Property Dictionary

Marla

The unit land is measured in here. In DHA Lahore one marla is 225 square feet, and twenty marla make one kanal.

Every listing, every rate. Careful: outside DHA a marla is often 272 square feet.

Kanal

Twenty marla — 4,500 square feet in DHA. Eight kanal make one acre.

Cutting

The shape and measurement DHA cut the plot to — 30x60, 35x65, 50x90 and so on. The cutting, not the guess, decides the size.

On our plot pages the cutting comes straight from the DHA map record.

Corner plot

A plot with a road on two sides. More light, more air, an easier gate — and usually a higher price.

Park facing

The plot looks onto a park. Nothing will be built in front of it, so the open view stays.

Pair

Two plots sold together — either side by side or back to back. The price is quoted for one plot, not for both.

On this site a pair is always written as one plot’s size with the total in brackets — "1 Kanal Pair (2 Kanal)".

Level plot

The ground of the plot is up to the level of the road, so building can start without filling it first. A plot that is already built on is level by definition.

Every vacant plot page on this site says either "level" or how deep it is from the road.

Depth from the road

How far below the road the plot sits — in feet. The deeper it is, the more earth filling costs before building.

Possession

The plot has been physically handed over, its corners are marked and you may start building. A plot without possession is only a paper right for now.

Demarcation

DHA’s own staff go to the ground and mark the four corners of your plot. Until that is done, nobody should be telling you where the boundary runs.

File

A right to a plot that does not have a plot number yet. It is bought and sold on paper, and becomes a real plot only after balloting.

A file carries more risk than a plot, because you cannot go and stand on one.

Balloting

The draw in which DHA gives each file its plot number and block. Before balloting nobody knows which plot a file will turn into.

Demand

What the seller is asking. It is not the price the plot sold for — a deal usually closes below the demand.

Every price on this site is a demand, and it says so.

The running rate

What that size is roughly going for in that block these days. A starting point for bargaining, not a fixed figure.

Earnest money

The first amount paid to hold the plot. Never hand it over without a written receipt naming the plot number, the price and the date.

Agreement to sell

The written agreement between buyer and seller: the price, the dates, and what happens if either side backs out.

Commission

The dealer’s fee. In DHA the custom is one per cent from the buyer and one per cent from the seller — settle it before the deal, not after.

On money

An extra amount asked over and above the agreed price, usually on a file that is in demand. It is not written on any paper.

Backing out

One side walks away after the earnest money. What the other side gets back depends entirely on what the agreement says — so read it.

Direct from the owner

The property is being sold by the person who owns it, with no dealer in between.

Inventory

The list of plots a dealer has with him at the moment. Fresh inventory is the real test of a dealer.

Allotment letter

The paper by which DHA first gives a plot to a member. It carries the plot number, the block and the phase.

Transfer letter

The paper DHA issues when a plot changes hands. For a resale plot this — not the allotment letter — is the current owner’s proof.

NDC

DHA’s certificate that nothing is owed on this plot. Without it a transfer does not move, and it stops being valid after a set time.

NOC

A written "we have no objection". For a housing scheme it means the authority has approved it; for a plot it means a particular step may go ahead.

Fard

An extract from the government’s land record showing who owns the land. It belongs to revenue land; inside DHA the transfer letter and DHA’s own record do this job.

Mutation

The entry in the government land record by which ownership moves from one name to another.

Registry

The sale deed registered with the sub-registrar. It is the strongest form of title, and stamp duty is paid on it.

Power of attorney

A paper by which the owner appoints someone else to act for him. Check who gave it, when, and whether it is still alive — it can be cancelled.

Site plan

DHA’s drawing of the plot and the roads around it — the measurement, the corners and which side the road falls on.

Approved building plan

The house drawing DHA has passed. Building without it brings a penalty, and a completion certificate will not come afterwards.

Completion certificate

DHA’s paper that the house was built the way the approved plan said. Utilities and a later sale both go easier with it.

Attested copy

A copy stamped by the office that issued the original. A plain photocopy proves nothing.

DHA membership

The number under which DHA knows you. A plot is transferred into a membership, so the buyer needs one first.

Transfer

The whole act of moving a plot from the seller’s name to the buyer’s name in DHA’s record. Both sides normally have to be present.

What it costs, zone by zone: /tools/calculators/dha-transfer

Transfer fee

DHA’s own charge for doing the transfer. It changes with the zone and the size, and it is separate from government tax.

Zone

DHA divides its phases into zones, and the transfer charges are set zone by zone — not phase by phase.

Non-construction penalty

A yearly charge DHA puts on a plot whose possession has been handed over but which is left empty beyond the allowed period.

Dues

Everything still owed on the plot — development charges, membership, penalties. All of it has to be cleared before the NDC is issued.

Affectee plot

A plot given to someone whose land was taken for the scheme. Its papers run on a separate track, so they have to be checked with care.

Plot exchange

DHA gives another plot in place of the one already allotted — usually because that ground could not be handed over.

Redemption

A plot held back by DHA is released again — for instance when the dues behind it are finally paid.

DC rate

The provincial government’s own notified value of land in that area. Provincial taxes are counted on it, not on what you actually paid.

FBR value

The federal government’s notified value for the same property. Federal taxes are counted on this one.

CVT

A provincial tax the buyer pays on the value of the property at the time of transfer.

Stamp duty

The provincial duty paid to register the sale deed. These days it is paid through an e-stamp instead of a paper stamp.

E-stamp

The stamp paper bought online from the Punjab government, with its own number that anyone can verify.

Advance tax 236K

Federal advance tax the buyer pays at purchase. It is adjustable against your income tax later.

Advance tax 236C

Federal advance tax the seller pays at sale. The same idea, the other side of the table.

Filer and non-filer

A filer is on FBR’s active taxpayers list; a non-filer is not. A non-filer pays a much heavier rate on the same deal.

The difference in rupees: /tools/calculators/filer-non-filer

Capital gains tax

Tax on the profit made from selling a property. How long you held it matters.

Per marla rate

The price divided by the marlas. It is the only honest way to compare a 5 marla with a 10 marla.

Rental yield

A year’s rent as a percentage of what the property cost. It tells you what the property earns without being sold.

Down payment

The part of the price you pay from your own pocket. The bank gives the rest.

Mark-up

What the bank charges you for the money, counted as a yearly percentage.

KIBOR

The rate at which banks lend to each other. A variable-rate instalment moves up and down with it.

Instalment

The fixed monthly payment. Early on most of it is mark-up; the principal only starts falling later.

Amortisation schedule

The full table of every instalment — how much of each one is principal and how much is mark-up.

Diminishing Musharaka

The usual interest-free route: the bank and you own the house together, you pay rent on the bank’s share and buy that share back bit by bit.

Ijara

A lease: the bank owns the thing and rents it to you, and ownership passes to you at the end.

Debt-to-income

What share of your monthly income already goes into instalments. Banks look at this before they look at anything else.