Nine checks before you send money for a plot in Pakistan
Overseas buyers rarely lose money on the price. They lose it on approval status, possession and a seller who was never the owner.
Property · By Khalil Ahmad Bhullah, Founding Partner · 22 September 2026 · Pakistani law only
Buying from abroad means trusting a photograph, a file number and a relative’s enthusiasm. These are the checks that have stopped bad purchases for our clients. None of them requires you to be in Pakistan.
1. The title chain, not just the last deed
Ask for the registry deed and the mutation history for at least the last two transfers, and match them against the current fard or Arazi Record Centre print. Fraud hides in the gaps, not in the document the seller volunteers.
2. Is the scheme approved — and this block?
Development authority approval of a housing scheme, of the specific phase or block, and the plot’s standing in the society’s own file are three separate questions. In Lahore, the Lahore Development Authority publishes the status of private schemes, including those it treats as illegal or unapproved.
3. Litigation, stay orders and mortgages
A plot under injunction can be sold on paper and never transferred. Pending suits, bank charges and inheritance disputes involving the seller all need checking before money moves.
4. Is the seller the owner?
Identity and biometric verification at registration catches a great deal. Where the seller acts under a power of attorney, that document needs checking too: genuine, current, and wide enough to cover this sale.
5. Possession on the ground
Someone independent must see the plot: demarcation for land, occupation status for a house. Paper title with someone else in possession is a lawsuit, not a purchase.
6. Dues, transfer fees and utilities
Society dues, development charges and utility arrears follow the property in practice, whatever the seller says.
7. A written agreement before the token
A bayana agreement with the price, a payment schedule through banks, refund terms and a completion date — signed before any token money is paid, not after.
8. Pay through a traceable channel
Roshan Digital Accounts, introduced by the State Bank for non-resident Pakistanis, can be used for property investment, and any bank channel gives you a record that matters for tax and for any later dispute. Cash handed to a dealer or a relative leaves you with nothing to prove.
9. Know the transfer taxes before you commit
Advance tax on buyer and seller under the Income Tax Ordinance, 2001, provincial stamp duty and capital value tax, registration and society transfer fees. Rates change with each Finance Act and depend on filer status, so they are confirmed for your transaction rather than quoted from a blog.
Selling is the same discipline in reverse: a special power of attorney naming the property and the minimum price, and the price paid into your own account. Our buying and selling page sets out both sides.
Questions we get on this.
Yes. Non-resident Pakistanis buy and hold property in Pakistan, and a Roshan Digital Account gives a clean banking route for the funds. What matters more than status is the due diligence before payment.
It is a risk you carry alone. Undocumented payment leaves you unable to prove what you paid if the deal collapses, and it complicates tax on any later sale.
He can, under a narrow special power of attorney limited to that property. Keep the payment running from your own account and the title in your own name.