House property income cannot be assessed on a hire purchase tenant until ownership vests through conveyance.

Under a hire purchase tenancy arrangement, notional income from a flat could not be assessed as income from house property during the currency of the agreement because section 22 applies only to the owner. The assessee remained merely a tenant until the conveyance deed was executed after full payment and expiry of the hire purchase period, so ownership had not vested during the relevant period. Accordingly, the legal incidence of house property income could not be fastened on a non-owner, and the notional income from the flat was not assessable in the assessee's hands under section 22.

---

---

Issues: Whether notional income from a flat held under a hire purchase tenancy agreement could be assessed in the hands of the assessee under the head income from house property during the currency of the agreement.

Analysis: The assessee was only a tenant under the hire purchase arrangement and did not become the owner until execution of the conveyance deed after full payment and expiry of the hire purchase period. Section 22 applies only to the owner of the property, and therefore the legal incidence of house property income could not be fastened on a person who was not the owner during the subsistence of the agreement.

Conclusion: The notional income from the flat was not assessable in the assessee's hands under section 22.

---