Glossary

Pakistani property terms, in plain English

Working definitions at the level a buyer needs. They are learning definitions, not legal ones: the exact effect of any term can vary by property, scheme and law.

Agreement to Sell: A contract recording that the seller agrees to sell and the buyer agrees to purchase on specified terms. It is the bridge to the transfer, not the transfer itself.
Allotment: The allocation of a particular plot or plot entitlement to a person by a society or developer.
Allotment Letter: The document evidencing that allocation, typically naming the scheme, block, plot number, area and allottee. It is not by itself proof of clean ownership.
Arazi Record Centre (ARC): A one-window service centre through which many PLRA land-record services are delivered. Not a separate authority.
Bayana: Common market term for an advance or earnest payment made toward a property transaction. Its legal effect comes from the agreement, not the label.
Buildable area: The portion of a plot that may actually be built on after setbacks, rights of way and regulations are applied. Distinct from land area.
Capital Gains Tax: Tax arising on a gain made by a seller on disposal of property. A seller-side concept, entirely separate from the buyer's advance tax.
Chain of Title: The historical sequence showing how ownership passed from earlier owners down to the person now selling.
Completion: The point at which the transaction has reached the agreed transfer stage and the required deliverables have been provided. Distinct from signing, and from payment.
Conditions Precedent: Things that must be satisfied before a particular obligation or payment becomes due. The buyer's principal protective device.
Conveyance: The instrument by which property is formally transferred. Article 23 of the Punjab Stamp Act deals with ordinary conveyance rates.
DC Valuation: An officially notified property value issued by the District Collector, used as the basis for calculating stamp duty, registration fees and other provincial charges.
Demarcation: The formal determination of where a property's boundaries lie, based on the relevant land record and estate map rather than anyone's assertion. Punjab's Land Revenue Rules set out the procedure.
Development Charges: Charges associated with the development and infrastructure of a scheme. Often outstanding, and a frequent source of post-transaction argument.
Easement: A legal right allowing use of another's land in specified circumstances, including a right of way. Governed by the Easements Act, 1882.
E-Stamping: Punjab's system for generating secure, verifiable digital stamps, which calculates the applicable duty and related charges and issues a Challan 32-A. It solves a documentation problem, not a title problem.
Encroachment: Occupation or use of part of a property by another person. A physical defect that a perfect set of documents will not reveal.
Encumbrance: An interest, right or restriction affecting property that can interfere with clean ownership or transfer, such as a mortgage or charge.
Fard: An official extract of the land record showing relevant information from the land and revenue record, including recorded owners and shares.
FBR Valuation: The federal valuation framework maintained by the Federal Board of Revenue for immovable property, with Lahore-specific valuation tables. Separate from DC valuation.
Filer, Late Filer, Non-Filer: Taxpayer categories that have historically attracted different rates under the property tax provisions.
Intiqal (Mutation): The recording of a change of ownership in the official land record, entered and then attested through the authorised revenue process.
Khasra: A parcel or field identifier in the revenue land-record and cadastral system. The government's underlying identity for a piece of land, independent of any development.
Khatooni: Another account or record identifier within the revenue-record structure, associated historically with holdings and cultivation information.
Khewat: The ownership or holding account identifier in the revenue record. Khasra answers "which parcel"; Khewat answers "which ownership account".
Layout Plan (LOP): The official spatial plan establishing how a development is arranged into plots, roads, parks, public buildings and other uses. Not the same document as a sales brochure.
LDA (Lahore Development Authority): Lahore's principal development and planning authority, responsible for scheme approval status, layout plans, building approvals and related matters.
Mauza: A revenue village or estate, the unit within which Khasra numbers are organised.
NOC (No Objection Certificate): An approval or no-objection relating to a specific matter, issued by a specific authority for a specific purpose. Never a blanket certificate of legality.
Plot File: Generally an entitlement or documentary position in a development, rather than a physically identified piece of ground.
Plot Number: A development's own identifier for a piece created within its layout. Only meaningful inside that development's numbering system.
PLRA (Punjab Land Records Authority): The authority responsible for maintaining and managing Punjab's land records, and for services including Fard, registration and mutation.
Possession: The stage at which an allotted plot can be physically handed over and occupied according to the scheme's rules. Physical certainty, not legal certainty.
Power of Attorney (POA): An instrument by which an owner authorises another person to act on their behalf. Its scope, validity and authentication all require separate verification, with specific rules where the principal is abroad.
Property Certificate: A certificate stated by LDA to be required for housing schemes in Lahore from 1 July 2026, referenced jointly with PLRA. PLRA separately advertises a Green Property Certificate.
Regularised Scheme: A development whose position has been brought into compliance through an applicable regulatory process. Not the same as having always been approved.
Registry: The formal registration of a property transaction or deed, completed through the Sub-Registrar under the Registration Act.
Revenue Land: The underlying land as recognised in the land and revenue record system, identified by Khasra and related identifiers rather than by plot number.
Right of Way: A corridor of land reserved or required for access, carrying planning and building implications including restrictions on what may be erected within it.
Section 236C: The federal advance tax provision applying to the seller on disposal of immovable property.
Section 236K: The federal advance tax provision applying to the purchaser at the time of purchase or transfer of immovable property. An advance tax, not a final one.
Section 7E: The provision relating to taxation of deemed income from certain immovable property, stated by FBR's 2026-27 budget material to have been omitted.
Sifting Status: LDA's status information for developments, checkable at progressively specific levels: scheme, phase, sector or block, and plot.
Stamp Duty: A provincial duty charged on specified legal instruments, at rates that depend on the instrument and on whether the property is urban.
Sub-Registrar: The official involved in the registration of deeds and documents, before whom parties and witnesses appear.
Tatima Shajra: A supplementary map prepared to show a subdivision of a Survey or Khasra number, where the original cadastral map is no longer granular enough.
Technically Approved: A stage in the approval of a private scheme. Not equivalent to final approval, and not equivalent to being fully saleable.
Transaction Friction: The money and time consumed every time property is bought or sold, which means an asset resold at its purchase price has lost money.
True Acquisition Cost: The purchase price plus government taxes and duties, registration and transfer charges, society charges, assumed outstanding amounts, and professional costs. The only number worth comparing between properties.
Undivided Share: An ownership share in jointly held land that has not been partitioned into a separately identified physical parcel. Very different from owning a fenced plot of equivalent area.