Pakistani News

Property Registration Requirements: Pakistan

Registration Requirements:
Procedure 1.
Obtain a non-encumbrance certificate
Time to complete: 3 days
Cost to complete: PKR 50
Comment: The non-encumbrance certificate shall be obtained by the seller and this should be tendered to the buyer in verification of the fact that the property is free from all encumbrances. This would be issued by the Sub registrar / Tehsildar concerned.

Procedure 2.
Obtain a No Demand Certificate from Excise & Taxation Office
Time to complete: 2 days
Cost to complete: PKR 200
Comment: This is a requirement recently reinforced in Peshawar. The No Demand Certificate (NDC) shall be obtained by the Seller from the concerned Excise & Taxation Officer of the rating area, where his immovable property situates. The certificate is procured by filing an Application to the Excise & Taxation Officer (ETO) concerned along with the fee. The ETO shall than verifies from his record whether the premises to be sold has made any default in respect of the Urban Immovable Property Tax and who is the owner thereto recorded in form P.T. 1. In case of any arrears, the ETO shall require the applicant/seller/ owner to deposit the same in Government treasury through a Challan prepared at ETO office. Once the entire dues stand cleared, the ETO issues a certificate stating therein that all the taxes in respect of immovable property are duly paid and the Excise & Taxation Department has no objection upon this sale. This certificate is then appended as a necessary document alongside the sale deed at the time of registration. In absence of NDC, the Sub-Registrar concerned can refuse registration.

Procedure 3.
Obtain a land tax excerpt (Fard Jamabandi) from the lower cadre Revenue Officer (Patwari Halqa)
Time to complete: 2 days
Cost to complete: PKR 100
Comment: This is a requirement recently reinforced in Peshawar. The Fard Jamabandi (An excerpt from the record of rights maintained by the land revenue officials) is now a must for registration if the property is amenable to land revenue or recorded in the register of records of right maintained by the land revenue officials. This document shows the name of owners, description of land, measurements of land, present occupancy etc, as recorded in the latest register by the Patwari. The Fard should be prepared by the Patwari within a period of one month before the registration is taking place. The document is obtained by making even an oral request to the Patwari and paying him the fee. He accordingly verifies the ownership etc., from his record and accordingly issues this excerpt. The Fard is then appended with the other necessary documents at the time of Registration of Deed.

Procedure 4.
Obtain Stamp Paper from any Stamp Vendor or Treasury Office
Time to complete: 1 day
Cost to complete: 3% of property value (Stamp Duty)
Comment: All transfer instruments are charged with a stamp duty, mentioned in the table appended with the Stamp Act, 1899. Stamped papers of different denominations are freely available either from Stamp Vendors or Provincial Treasury Office. In Peshawar, stamp papers up to PKR 10,000 can be purchased from Stamp Vendors sitting at different places such as District Courts, High Court, Bano Market, Abraisham Garan or Chirikoban, etc. In all other cases, the stamp papers can be obtained from the provincial Treasury Office after depositing the amount at the State Bank of Pakistan in Peshawar. In this case the company will normally purchase the stamp papers from any stamp vendor for this transaction.

Procedure 5.
Deed Writer prepares the deed on the Stamp Paper
Time to complete: 2 days
Cost to complete: PKR 200
Comment: Stamp papers, once purchased, shall be taken either to a lawyer or a Certified Deed Writer who shall scribe an instrument of lease, together with all the necessary recitals and operative terms and conditions in the deed. This deed shall inter alia contain all the details regarding the parties, the property transacted, its value, rights, easements available etc. mentioned at length. Although bigger firms and companies consult lawyers for scribing such deeds who charge sizeable consultation charges, ordinarily and as the practice goes, in Peshawar more people consult certified deed writers who charge very paltry and reasonable sums. Their fees have been fixed by the order of the District & Sessions Judge, Peshawar. All such instruments, apart from execution, are required to be attested by two marginal witnesses in terms of Article 17 of the Qanoon-e-Shahadat Order, 1984 (law of evidence).

