Wakeelnama
Overseas

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How we read the lists

What this site is, where each line on it comes from, and what it does not tell you.

  1. What this site is

    Wakeelnama Overseas is a free site for Pakistanis who live abroad and own, buy, sell or inherit property at home. Type the name of a housing society or scheme and it shows where the society stands on the list of the authority over it. It also has routes for common property tasks, the tax on a sale or purchase, an inheritance share calculator and a shelf of property laws. There is no sign-up.

  2. A status is the authority’s own

    We do not decide whether a society is approved. Each development authority publishes its own list. We read that list, copy each society’s status and the authority’s own words for it, and keep the date we read it. Every entry shows that date and links to the authority’s page.

    Lists change after we read them. Check the authority’s own page before you pay or sign.

  3. About the society, not a plot

    This is about the society, not your plot. A plot needs its own check. A society’s place on a list says nothing about who owns a given plot in it, or whether that plot is free to sell. The plot checklist lists the papers to ask for.

  4. The lists we hold

    We hold the lists of 20 authorities. Each was read on the date beside it.

    • Capital Development AuthorityIslamabad Capital Territory, 235 entriesread
    • Defence Housing Authority BahawalpurPunjab, 19 entriesread
    • Defence Housing Authority GujranwalaPunjab, 19 entriesread
    • Defence Housing Authority Islamabad-RawalpindiIslamabad Capital Territory and Punjab, 7 entriesread
    • Defence Housing Authority KarachiSindh, 21 entriesread
    • Defence Housing Authority LahorePunjab, 19 entriesread
    • Defence Housing Authority MultanPunjab, 33 entriesread
    • Defence Housing Authority PeshawarKhyber Pakhtunkhwa, 8 entriesread
    • Defence Housing Authority QuettaBalochistan, 4 entriesread
    • Faisalabad Development AuthorityPunjab, 793 entriesread
    • Gujranwala Development AuthorityPunjab, 255 entriesread
    • Gwadar Development AuthorityBalochistan, 124 entriesread
    • Lahore Development AuthorityPunjab, 802 entriesread
    • Local Government, Elections and Rural Development Department, Khyber PakhtunkhwaKhyber Pakhtunkhwa, 590 entriesread
    • Multan Development AuthorityPunjab, 194 entriesread
    • Peshawar Development AuthorityKhyber Pakhtunkhwa, 11 entriesread
    • Punjab Land Records AuthorityPunjab, 66 entriesread
    • Quetta Development AuthorityBalochistan, 280 entriesread
    • Rawalpindi Development AuthorityPunjab, 688 entriesread
    • Sindh Building Control AuthoritySindh, 256 entriesread

    We do not hold a list for 15 others: Punjab Housing and Town Planning Agency, Local Government and Community Development Department, Punjab, Karachi Development Authority, Malir Development Authority, Lyari Development Authority, Hyderabad Development Authority, Sindh Master Plan Authority, Azad Jammu and Kashmir, Gilgit-Baltistan, Sindh Katchi Abadis Authority (Human Settlement Department), Cooperation Department, Government of Sindh, Local Government and Housing Town Planning Department, Sindh, Board of Revenue Sindh, Sehwan Development Authority, Larkana Development Authority. Some publish no list we could find, some block reading by script, and some need a browser or a scan read by hand. The authorities page says what we found for each.

    A name that is not on the lists we hold is not, for that reason, illegal.

  5. Tax and routes come from the law itself

    The tax rates and the steps in each route are read from the Acts and Ordinances themselves. Each confirmed rate and step names its section and quotes the words it rests on, which you can open beside it. A rate or step we could not confirm against the text is marked as not confirmed and says what is still open. The tax totals leave out any line that is not confirmed.

  6. No lawyer has reviewed this site

    No lawyer has reviewed what is on this site. It is built by reading the authorities’ lists and the texts of the law, and each line points back to its source so you can check it yourself.

  7. Not legal or tax advice

    Nothing here is legal or tax advice. It tells you what a list or a law says and when we read it. For a decision about your own property, take advice from a lawyer. If someone has taken your property, the site can print a brief to take to one.

  8. Part of Wakeelnama

    This site is part of Wakeelnama, a set of tools for lawyers and law students in Pakistan. It carries no adverts and no trackers. Ticks on a checklist are kept in your own browser and are not sent to us.