indiapurple

Just checked...it was actually in March. I think somebody on IM has just requested that the thread be made into a sticky, so they have give it a new heading, making it look like new news.

Indiapurple

Bryson7

Hi Douglas,
I would like your opinion as to wether you think these clauses in a lease contract would break Indian government rules regarding the 5 year lease rule;

1. The Lessee has entered into this Lease Agreement in respect of the said unit with the intention of acquiring the freehold rights thereto as soon as he/ she/ they become/s eligible to do so under the applicable law, and hence both parties have agreed that :

2 in the event that the lessee does not become eligible before the end of the lease period specified herein, the lease shall be renewed on the same terms and lease rent. The lease shall be renewed for a futher 58 month periods until such time as the Lessee becomes eligible to acquire the freehold of the said unit under the applicable law.

This is only a small extract of the Lease document, it also says that these terms are passed on to ones heirs.

Douglas do you think the above could be seen as going against the "spirit" of the law, or is it in your opinion "legal" ?
My lawyer in Goa appeared to think it was perfectly legal and would not cause any problems.
If deemed legal it would appear that the Lessee might in fact have something to sell.
Best Regards Bryson

Douglas M

Hi Bryson7,

I am not a lawyer but i am happy to give a personal opinion.

In para 2 the word "shall" indicates a large degree of certainty to me with regard to renewal and as such is not in keeping with the spirit of FEMA .

To demonstrate that it was a clean 58 month lease i would have thought that there would be some form of march out or cut off clause in the lease, indicating a clean break at the end of the 58 month period.

As to being legal or not, does the "shall" clause give you the right to renew and if you have the right to renew, does that mean you effectively have a perpetual lease? If you effectively have a perpetual lease does it contravene statute (FEMA) or case law? You would need to speak to a decent lawyer in one of the main cities on this matter .That would only give you an opinion, the true test would be if an official were to state that it was illegal and could you win the appeal against that decision?

In order to have a resale value, there would have to be a transfer clause contained in the lease allowing the lessee to sell both the lease and/or the right to renew.

regards
douglas

a_f_d

see my comments - #618

Remy-Ireland

Hi All,

This link is from todays Goan Voice.

http://news.realestatetv.tv/India_du..._18246945.html


What you think?

Regards,
Remy

Kinrara

Hi Remy

I like the last paragraph!

"According to Assetz, investment in Indian property is currently only available to non-resident Indians and people of Indian origin. It is launching real estate funds in September that are accessible to all investors"

Fingers & toes crossed.

Remy-Ireland

Yeah, i read that.
But i dont pretend to understand it ............its all sort of whooooooosh (over my head)

Kind Regards,
Remy

Remy-Ireland

Quick post something we're on no.666

TDK

Hi Remy, & thanks for the link although i don't think its much to celebrate for FNs if all we'll be able to do is buy shares in Indian real estate funds although i guess it could be quite a lucrative investment pehaps
Regards
TDK

indiapurple

I may be way off here (not unusual for me at this time of night!!) but I took it to mean that investment would be accessible in September for those investors who qualify ???

regards
Indiapurple

babu1

Hi All,

Apologies, I thought I'd bring this very interesting thread back to the top. It's been slipping into obscurity.

Interesting article to follow, if a little unfactual and all over the place, but have a read:

http://mangalorean.com/news.php?news...adcastid=53498

"Sorrowing Lies My Land" is a very famous novel by journalist Lambert Mascarenhas, first published in 1955, but last available in hardback at The Other India Bookstore, Mapusa, or Hotel Mandovi Bookshop, Panjim, amongst other outlets.

It recounts the growing repression of the Portugese colonials, particularly under the authority of Salazar prior to revolution??/ liberation?? / invasion??, and is a manifesto for self rule in the hope of better things to come.

Goan academics are still at loggerheads as to these various "historical truths" to this day. In many ways the continuing debate, the debacle over the withdrawl of the controversial historical DVD two years ago (you can see large extracts of it on youtube) , do little more than divert attention from the true realities of Goan society as they stand today.

Incidentally, it is my contention that the British held a very brief and never mentioned period of rule in Goa during the Napoleonic Wars when Portugal had become our enemy as part of Bonaparte's Empire. Certainly, there is a well maintained English Cemetary on the left, down a hill at the entrancre to Raj Bhavan. There are about forty overground tombs (which would be about right after a few years of tropical diseases), but the walls are too high to climb and the large gate is well padlocked so I couldn't get to see any inscriptions/dates.

