Court noted that the review had not specifically held that the amended provisions govern suits filed before the amendment, and it decided the appeal before it under the old law. No Supreme Court ruling read for this guide holds that an agreement made before 1 October 2018 gets the benefit of the new section 10, so prepare an older agreement as if the old discretion still applies.

Under the old section 20, a court could refuse relief where the contract gave the buyer an unfair advantage, where performance would cause the seller hardship he did not foresee while refusal would cause the buyer none, or where enforcement would be inequitable. Mere inadequacy of price was not enough, and hardship was ordinarily judged as at the date of the contract. Courts using that discretion watched delay closely, so a buyer who acted promptly after the refusal and paid a substantial part of the price is in a stronger position under either law.

How long do I have to file a suit for specific performance?

Three years, and the start date is where buyers go wrong. Article 54 of the Schedule to the Limitation Act, 1963 runs them from the date fixed for the performance or, if no such date is fixed, from when the plaintiff has notice that performance is refused. If your agreement fixes a date for the sale deed, the clock started on that date whether or not the seller said anything. Only where no date is fixed does it run from notice of his refusal, so keep any written refusal with proof of when it reached you.

Whether a clause fixes a date depends on the whole agreement, and the Supreme Court has read one agreement both ways. In 2022 it read a clause requiring the buyer to pay the balance within three months, with two related clauses, as fixing the date and held his suit time-barred. On review, in a judgment of 8 November 2024 (2024 INSC 861), it held that the clauses fixed no date for the sale deed, because the deed was to follow payment, with no time set for it, and late payment only forfeited the advance, so time ran from the seller's reply refusing to perform and the suit was in time. Count from the earliest date anyone could call fixed, and file within three years of it.

Deadline warning. Your own calls, visits and reminders do not stop the clock. If the agreement fixed a date for the sale deed and no signed extension moved it, three years from that date is your deadline even if the seller kept promising to come next month. Count it today, and if little time is left, file first and keep talking afterwards.

What does ready and willing mean, and must I show the full balance in my bank account?

You must prove you could pay the balance when the sale was due, not that the cash sat idle in an account. Section 16(c), as amended in 2018, bars relief to a person who fails to prove that he has performed or has always been ready and willing to perform the essential terms of the contract to be performed by him, other than terms the seller prevented or waived. The amendment replaced "aver and prove" with "prove", which we read as raising the bar on evidence, not as excusing the pleading. The Explanation adds that you need not tender the money or deposit it in court unless the court directs.

Readiness is about financial capacity and willingness about conduct, as the Supreme Court repeated in a judgment of 10 November 2025 (2025 INSC 1298) on agricultural land in Haveri district. In a judgment of 12 July 2022 it said the buyer must prove that he has the money or has made the necessary arrangements to get it, and refused relief to a buyer whose own balance sheet showed he lacked the funds, holding that a deposit in court seven years later did not establish readiness.

Two older rulings limit what a seller can make of missing paperwork. In a judgment of 28 March 1988 the Supreme Court set aside the findings of three courts that a buyer was not ready because he had not produced his passbook, holding that no adverse inference arises when neither the seller nor the court called for it, and applying a 1966 ruling to the same effect. That buyer had called the seller by notice to the Sub-Registrar's office on the last day, waited there all day and asked the Sub-Registrar to record his presence, and the Court said the real test of his readiness was for the seller to attend and call his bluff.

Common mistake. Filing years of bank statements without reading them first. A statement or tax return showing a shortfall on the date fixed for the sale is evidence for the seller. Choose documents that show capacity on the dates that matter, such as a loan sanction, a fixed deposit or a bank certificate of balance, and know what the rest show, because the seller can ask the court to order their production.

The seller has sent a notice cancelling the agreement and offering my advance back. Is the deal over?

Not by his notice alone. In the November 2025 Haveri judgment the Supreme Court held that an agreement to sell cannot be cancelled unilaterally unless it is determinable within the meaning of section 14, and that an agreement the seller cannot end while the buyer is willing to perform is not determinable. The sellers there had cancelled on grounds unconnected with the buyers and asked them to take back their earnest money, which was never actually refunded. The Court treated the notice as a unilateral repudiation, held the agreement alive and required no separate declaration that the cancellation was invalid.

The answer can change if the agreement itself gave the seller a right to cancel and he used it. The October 2025 judgment drew that line: where the contract confers a right to terminate and it is exercised, a declaration that the termination is bad may be needed, while a termination without any such right may be treated as repudiation. Answer a cancellation notice in writing at once, saying that the agreement subsists and you remain ready to complete, and consider asking in the plaint for a declaration that the cancellation does not bind you.

