The one page that decides whether your property in Pakistan stays yours
A general power of attorney is convenient for about a week and dangerous for about a decade. What to sign instead, and how to cancel one you have already given.
Power of Attorney · By Khalil Ahmad Bhullah, Founding Partner · 22 September 2026 · Pakistani law only
Most property fraud against overseas Pakistanis does not begin with a forger. It begins with a favour. Someone is flying home, a relative offers to handle “whatever comes up”, and a general power of attorney gets signed at the consulate because it is one appointment instead of three.
That document can transfer, mortgage, lease and litigate. It sits in a drawer, valid, for years.
What a special power of attorney changes
A special power of attorney authorises one person to do one thing. Sell plot 123 in a named society, for not less than a stated price, with the money paid into your own account. Or file and pursue one named case. It is no harder to obtain than a general one and it removes the risk almost entirely.
Four lines do most of the work:
- Identify the property exactly. Khasra or khewat numbers for land, plot and block for a society file, registry number where one exists. “All my property in Pakistan” is an invitation.
- Say what the attorney may not do. No mortgaging, no gifting, no sub-delegation to anyone else.
- Route the money to you. Sale proceeds to your own bank account by banking channel. A buyer’s lawyer will comply if the document says it.
- Put an end date on it. A power that expires when the job is done cannot be used five years later.
How to sign one from abroad in 2026
There are three routes, and which is open to you depends on where you live.
NADRA’s online system. If you hold a CNIC, NICOP or Pakistan Origin Card, you can apply at poa.nadra.gov.pk, upload the document, give biometrics for yourself and two witnesses, pay online, and take an online interview with the Pakistani mission you select. No embassy appointment.
At a Pakistani mission. Still the route some Pakistani registrars prefer, and the only one for a foreign national who holds no Pakistani identity document.
Local notary plus apostille. Valid only where the Apostille Convention operates between your country and Pakistan. It does not from Germany, the Netherlands, Denmark, Greece, Austria, Finland, Poland or the Czech Republic, which objected to Pakistan’s accession, or from the UAE, Qatar and Kuwait, which are not parties at all. Our country table sets out all 21.
If you have already given a general power
Do not wait to see what happens. Sign a revocation deed through the same kind of route, have a legal notice sent to the attorney so they cannot claim ignorance, and notify the sub-registrar, the housing society or development authority, the land record centre and any bank. Where the property is valuable, a public notice in a newspaper is worth the cost.
If something has already been sold or mortgaged under it, the transaction can be challenged, but the clock matters: each onward sale to a buyer claiming good faith makes recovery harder.
The full process, including the wording we use, is on our power of attorney page.
Questions we get on this.
Both are attested through the Pakistani mission; the online system simply replaces the physical appointment with an online interview. Some Pakistani offices are still more comfortable with the traditional route, which is why we check the receiving office before you apply.
A power used to sell or transfer immovable property is normally presented to the sub-registrar and verified before the transfer desk acts on it, and the requirement varies by office and property type. We confirm what your district expects before you sign.
Yes, and for litigation that is the normal arrangement. For a sale, many clients prefer a special power to the advocate, with the price payable only into the client’s own account.