Selling transferring of property in Pakistan involves hectic and lengthy procedures. We have gathered for you all the relevant information about selling your property.
Guide for Selling Your Property in Pakistan
Selling your property is considered to be easier than buying it. When selling a property, a seller doesn’t have to visit different interested parties and to pay multiple taxes. However, this doesn’t make the selling process any easier.
Selling Property in Pakistan and Its Transfer Procedures
The process of selling and transfer of property in Pakistan is quite similar to that in other countries and housing societies. The most asked question is how to transfer the ownership of the property to the buyer in Pakistan?
The transferring occurs in the office of the development or city authority. This is for the property that is public. For private properties the selling and transferring takes place in their respective offices.
The few basic things to keep in mind while selling your property in Pakistan are as follows
Finding an agent and basic research
Write when you decide to sell your property and put it in the market, it is important to know the market first. Knowing the market rate of your property in essential instead of just relying and depending on the real estate agents.
You want the market price of your property so that you know on what rate you have to sell your property. It is mandatory and helpful for both the buyers and the sellers.
Now that you know the actual price of your property, the next step is to find an agent that would carry out the further steps in selling your property. Agents are hired for better and profitable deals.
Going through all the processes yourself can be very tiring and frenetic, and agents hired can make your life much easier and save you from troubles.
Commission of agents
The agents you hire work on commission of the deal which is usually 1%. It is recommended to first sit with your agent and talk the commission before the deal and at the time of the payment.
The fraud in agents is commonly observed so make sure you hired an actual agent.
In some cases the commission of the agents are given after the full payment of the property while at other times, a certain percentage is given at the time of the initial deposit by the party which is also called ‘bayana’.
Try to discuss everything in advance to get rid of the future troubles.
Token Money
There are several steps involved when selling a property. After you have done your excessive research, the agent hired find you interested parties. Once you are satisfied and find a perfect buyer of your property, the buyer pays the initial money which is the token money.
The token money is a small amount of money paid to the seller which shows the intent of the buyer to your property. After the payment of the token money a seller will provide buyer a photocopy of the property papers for the verification of the documents and the property.
Here’s how everything works: if the land or property you are about to buy fall under the jurisdiction of the development authority, you have to give an application to come and get the documents verified. If authorities accept the application, both the buyer and the seller will be called to visit, and the documents and records of the property will be given in front of both the parties.
Deposit
When selling your property in Pakistan, the buyer, after verifying the documents, pays an initial deposit or the bayana. It is usually 25% of the price of the property.
Certain official commitments are made at this point. Stamp paper is prepared, which is to be signed by both the buyer and the seller.
The stamp paper includes the details of the time by which the whole amount is to be paid by the buyer and the penalties if he failed to give money in time. And if, in any circumstances, the seller refused to sell the property or steps back from the commitment, double the price of the initial deposit is to be paid to the buyer as a penalty. All these things are mentioned in the stamp paper the parties sign.
NDC or No-Demand Certificate
Before the date, on which the whole amount of the property is paid, it is important and mandatory to get the NDC. This certificate guarantees the transfer of the property and without this certificate the transfer is not possible.
The NDC is obtained from the city’s land development authorities or the private housing authorities depending on where your property is located.
This certificate contains all the information regarding the payments made and to be made, taxes on both buyer and seller, transfer fee and the stamp papers. After getting the NDC, a seller has to provide a copy of it to the buyer.
Taxes
Being the property owner and a seller, it is important to know about the property taxes of Pakistan. Sellers have to pay the capital Gain Tax (CGT). If the seller is filer the tax would be 1% of the value of the property and if he is a non-filer the amount is 2%.
CGTs are only paid if you are selling your property within 2 years of buying it. The buyers have to pay way more taxes than the seller. The basic taxes are:
• The transfer fee
• Stamp duty
• TMA tax
• CVT
The Transfer Letter
After all the steps taken, the final step is the transfer letter provided to the buyer which gives the authority of the property to him. It is a very significant step so both the buyer and seller have to be present.
In Pakistan, both the parties appear in the office, the final and full payment is made in a form of pay-order, and then the property is transferred in the buyers’ name by the respective officer.
Buyer and the seller, both then sign in the papers in the presence of a registrar and the witnesses that guarantees that the property is sold on the agreed term.
After all this, property doesn’t belong to you anymore. The pay order given to you by the buyer gets cashed and submitted to your account in a couple of days.
If you are still confused and not sure what steps to take to sell your property, contact the professional realtors and property experts to guide you.
If you are still confused and not sure what steps to take to sell your property, contact the professional realtors and property experts to guide you. and if you are really looking a place to invest then don’t forget to check this amazing project with the name Blue World City in Rawalpindi which is a new initiative by The Blue Group of Companies.