Common mistake. Banking the refund. In the Haveri judgment the Court noted an earlier case in which a buyer's encashing of the seller's demand drafts amounted to acceptance of the seller's repudiation. If a cheque or draft arrives, do not deposit it. Return it with a letter saying that the agreement subsists.

The agreement says the seller will pay double the advance if he backs out. Can he pay and walk away?

Not just because the clause exists. Section 23 of the Specific Relief Act allows a contract to be specifically enforced even though it names a sum payable on breach and the party in default is willing to pay it, if the court is satisfied that the sum was named only to secure performance and not to give the defaulting party an option of paying money instead of performing. If the court decrees specific performance, it cannot also decree the named sum. We read a clause requiring the seller to refund twice the advance if he fails to register as pressure to perform, not a price for walking away, unless the agreement says in terms that he may pay and end the deal. Which kind yours is depends on its words and the circumstances of signing, which section 23 asks the court to weigh.

What else can the seller argue to defeat the suit?

Fewer things than before 2018, but some still work. Section 14 now excludes four kinds of contract: where a party has obtained substituted performance under section 20, where performance involves a continuous duty the court cannot supervise, where the contract is so dependent on personal qualifications that the court cannot enforce its material terms, and where it is in its nature determinable. An ordinary agreement to buy a site or flat falls outside all four unless it lets the seller end it at will. Section 16 also bars, among others, a buyer who has become incapable of performing, has violated an essential term still to be performed by him, or acts in fraud of the contract.

The defences that most often succeed are factual: the terms were never concluded, the advance was a loan and the agreement only security for it, or the buyer was the one in default. Two arguments fail more often than sellers expect. One is that time was of the essence. The 1988 judgment called it well settled that time is not the essence of a contract for the sale of immovable property, and the October 2025 judgment put the burden of proving otherwise on the party alleging it, though clear words in the agreement can make time essential. The other is that prices have risen, which is not among the statutory bars for an agreement governed by the amended Act. No Supreme Court ruling read for this guide decides that point, so treat it as our reading of the text.

My agreement is only notarised, not registered. Can I still sue on it?

Yes. Notarisation records that the document was signed before a notary, but it is not registration, and a suit for specific performance does not need a registered agreement. The proviso to section 49 of the Registration Act, 1908 allows an unregistered document affecting immovable property to be received as evidence of a contract in such a suit. What an unregistered agreement does not give you is the shield of part performance. Section 17(1A), in force from 24 September 2001, says a contract to transfer immovable property for consideration signed on or after that date has no effect for section 53A of the Transfer of Property Act, 1882 unless it is registered. That matters only if you were let into possession, since section 53A decides whether you can resist the seller's attempt to take the property back, not whether you can sue for the deed. The guide on power of attorney sales works through both provisions.

Registration still helps: a registered agreement appears in the encumbrance certificate, which makes it much harder for a later buyer to say he had no notice of your contract. Stamping is a separate question, and how an under-stamped document is treated in court is covered in the guide on whether an MoU binds.

The seller is showing the property to other buyers. How do I stop a resale?

File the suit and apply for a temporary injunction with it. Order XXXIX Rule 1(a) of the Code of Civil Procedure lets the court restrain a party where property in dispute in a suit is in danger of being alienated by him, and Rule 3 permits an order before the seller is heard where delay would defeat its object. The tests and procedure are in the guide on temporary injunctions under Order 39.

Filing protects you even before an injunction is granted. Under section 52 of the Transfer of Property Act, while a suit directly and specifically about a right to immovable property is pending, a party cannot transfer the property so as to affect the other party's rights under the eventual decree, and pendency begins on the day the plaint is presented. Someone who buys during your suit takes subject to its result. Before you file, section 19(b) of the Specific Relief Act lets you enforce the agreement against anyone claiming under the seller by a later title, except a transferee for value who paid in good faith and without notice of your contract. In the Haveri case the later buyers had been handed the sellers' cancellation notice before buying, and the Court held that a purchaser who relies only on the seller's word, without asking the original buyers, cannot claim good faith. They were ordered to convey the land to the original buyers.

Should I send a legal notice before filing, and what should it say?

Yes, in almost every case, although no statute makes it a condition of a suit against a private seller. A notice records the agreement, the payments and that the balance is ready. It names a date for the seller to attend the Sub-Registrar's office, the event the 1988 judgment treated as the real test of readiness. And it draws out a reply that may mark the refusal from which the second limb of Article 54 counts. The format is in the guide on how to send a legal notice.

Keep the notice to what the agreement requires, because a demand for more hands the seller the argument that you departed from the contract. Do not offer to accept a refund, and do not invoke substituted performance. Section 20 lets a party who suffers a breach have the contract performed by a third party or by his own agency after at least thirty days' written notice and recover the cost, but section 20(3) bars a party who has done so from claiming specific performance, which for a buyer of one particular property is almost never the right trade. A notice followed by years of silence can also count against you, since readiness and willingness are judged on your conduct as a whole.

