What to check before buying land in Punjab

Buying land is often the largest transaction a family makes, and most property disputes that reach the courts could have been avoided with careful checks before any money changed hands. The points below are the ones we review first when a client brings us a property deal.

1. Confirm who owns the land

For agricultural and most rural land in Punjab, ownership is recorded in the revenue record. Obtain a current Fard (an extract of the record of rights) from a Punjab Land Records Authority service centre and check that the seller’s name, the khewat and khatooni numbers, the khasra numbers and the size of the share all match what you are being offered.

For a plot in a housing scheme or society, ownership usually rests on an allotment letter and the transfer record kept by the society or development authority. Ask the society to confirm in writing who the current owner is.

2. Trace the chain of title

Ask for copies of the earlier registered deeds and mutations (intiqal) through which the seller acquired the land. Each step should connect to the next. Gaps, unexplained transfers, or ownership that arrived through inheritance without a sanctioned inheritance mutation are signs that more enquiry is needed.

3. Check the seller and their authority to sell

• Verify the seller’s CNIC against the record.
• Where the land is jointly owned, confirm that every co-owner whose share is being sold will sign, or that the seller’s own share is clearly identified.
• If someone is selling under a power of attorney, check that it is properly executed and registered, that it actually authorises a sale, and that the principal is alive and has not revoked it.
• If any part of the land belongs to a minor, it generally cannot be sold without the permission of the court. See our guide to the guardianship process.

4. Look for charges and disputes

Ask whether the land is mortgaged, charged to a bank, or subject to any pending case, stay order or earlier agreement to sell. Enquire with the revenue staff and, where appropriate, check court records. A seller who will not answer these questions in writing is a seller to be careful with.

5. Match the paper to the ground

Visit the land and make sure what you are shown on the ground is what the khasra numbers describe. Where boundaries are uncertain, ask for an official demarcation through the revenue authorities before you pay. Check access, possession and whether anyone else is occupying the land.

6. Check approvals for housing schemes

If you are buying in a housing scheme, confirm that the scheme is approved by the relevant development authority (in Faisalabad, the Faisalabad Development Authority) and that the plot falls within the approved layout plan.

7. Complete the transfer properly

A sale of immovable property should be completed by a sale deed on the correct stamp paper and registered with the Sub-Registrar, followed by mutation of the land in the revenue record in the buyer’s name. Stamp duty and the applicable federal and provincial taxes, including withholding taxes, must be paid; rates change regularly, so confirm the current figures before the transaction.

8. Pay with a record

Pay through bank instruments rather than cash, keep receipts that identify the land, and avoid paying the full price before the checks above are complete.