Procedure 6.
Preparation of an Affidavit containing indemnification from Seller
Time to complete: 1 day
Cost to complete: PKR 30 (Stamp paper) + PKR 100 (Attestation)
Comment: This is a requirement recently reinforced in Peshawar.
This Affidavit is drafted on a stamp paper worth PKR 30 (Procedure of obtaining stamp paper remains the same). The Affidavit contains a deposition from the Seller or his authorized representative (in case of Company) that the land being sold has a clear title with no defects or rival claims and that in case any defect is unearthed afterwards, the Seller and his movable and immovable properties shall remain responsible to make good the loss occasioned to the buyer. The Affidavit once prepared, is attested before a Notary Public or an Oath Commissioner who affixes his stamp and retains a copy thereof in his register. This Affidavit is submitted to and kept by the Registrar for future use, if any. Unless such an Affidavit is given, the deed presented for registration is not returned, even if completed in all other respects.

Procedure 7.
Execute and register of the deed of sale at the registration office
Time to complete: 7 - 9 days
Cost to complete: Registration fee: 0.5% of property value, transfer tax: 2% of property value
Comment: After printing of sale deed on stamp paper, it is presented in the office of CD&MD/concerned local government department (town municipal administration) sitting in the Peshawar Sub Registrar?s office for payment of corporation fee (tax on transfer of immovable property). The tax is only imposed if the property situates inside the territorial limits of CDMD and is paid in cash at the time of execution and registration of sale deed. On payment of requisite fee, i.e. 2% of the declared sale consideration, the deed is affixed with the official stamp of the department and a receipt is issued as proof of payment.

In the Registrar Office, prior to presentation of Deed to the Registrar, the same is presented before the Stay Clerk, who has an updated register containing details of any Court prohibitions in respect of sale of the concerned property or parties. Once no such "stay order" is found, the Clerk marks "no stay" report on the Affidavit and forwards the Sale Deed for further process. The process is free of cost and is completed in half an hour (so it is simultaneously done)

The Deed, duly scribed on the stamp papers, is then presented before the Peshawar Sub Registrar along with the required documents. The deed is executed in the presence of two witnesses to identify the executant(s) and to attest the execution along with copies of their Computerized Identity Cards. The Sub Registrar, Peshawar after confirming the identity of the executant(s) , marginal witnesses, value of the property according to minimum prescribed rates, affixation of stamp duty and issuance of NEC, shall order registration of the deed in Book 1 on payment of Registration Fees at 0.50% of the value of the transaction. Deeds are executed in front of the Sub Registrar who then takes signatures and/or thumb impressions of the executants and witnesses in his index register. After payment of Registration Fee, a delivery slip shall be issued with a future date for collection of this deed after its entries in relevant registers. Once the registration fee is received and delivery slip is issued, the process of entering the contents of the document in Book 1 is initiated. All the deeds are given a unique identification number. A deed, once entered in the relevant Volume of Book 1 in accordance with Section 51 of the Registration Act, 1908 (the "Act"), is then taken to the Sub Registrar once again, who shall affix his signature and date on the endorsements made in the document under sections 52 to 58 of the Act. After the conditions mentioned in the Act are complied with, the Sub Registrar shall endorse a certificate under section 60 of the Act, signed, sealed and dated by him, which shall be the proof of registration of sale deed. The Document is then delivered to the Vendee on the date of delivery mentioned on the delivery slip. A copy is retained in current volume of Book 1 and copies are also forwarded to concerned controlling agency under whose control the property situates (in present case to the Provincial Excise and Taxation Department, NWFP) for their records.
The documentation shall include:
1. The Original Sale Deed and a Photo Copy, executed/signed in original.
2. Title deed of the vendor.
3. The No Demand Certificate.
4. The Fard Jamabandi.
5. Non-encumbrance certificate (obtained in Procedure 1)
6. Certified copy of the resolution by the two companies, especially by the Company who is selling the land.
7. Computerized National Identity Cards of the representatives
8. Certified copy of Certificate of Incorporation of the Company.
9. Fresh certified copy of mutation (if available) or certified copy of Form PT-1 from the record of the Provincial Excise and Taxation Department, NWFP.
10. Affidavit from the Vendor.

Procedure 8.
Enter sale deed at the Excise & Taxation Department
Time to complete: 3 days
Cost to complete: PKR 200
Comment: The Company will present the registered sale deed to the concerned Revenue Officer for affecting entries of mutation in its favor in the Revenue Record. The Revenue Officer, after scrutinizing the document makes the mutation regarding ownership of the vendee.

Procedure 9.
Enter sale deed at the Excise & Taxation Department
Time to complete: 20 - 30 days
Cost to complete: no cost
Comment: The buyer takes the sale deed, along with a written application to the concerned Excise & Taxation Department and gets itself entered into their records as the owner.