When a buyer in possession has no sale deed but can still keep the property
A buyer who has paid, taken possession, and acted on the agreement — but never received a registered sale deed — is not without protection. Section 53A of the Transfer of Property Act, 1882 imports a modified form of the English equity of part performance: the seller who put the buyer in possession is debarred from using the absence of a completed transfer to evict him. It is a shield, not a sword. It cannot be used to claim ownership or to sue for possession; it can only be raised in defence to protect possession already held. The Supreme Court in Shrimant Shamrao Suryavanshi v Pralhad Bhairoba Suryavanshi , (2002) 3 SCC 676 held that the defence survives even after the limitation period for a suit for specific performance has expired, because limitation bars suits, not defences. This guide sets out the six conditions the buyer must satisfy, the decisive effect of the 2001 registration amendment, the shield-not-sword limit, the limitation point, and how Section 53A interacts with the doctrine of lis pendens.