Property question - buying farmland

needCBT · May 13, 2014

My husband's family has a 15 acre (ancestral) property. 5 acres are registered to my husband. Rest are registered to my MIL, SIL and FIL but not sure of the details. (This makes them all small scale farmers and eligible for low interest loans - they utilize the loans every year)

There are 2 bits of adjoining farms, 1 acre and 3.5 acres each owned by different people (who are not financially sound, so there are talks of selling them once in a while)
My husband's family **MUST** buy these farms when they are up for sale - otherwise their enemies/rivals (they have other multiple property issues with them) might buy it and then will make water flow difficult for our farm.

Now, 1 acre has come up for sale for 4 lakhs and my husband has 2 options to arrange the money:
1. They can sell some other ancestral property - in which case I will not be involved any further in this matter.
2. My husband arranges the money - if this happens I wanted the farm to be registered in my husband's name.

But he told me that it was not possible as buying farm land is complicated and just a power of attorney will not be sufficient to buy it as it involves passbooks, etc (unlike buying homes or lands)
Also, he will lose his small scale farmer loan eligibility, which means he can't apply for the low interest loan. And what is my problem anyway? It will obviously come to us when his parents pass away.

I asked him what we have to gain by buying this? Will we get any income out of it? We already invested so much, with him/me getting no income, no rent coming to us and with no property on our name (please see my previous thread before bashing me, but I have to warn that it is a very long thread)

He called and spoke to his mom and she said she will manage somehow. Which might just mean that she will get a loan, which we will have to pay off later. There are also some outstanding loans we(H's + my money) gave to other people. They might collect those and buy it. In both cases, I want to be involved and make sure that we buy it on our name.

I did not argue much as I don't know much about this process and he will just call me impractical.

Does anyone know the procedure for buying a farm for NRIs? H + me are both on H1B.

If there is no option, I plan to go to India in one year, and can possibly get the farm transferred to me then. I have no other farmland registered to me, so no passbook. (But my father and mother do, which I read online will qualify me to buy a farm in India)

I might not have bothered for 1 acre, but this same thing will repeat when the other 3.5 acre farm comes up for sale. I want to be prepared with some information.

yellowmango · May 13, 2014

You have already done too much for them Don't invest your money.If you have to invest...tell husband you too want tobe a small farmer like them.You have done so much for them ...they better not say no to putting the land in your name.

Ist option will always be never invest in joint property and if you do...consider it lost.Remember too that you have an over smart sil and her husband who is always willing .

MrsBV · May 13, 2014

they are using you again... your husband realizes you wont say no and he comes up with excuses to invest in his parents names.... first step OP would be for you to learn to say NO to him in this matter..

chocolate · May 14, 2014

Op, dont do it unless you or your husband can transfer it in your name. It never works.It will never come to you ever.first of all buying land to distribute it one next to another knowing your background was a foolish idea . Again your SIL will get lion's share.This is again an attempt to get you into half baked schemes. I wud decline completely.You are enabling them big time. Put a stop immediately.Good Luck.

Shanvy · May 14, 2014

NRI cannot buy farmland.

Regarding the rest of the issues, many families think that investments that get them the best return of investment do also get them peace of mind.

i know a couple who invested in fd's from their salaries. the foolish thing that was done was the greed to get a 1% extra interest, it was invested through the husband's father. the father, died suddenly. the other kids wanted a share of the final settlement and they were legally entitled. in such cases, it would have been better to get it done on their own name. the legal red tape, the trauma, the relationship woes and others things at the end makes the 1% interest look nothing but pain in the @#@#@@#.

needCBT · May 14, 2014

Thanks everyone.

Good to know that NRIs cannot buy farmlands.

I have told my husband this. I told him that he will have to give me the cash equivalent of this sale when he sells any of his inherited properties if he insists on buying this on MIL/FIL name - whether asking this is right or wrong, I don't know or care at this point.

He told me that this discussion disgusts him (because it is so money minded) and so I shouted a lot and told him that he cannot use our money to finance this in any way.

He said okay. They will now most likely get loans and will slowly pay it off mostly with the rental income from our properties. We will end up sending extra for their maintenance expenses.

There is no winning with this family.