Can Overseas Pakistanis Sell or Transfer Property in Pakistan?

The concept of variety always brings confusion and slows the decision-making process, the same is the case when it comes to property.

With the variety of available options in the market, it has made it difficult for buyers and investors to stick to any single property which ultimately leads your decision to go for a sale.

Due to the COVID pandemic, the search, for whether overseas Pakistanis can sell or transfer properties in Pakistan, has been the most searched topic in the real estate arena.

Although, it is an old facility already given to them its importance improved over time, particularly in the Post-COVID period.

In this particular article, we would let the readers know how they can sell or transfer property while being abroad in simple and easy steps.

Pakistan holds immense real estate investment opportunities. The government’s priorities to facilitate end-users have created a boom in the housing industry.

Owing to heavy profits in the property business, it often gets confusing for people to sell their properties when they are outside the country.

The process of selling or transferring your property is simple just like a one-window facilitation center at many offices as you just need to have a Power of Attorney to get the deal done at home while being abroad.

The wholesale and transfer process revolves around POA. Hence, it is pertinent to know about the type of POA, its attestation process, and further road map that would lead you towards a sale.

POWER OF ATTORNEY

POA is a legal document, drafted by the actual owner of the property, living abroad to transfer his rights over property to someone trustworthy in his acquaintance.

An overseas Pakistani just needs a POA to get his property sold to someone in Pakistan.

Types of POA

There are 2 types of POA, it is really important to distinguish the difference between them, since many of your rights over any particular property get transferred, depending on the type you opt for.

1. Special Power of Attorney:

As the name itself indicates, this POA is a document drafted to delegate limited powers over the property to someone in his home country to serve the intended purpose, limiting the rights of an acting owner to avoid any misuse.

1. General Power of Attorney:

A polished investor in the real estate business would never pursue this option since drafting a general power of attorney would allow unlimited power to the allottees that might hamper the purpose of Attorney, creating issues for the real owner.

The structure of an Attorney

Attorney apart from its particular intention is just a document that allows someone else to act on your behalf.

Since it is a legal document, which if drafted for sale/transfer purpose of the property, demands the inclusion of specific, legal, and technical clauses to safeguard your very legal status over that particular property.

This thing makes the document more of a legal nature which is difficult for a layman to structure it, as the whole of your asset’s ownership is dependent on this document.

It is always advised from the platform of ProProperty to hire a lawyer to draft it for you, which will avoid any possible ambiguities and mention the purpose of the POA for which it is being obtained.

In most cases, the regular investors have an already drafted one that is open to necessary amendment at the moment, according to the situation.

The Process after POA drafting:

As already said, the process of selling your property revolves only around power of attorney, in which you delegate some power to an acting agent working in your place to conclude a deal.

The process after drafting the attorney is simple and easy which is explained in the following steps:

• Get the POA forms from the Pakistani Consulate or Embassy in your residing country,
• Fill the form carefully and give importance to all the spellings, titles, and addresses, where asked,
• Get it drafted from any legal firm or lawyer or attach pre-drafted text with it.
• After drafting, you have to visit the Embassy again to get it attested.
• Pay the applicable stamp tax duty according to the property evaluation rate of FBR.
• Dispatch it to the person to whom you delegated the powers.
• That particular person in Pakistan, would get it attested again by the Ministry of Foreign affairs, which will ensure its credibility.
• In the next step, it is submitted at the local commission office or registrar office (differs from province to province)
• In case, if the property is located in any society like Bahria Town or DHA, true copies of this attorney along with a minimal fee are required to be submitted at the society office.
• After its submission at the Registrar’s office/Society office, the person gets his authority over the property according to the provisions in the draft.
• Before completion of the whole process, the relevant authorities confirm this attorney by making a phone call, therefore it is advised to enter the correct/active contact number while filling the forms.

Processing time

Not every offer you get remains alive for a longer period. So, if you are planning for a long stay in some other country and have a plan to sell your property, you need to be a bit prudent and make an attorney in advance to avoid missing a good offer.

Usually, it takes 30-35 days until completion, since a week is consumed during documentation and attestations in a foreign country and then the rest of the process in your home country takes approximately 20-25 days.

Documents checklist for POA

• Original Power of Attorney document,
• 3-4 true copies of POA,
• Blue/white background recent photographs,
• Original passport and it 3-4 copies,
• NICOP or CNIC and its copies,
• Credentials of witnesses and their CNIC copies,
• Signatures on all the pages of POA,
• Processing fee according to mission rates in every country.

The real estate sector has a broad window of opportunity for investors and buyers. The sale and purchase of property have the largest revenue generation scope since many of the expatriates are associated with this business.

Anticipating its favorable results for the economy, the government has designed numerous policies to facilitate every process involved in this regard.

The explanation of how overseas Pakistanis can transfer or sell property in Pakistan will let the readers learn a lot regarding the power a POA holds and how by following a simple process they can get their deal done at home without any hassle.

Regardless of all these opportunities, the buyer and seller both need to have a rational mind and eagle eye approach while property transactions due are to growing complaints of scams and frauds.

For further insight on how to avoid being scammed while in property dealings, keep visiting our blog section to enlighten you with everything you need to know.