The Delhi High Court on Tuesday said a person does not have a legal right to live in his parents’ house besides at their “mercy”. The bench also said that if parents permit their son to stay in their house, it should not be interpreted as an obligation to “bear his burden” all his life, PTI reported.

The court was hearing a petition filed by a man and his wife against a lower court order in a case where his parents had moved court seeking direction for their son and daughter-in-law to vacate the house owned by the parents. The trial court had passed an order in favour of the parents.

Justice Pratibha Rani said, “Where the house is self-acquired house of the parents, son whether married or unmarried, has no legal right to live in that house and he can live in that house only at the mercy of his parents up to the time the parents allow.”

The parents had informed the court that their sons and daughters-in-law had made their “life hell”. They said they had also filed police complaints and made public announcements in 2007 and 2012 barring the couple from their home. The sons and daughters-in-law had contended that they were legally entitled to live in the house because they had paid for the purchase and construction of the property. When the trial court ruled in favour of the parents, one of the sons moved the Delhi High Court against the verdict.

The high court said that while the son and his wife failed to provide enough evidence to establish their stake in the property, the parents have proved their ownership.