Property litigation in Pakistan is slow, expensive and often unwinnable in any practical sense, because by the time the dispute surfaces the money is gone and the seller is not. The remedy is almost entirely preventive. What follows is the sequence a careful buyer follows before any substantial payment is made.
1. Verify the title, not the file
A neatly bound file of photocopies proves nothing. Verify the record itself at source.
- For land held in the revenue record, obtain a current Fard-e-Malkiyat (record of rights) from the relevant land-record centre - in Punjab, the Arazi Record Centre maintained by the Punjab Land Records Authority - and check the Jamabandi, the chain of mutations (intiqal), and the Aks Shajra for the location and dimensions.
- For property in a housing authority or private society, verify the allotment or transfer letter directly with the authority or society, and obtain a non-demand or no-dues certificate. Verification means a written confirmation from the authority, not the seller's assurance.
- Trace ownership backwards through at least the last few transfers. A gap or an unregistered link in the chain is the single most common source of later litigation.
2. Check for encumbrances and litigation
Ask specifically, in writing, whether the property is mortgaged, gifted, subject to an agreement to sell with anyone else, attached in execution, or the subject of pending proceedings. Then check independently - the revenue record for mortgages and attachments, and the courts for any pending suit or injunction affecting the property. The doctrine of lis pendens under the Transfer of Property Act, 1882 means a purchase made while litigation is pending can be held hostage to its outcome.
3. Check the planning position
Confirm with the development authority that the scheme is approved, that the layout plan covers this plot, and that the land use permits what you intend to build or operate. An approved-looking brochure is not an approval. Ask for the NOC and verify it with the issuing authority.
4. Verify the people
- Match the seller's CNIC against the name in the record of rights, and satisfy yourself the person before you is that person.
- Where a power of attorney is used, insist on a properly attested or registered instrument, verify it with the executant if at all possible, and confirm it has not been revoked. Forged and stale attorneys are a well-worn route to fraud.
- Where the seller is an heir, check whether the inheritance mutation has been recorded and whether all heirs are selling. A sale by one heir of the whole property is a lawsuit waiting to be filed.
- Where the seller is a company, check the authority to sell - board resolution, and the company's filings with SECP.
5. Inspect the property physically
Walk the site. Confirm the boundaries against the site plan, check who is in possession, look for tenants, encroachments and access. A title in perfect order is worth little if somebody else is living there and will not leave.
6. Document the transaction properly
The usual structure is an agreement to sell, followed by a registered instrument of transfer.
- Section 54 of the Transfer of Property Act, 1882 defines sale, and section 17 of the Registration Act, 1908 makes registration compulsory for instruments transferring immovable property above a nominal value. An unregistered sale deed does not pass title.
- Pay the correct stamp duty under the Stamp Act, 1899. An understamped instrument is inadmissible until the deficiency is made good, and the temptation to understate the consideration in order to save duty routinely destroys the buyer's own case later.
- Budget for registration fee, capital value tax where applicable, and the withholding tax on the purchase and sale of immovable property under the Income Tax Ordinance, 2001 - the rate differs for persons on the Active Taxpayers List.
- Section 75A of the Income Tax Ordinance requires the purchase of immovable property above the prescribed value to be made through banking channels. Pay by cheque or transfer, keep the record, and do not accept a request for cash.
7. Complete the after-steps
Get the mutation entered in your name, or the transfer recorded with the authority or society, and collect the new record. Transfer the utility connections, and have the property tax record updated. A registered deed with the revenue record still showing the seller is an unfinished transaction.
This is a general checklist and not advice on a particular purchase. Requirements differ between provinces, between revenue land and authority or society land, and between residential, commercial and agricultural property. Have an advocate conduct the diligence and settle the documents before you pay.