When realty was booming, sellers would overnight increase prices in violation of the agreement giving buyers a tough time. Driven by greed, the seller was tempted to sell the land to a new buyer, who promised more. Consequently, buyers would be chasing the sellers.

Now, it is the seller chasing the buyer, citing the terms and conditions of the agreement and the price fixed in it. But instead of gambling crores on finishing the deals in this scenario, the buyer is rather happy dishonouring the agreement. He is content losing the surety money paid while inking the agreement instead of paying lakhs or crores for land and then repenting at leisure for striking a deal in times of recession.

When a buyer refuses to honour the agreement, the seller does not have much choice. Scores of such cases are reaching the police. According to Ludhiana senior superintendent of police Dr Sukhchain Singh Gill, four to five such disputes are received in police stations of the city everyday. The magnitude of the problem can be gauged from the fact that 100 such cases every month are reported in police headquarters, Ludhiana.

Enquiries revealed that a number of plots in new colonies on Chandigarh Road were recently embroiled in such disputes. Real estate agents negotiating these deals are in a tight spot. As deals seldom matured, they could not make a single penny.

In a similar case, a land deal for 16 acres on Pakhowal Road was struck three years ago. The price was fixed at Rs 25 lakh an acre and changed several ownerships on agreement till it was passed on further for Rs 80 lakh. Despite the manifold appreciation within three years, it was never sold. Now, the seller has moved court.

Another dispute is on for a piece of land on Ferozepore Road where investors would leave no stone unturned to possess a plot. Since it was termed as a goldmine, there were plenty of takers, but not any more.

There are several similar instances where the buyers did not want to get the sale deed registered. Disputes were witnessed especially for big plots and huge chunks of agricultural land, where the purpose of deal was basically investment. "Things have come to such a pass that people do not mind losing the surety money. It is usually 10-15 per cent of the total sale deal depending on the size of land. I have seen many cases where buyers go back on their word saying it was better to lose that money than to invest in land. The uncertainty about the future of real estate is making them do so," said a property dealer.

A Moga-based lawyer, on the condition of anonymity, said he had received seven cases of breach of agreement in the last few days. "Two of them effected a settlement out of the court only and the rest are seriously pursuing the cases."

Recently, realty major DLF had also made headlines for allegedly backing out of a housing project, causing a loss of Rs 16.5 crore to a firm and farmers. A local court had recently summoned its chairman. The Haveli project on 700 acres on the Ludhiana-Ferozepur Road and Dakha and Kailpur village was dumped two years after its MoU was signed. Director of Northern Trading and Impex Poonam Mehra had alleged that she and her son were forced to sign a new MoU by DLF officials on September 25, 2007, according to which the area of project land was reduced to 143 acres. Even then the trading firm was not paid the amount as promised in the MoU. Mehra's firm, which had to acquire the land for the township on behalf of DLF, had filed a fraud case against DLF chairman KP Singh.