Can I claim my advance back or compensation in the same suit?

Yes, and plead both, because the court gives only what is asked for. Section 22 lets a buyer suing for specific performance of a contract for the transfer of immovable property ask for possession in addition to performance, and for other relief, including a refund of the earnest money or deposit, in case specific performance is refused. Section 22(2) bars the court from granting either unless it is specifically claimed, though the plaint may be amended at any stage to add it.

Compensation changed in 2018. Section 21(1) used to allow compensation either in addition to or in substitution of performance, and the amendment replaced those words with "in addition to". Section 21(2) still requires the court to award compensation if it refuses specific performance but finds that the seller broke the contract, and section 21(5) requires the claim to be made in the plaint, again with leave to amend. If all you want is your money back, that is a money claim, covered in the guide on money recovery suits.

Which court do I file in, and what is the court fee in Karnataka?

The civil court for the area where the property lies, with a fee calculated on the agreement price. Section 16 of the Code of Civil Procedure sends suits for the determination of a right to or interest in immovable property to the court within whose local limits the property is situate, and these suits are ordinarily filed there.

In Karnataka, section 40(a) of the Karnataka Court-Fees and Suits Valuation Act, 1958 provides that in a suit for specific performance, with or without possession, the fee on a contract of sale is computed on the amount of the consideration. We read that as the full price stated in your agreement, not the unpaid balance or today's market value. Article 1 of Schedule I sets a single scale that tapers as the value rises, so the fee is the base figure for your band plus that band's percentage of the excess over its lower limit. On the scale as it reads today, a price of Rs 40 lakh carries Rs 1,77,125, Rs 60 lakh carries Rs 2,22,125 and Rs 1 crore carries Rs 2,57,125. Recheck on the day of filing, and budget separately for professional fees, which vary with the stakes.

How long will the suit take, and what happens after a decree?

Longer than the statute says. Section 20C, added in 2018, requires a suit under the Act to be disposed of within twelve months from service of summons on the defendant, extendable by not more than six months in all for recorded reasons. A contested suit commonly takes longer, and an appeal adds to it.

A decree also puts a clock on you. Order XX Rule 12A of the Code of Civil Procedure requires a decree for specific performance of a contract for sale to state the period within which the buyer must pay. If you miss that period and any extension the court allows, section 28 of the Specific Relief Act lets the seller apply in the same suit to have the contract rescinded. If you pay in time, the court can order the conveyance and possession, and can execute and register the deed itself if the seller still will not sign.

Time can also raise the price of winning. In the Haveri case, on an agreement of 2000, the buyers succeeded, but almost eighteen years after the later buyers' sale deeds the Supreme Court made them pay the balance with interest at 16 percent a year from the date of the agreement, and a further Rs 5 crore, before the land would be conveyed to them.

What should I do this week, before the seller sells to someone else?

1. Find your date: any date or period for the sale deed in the agreement, any later signed extension and the seller's last written word. Count three years from the earliest date anyone could call fixed.
2. Gather the payment trail: receipts, bank debits and endorsements the seller signed, with cash payments listed separately.
3. Take an encumbrance certificate to see whether anything has been registered since your agreement, following the guide on viewing an encumbrance certificate online.
4. Assemble proof of capacity for the dates that matter, such as a loan sanction, a fixed deposit or a bank certificate of balance, and read every document before deciding to file it.
5. Send a notice through an advocate calling on the seller to attend the Sub-Registrar's office on a stated date, and saying that the balance is ready.
6. Attend on that date with the balance arranged, and apply to the Sub-Registrar's office to record your presence.
7. Answer any cancellation notice in writing, and do not bank a refund.
8. File the suit for specific performance with possession and, in the alternative, refund of the advance, pay the court fee on the agreement price, and apply for a temporary injunction against alienation with it.
9. Make any later buyer a defendant and keep your readiness evidence current until the decree.

Why do buyers with a good agreement still lose?

Usually because of what happened after signing, and the files that reach us late share a pattern. The date in the agreement went by while the buyer kept calling the seller, so limitation now turns on whether the agreement fixed a date at all. Part of the advance was paid in cash and is acknowledged only by a line in the seller's handwriting that he now disputes. The buyer arrives with years of bank statements that nobody has read. And the seller has already shown the property to others, sometimes to a buyer told that the agreement was cancelled. None of these is fatal by itself, but each is cheaper to prevent than to argue, and most begin with the same decision, to wait and see.

Four things in your file decide most of these suits.

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

Suits for specific performance, injunctions against resale and title checks before a purchase are handled by the firm's property and real estate law and civil litigation practices.

• Sale Agreement vs Sale Deed: What Is the Difference?
• 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