My father owns two flats in a total of 6 flats in Kodambakkam, Chennai. The other four are owned by a lawyer. Until a few months ago, the lawyer owned just one flat of the six. He coerced the previous owner of the other three flats and bought it a recently.
As soon as he did that, he converted half of the terrace, which is a part of the common area, into a closed structure for his personal use. Now, we have no access to that half of the terrace. There is an oral understanding that the other half will be for our exclusive use.
There is well in the southern direction of the property. This has been our source of water for over 10 years now. This lawyer, having read some vastusastra rules, wants to close the well. He has now dug a bore well in the northern side. He claims that the bore will be our new source and we will have to close the well. We are not interested in closing the well. This has been our water source for all these years and it has never gone dry even in the worst of summers.
- What are our rights to keep the well intact?
- How do we safeguard it?
- What can be done about the oral agreement about the terrace?