After Buying Property in Lahore: What to Do in the First 90 Days

The day the sale deed is signed feels like the finish line. It is closer to the halfway mark. Until the mutation is entered, the society or authority has issued the transfer letter in your name, and the utility accounts follow the new ownership, the property sits in an awkward in-between state where the seller's name is still on one record or another. Most of the follow-through takes weeks, not months, and the order matters. Get the record steps done first, because everything else leans on them.

Last updated: 29 October 2026. Reviewed by Shakir Estate. Fees and procedures verified against PLRA's FY 2026-27 schedule and official DHA, SNGPL and FBR sources on 29 October 2026. This is general information, not tax or legal advice.

The short version

• The registered deed starts the clock. Mutation at the Arazi Record Centre moves the revenue record into your name.
• DHA buyers must submit transfer documents, paid government charges and the membership fee within 30 days of transfer.
• Bahria Town transfers complete at the head office, and the allotment letter follows in about seven to ten days.
• Move electricity, gas and water accounts into your name, with all arrears cleared first. SNGPL charges no fee for a purchase transfer.
• Since October 2026, Punjab Excise also wants the sanitation fee cleared before it issues a sale NOC.
• The advance taxes paid at transfer under sections 236K and 236C are adjustable against your annual tax bill.

Get the mutation entered

For property on revenue-estate or LDA-allotted land, the mutation is the step that moves the government's land record from the seller's name to yours. Buyer, seller and witnesses appear before the Revenue Officer at the Arazi Record Centre on the fixed date. Staff register the request and issue a computer-generated challan for the government dues, which is paid at a bank rather than handed to the counter staff, and biometric verification is taken.

You will need the registered sale deed, CNICs of buyer and seller, the current Fard, attested passport-size photographs, the stamp duty and registration fee receipts, and the mutation application form.

PLRA's FY 2026-27 fee schedule, notified in July 2026 and reported by TechJuice and ARY News, sets regular mutation at Rs 1,200, mutation processed through banks at Rs 2,100, and express-service mutation at Rs 11,200. E-registration sale and purchase transactions carry a service fee of 0.1 percent of the property value with a Rs 3,600 minimum, and Property Transfer System transactions for housing societies and development authorities cost Rs 3,000.

Once the mutation is approved, buyer and seller each receive a copy of the mutation and the updated Fard-e-Malkiat. Under the same schedule, a standard copy of a Fard, mutation or Girdawari costs Rs 900, an express copy Rs 4,000, and a registered deed copy Rs 1,400 per transaction. You can track the mutation on the PLRA portal by deed, mutation or registry number, which shows whether it is pending, verified or sanctioned. If you want to understand the document itself, our guide to how to read a Fard-e-Malkiat walks through it.

DHA buyers: the 30-day submission

DHA runs its own clock, and it starts ticking the day of transfer. The buyer must submit the transfer documents along with all paid government charges and the DHA membership fee at the Customer Care Centre within 30 days of transfer. The officer endorses the documents and issues a receipt, and on the given date the buyer collects the allocation, intimation or transfer letter from the Transfer Branch with that receipt and the original CNIC.

The allotment letter itself is issued in 25 working days at nil charges, and it is only prepared after the associate membership form and registration fee are deposited. On the buyer's side of the money: CVT at 2 percent of the DC value, stamp duty on the DC value, plus the membership fee, all settled before the letter is collected. Dealer guides quote conflicting figures for the membership amount and the stamp duty rate, so treat DHA's own schedule of charges as the reference, not a dealer's blog.

Two special cases come straight from DHA's official transfer page. Owners in Phase 11 and Phase 12 must also produce a Property Tax Clearance Certificate from the Excise and Taxation Office and a TTIP paid receipt from the local government or MCL, for plots and constructed properties alike. And where the property is a constructed house, TIP tax and property tax receipts plus clearance certificates from Walton or Lahore Cantonment Board, along with the water bill, have to be cleared. Our DHA plot transfer process guide covers the transfer itself in detail.

Plot buyers who plan to build get one more date from DHA's building control page: demarcation of the plot is required before construction, takes 7 days and carries nil charges.

Bahria Town buyers: the head-office routine

Bahria keeps transfers in-house. Both parties appear at the Bahria Town head office with the transfer set: the transfer form, the seller's affidavit on Rs 20 stamp paper, the buyer's undertaking on Rs 100 stamp paper, CNIC copies of both parties plus the buyer's nominee, photographs, the NDC and the transfer-fee deposit receipt. The buyer issues a pay order to the seller on transfer day and receives a transfer receipt. Dealer guides put the transfer set at roughly Rs 800 to Rs 1,000 and the allotment letter in the buyer's name at about seven to ten days after transfer.

One honest caveat: Bahria Town publishes little of this officially, so the timelines above come from dealer guides rather than the developer. For houses, apartments and shops, a clearance certificate from Bahria Town Services, certifying that all utility bills are paid, forms part of the transfer, and the NDC is typically applied for at least a couple of days before the transfer date.

Private society plot buyers: possession and dues

In a private society, possession is handed over once the block's development is complete and the buyer has cleared the full payment schedule, including development charges. Transfers are processed at the society's head office with both parties or their attorneys, original CNICs, the member file and dues clearance. Ask for the society's written dues position, the NDC, before the transfer rather than after. The pre-purchase half of this work is covered in our documentation and due diligence checklist.

Move the utility accounts

Do this early, and clear arrears first. Unpaid dues have a habit of attaching to the connection and the property, not to the person who ran them up.

