Exclusion of oral by documentary evidence

You sign a rent agreement for a flat in Kharghar. It says the rent is ₹25,000 a month. Later the landlord says that at the time of signing you both agreed orally that the rent would rise after six months. The agreement says nothing of the kind. Can he prove his spoken promise in court? The law says that when parties choose to write down their deal, the writing speaks for them, and Chapter VI of the Act explains when and how the rule gives way.

In two minutes

Where the terms of a contract, grant or other disposition of property are in a document, the document (or admissible secondary evidence) is the only proof of those terms (s.94), and no oral agreement or statement may contradict, vary, add to or subtract from it between the parties (s.95), subject to the provisos to s.95 and the rules on ambiguity in ss.96 to 101.

The rest of this chapter

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