Does anyone else know anything about this?

Regards

wheatsheaf

Napoleon Bonaparte actually had a bed made for Josephine in Goa, because of the fine craftsmanship during that era that was available. I think the bed is in the Sintra Palace in Lisbon and is called the 'Goa Bed'. As for Britain's link to Goa, dont forget that the oldest military and civil service alliance in the world is between Portugal and Britain. Goa, was also a 'province of Portugal' and not a colony and therfore part of that alliance especially in Naval matters and exchange of civil servants throughout the world. Even in 1974, following the Portuguese Revolution, military personnel assisted each other in the evacuation and settlement of the Portuguese African Territories.

As for "Sorrowing Lies My Land": which Goan (even a state of mind goan)would not be alarmed at the turn of events in recent decades?. Lambert Mascarenhas bemoaned colonial rule in 1955 but as Mahatma Gandhi himself thought, 'liberation' would be merely substituting one domination for another.

The article you quote touches on many of the reflections on BE. What it does not come out and say implicitly is that intermittent electric power, paved but dangerous roads, unhygenic shanty colonies, language and civil domination, flourishing corruption are beginning to highlight the course Goa is headed towards which is also a glaring contrast to what it was and what it could have been. No honest spectator can dispute this, and those that do have proved to be politically and financially motivated.

The FN property problem is a case in point. Goans are by force of nature (or history at the very least) an international, outward looking, globally minded people. Having FNs owning property in Goa is no contradiction to the Goan character. Again, the article you quote implies that: "a new generation is demanding that the wrong done many years back be rectified". However, the NEW GENERATION populating Goa are from outside States. Their numbers are huge, and their voting power enormous. They see, and want to seize this opportunity to enrich themselves beyond their wildest dreams.

babu1

Hi Wheatsheaf,

Thanks for the very informative response, although it still begs the question whether the British had control of the garrisons, or blockaded the sea routes during this period. I will have a further look at the British Cemetary. For example, who maintains it?

Post "liberation", with the full view of hindsight and the reprehensibly selfish motivations of the majority of the body politic, I would suggest that independant self reliance might have been a better outcome.

The influx of such a massive out of State population seems an inevitability, in part accelerated by the Konkan Railway and the pernicious influence of television where for the first time masses of the Indian population were able to look beyond the confines of their own towns, villages and cities.(Though you cannot blame people for the basic instinct to better their potential in life).

One only has to take a brief look at the demographics to see how dramatic the changes have been regards religious belief and language.

Regards the voting power of this "new generation", their power has been offered to them on a plate as politicians of all persuasions seek to tap into a new and hugely influential vote bank. That they have been allowed the vote, indeed actively courted in areas of Panjim and Margao to stake a right to vote, amazes me even though I understand the underlying corrupt reasons for such action.

Correct me if I'm wrong, but is it not the case in other States of India that voting rights in State elections are generally only conferred on persons provably indigenous to that State?

There is some interesting footage on www.youtube.com of out of State families living in shanty towns being offered 50R/- to buy their vote. How else could such a fraudster as Victoria "Mummy" Fernandes still be championed as "a woman of the people" in Santa Cruz; she does little or nothing for her constituents, jumps party entirely out of self interest, resigns if she doesn't get Ministerial Office, fakes a futile "fast to death", then asks to withdraw her resignation when the party swap didn't go her way and the "Kamat coup" failed!!

Sadly, her behaviour acts as a fairly reliable template for the motivations of the majority of Goan politicians, which is to hold fiercely onto power as a licence to line your own pockets at whatever cost and by whatever means (and that includes using FN's owning property as a scapegoat).

wheatsheaf

Will the presence of FNs in Goa on a permanent basis alter this downward spiral. Hopefully yes, because at the moment there are no consequences for the way things are going. It is obvious that Goans do not count in their own homeland anymore at any political or economic or social level. FNs are a different story.

Santan

Has anybody read the article link from the Goan voice "Sorrowing my lies" by Armastrong Vaz 20 Sept, he talks about the "government truce" on FNs
Have I missed something,drank to much or can't read (or all 3)
Santan