Electricity: a LESCO change of name is applied for online through the national ENC portal, under the change menu. Attach an attested copy of your CNIC, a copy of the latest bill and proof of ownership, and a tracking ID is issued for the application.

Gas: SNGPL charges no fee for a purchase transfer. You need an application from the present owner, a copy of the last paid bill, your CNIC, an affidavit on stamp paper and a copy of the property document. All dues must be clear, no NOC from the previous owner is required for a purchase transfer, and the transfer is completed by the next billing cycle.

Water: at WASA Lahore, collect the name-change form from the sub-divisional office, attach your CNIC and two passport photos, the sale deed or society transfer letter, and a recent fully paid bill. The bill has to be paid in full before the name change goes through.

Our house-buying guide carries the full document list for each utility transfer.

The Excise side: tax and sanitation fee

Since October 2026, Punjab Excise will not issue the property-sale NOC unless both the property tax and the new sanitation fee are cleared. Property-tax clearance alone no longer suffices. This is the same clearance DHA demands from Phase 11 and Phase 12 owners before transfer paperwork moves, so buyers in those phases should confirm both dues are settled before the transfer date, not after.

The tax return: declare and adjust

The withholding taxes paid at transfer are not sunk costs. Advance income tax under sections 236K and 236C is adjustable against the taxpayer's ultimate tax liability, credited through the annual return filed on IRIS, and refundable where there is no liability. For tax year 2026-27 the filer rates are 1.25 percent for buyers and 2.75 percent for sellers. Keep every challan with the deed file. Our property tax guide has the full rate tables.

One genuine piece of good news this year: Section 7E, the deemed-income tax on immovable property, is gone. The Federal Constitutional Court struck it down on 7 May 2026 as void from inception, the Finance Act 2026 omitted it from the Income Tax Ordinance with effect from 1 July 2026, and on 23 September 2026 FBR instructed its field formations to process return revisions and refunds. Keep any 7E challans from 2022 to 2025 with your records, since the 236C machinery still references 7E discharge evidence and a registrar may ask for the old receipts. Whether 7E still touches tax year 2026, which ended 30 June 2026, is not expressly settled in the Act or the circular, so check the current IRIS position rather than assuming.

Overseas buyers: finish the POA chain

If the purchase ran on a power of attorney executed abroad, the POA's own paperwork needs completing after the deal. The chain runs in three steps: the POA is signed before and attested by the Pakistani Embassy or Consulate in the country of residence, in person, not by mail; then verified by Pakistan's Ministry of Foreign Affairs, with the attorney appearing in person with the original CNIC; then registered at the Sub-Registrar's office in the district where the property sits. An unregistered POA for a property transaction has no legal standing. A special POA, naming the act, the property and an expiry date, is preferable to a general one. Our overseas buyer's guide covers the purchase side of this.

What goes wrong when buyers wait

Three patterns repeat. First, the seller's unpaid dues surface after the transfer: utility arrears, society development dues, cantonment taxes. DHA's NDC process forces most of these into the open before transfer, which is exactly why it exists. Second, attorney sales: POA transactions are legitimate, but they are also the costume double-sale fraud most often wears. Verify the attorney document itself, that it is current and that it actually covers a sale. Third, the legal clock: a buyer who paid advance and was refused transfer can sue for specific performance under the Specific Relief Act 1877, but the limitation is three years from the date fixed for transfer. And if a dispute ever reaches the fraud question, the Supreme Court held on 26 March 2026 that whoever seeks to cancel a registered sale deed for fraud must prove it with evidence. Accusations alone do not shift the burden.

The 90-day checklist

Frequently asked questions

Is the registered sale deed not enough to prove I own the property?

The deed proves the transaction happened. The mutation is what moves the government's revenue record into your name, and societies and utility companies ask for the updated record, not the deed alone.

How long does the DHA allotment letter take?

DHA's official transfer page lists issuance of the allotment letter at 25 working days with nil charges, prepared after the associate membership form and fee are deposited. Dealer guides quote shorter figures; the official page is the reference.

Does SNGPL really transfer a gas connection for free?

For a purchase transfer, yes. There is no fee, all dues must be clear, and no NOC from the previous owner is required. The transfer completes by the next billing cycle.

What if the seller will not come to the ARC for the mutation?

No mutation-specific remedy surfaced in this run's research. The general legal route against a refusing seller is a suit for specific performance, which carries a three-year limitation. That is a matter for a property lawyer, not a form.

Do I need to declare the purchase in my income tax return?

The advance taxes paid at transfer are adjustable against your annual liability through the IRIS return, so the purchase belongs in your filing. Keep every challan with the deed.

Is Section 7E really abolished?

Yes. Struck down by the Federal Constitutional Court on 7 May 2026 and omitted from the Income Tax Ordinance by the Finance Act 2026 from 1 July 2026, with FBR now processing revisions and refunds. Keep old challans from 2022 to 2025.

A final word before you file it all away

Ninety days is generous. The record work takes a fraction of it if you start in the week the deed is signed. Buyers who finish the mutation, the society transfer, the utility accounts and the tax paperwork in the first three months rarely think about them again. Buyers who leave one thread loose tend to meet it later, usually at the worst possible moment, which is when they try to sell.

Bought recently, or about to? Shakir Estate can walk the whole post-purchase checklist with you, from the ARC to the last utility bill. Message us on WhatsApp at +92 300 4630499.