Everybody knows that Pakistan real estate is one of the most prosperous industries of our beloved country. It is a real investment hotspot at present that entices investors from every other field to try their luck in the sector. Even though the government does not play a significant role in upholding the property market to flourish it further, but still the sector has its charisma.
What a shame for the sector that even in this 21st century, the sector still relies somehow on the ‘Patwari Culture’. Thanks to the cooperative housing societies which do not involve Patwaris in the property transactions. Other than that, the sector is under a bad patwari culture’s spell.
IT (Information Technology) is also making its way in Pakistan real estate. Property portals like Zameen.com have carved new ways of searching properties and connecting buyers with sellers and tenants with landlords. The question is if the property search can be done using computers, then why can’t the government take initiatives to computerize all the property records?
Without exaggeration, patwaris are like dons in the real estate sector, who know the tactics to exploit innocent people who are less savvy about the property documents and property transfer procedures. But why are patwaris so mean? Why they don’t perform their duties in a legitimate manner? The answer is simple, yet obvious and logical. It’s all about money. The lust for money has made patwaris the villains of the property sector.
Can you ever imagine that the ownership of your property has been transferred to someone else without your knowledge? Yes it happens here, since patwaris know how to do that for money. Let’s move forward, can you imagine that your property records have been lost? Patwaris don’t know how to safeguard the records. The so called safes that they possess are alien to the concept of locks or let’s say the good locks.
These property dons in fact create such hurdles for their clients that they find it easy to pay the Patwari fee (obviously the bribe) to get their issues resolved. Patwaris usually sit on the floors in Patwar Khanas but actually they have enough money to buy themselves lavish offices.
Lucky are the people who buy houses in DHA Lahore, Bahria Town and other cooperative housing societies because they do not need to deal with dear patwaris for property transfers and other related issues. For how long will all this go? As a Pakistani, my heart cries when I see my country in so much trouble, one of them is obviously the patwari culture. It is not so difficult to banish this culture from the country, but forget it, who would face all the hassle of computerizing the property records and making the property transfer Patwari-free. When I see the sign boards that say ‘please don’t honk the horn’, I think that government is sleeping, so we should not wake them up by honking horns.
Let’s hope the current Government would look into the matter after nailing the terrorists from the country.
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True. As we are in real trouble with a patwari as well right now. 🙁
What seems to be the problem? Please share your story with us so that we can learn from your experience while dealing with patwaris.
I hope the present Government will get rid of this menace.
These Patwaris are a curse.
I have property about one kilometer from Ring Road inter section on Bedian road who I should contact to sell it. This was only place I could find to post this question. Please reply. l live in the USA.
Thank you.
Javaid
Hi Mohammad,
You can post an ad (free of cost) on Zameen.com and see if any prospective buyers contact you. Or you can try getting in touch with any of premium agents listed on the website and sell your property via them. They generally charge 1% commission on the sale of the property.
Best of luck.
Thank you for highlighting this issue. By the way, it is not only Patwaris who lose your records, even clerks at CDA make your file vanish for money from some real estate agents. I made a deal to sell my house in Islamabad G-11/2 after checking all taxes were paid and file was intact. Few days later the buying real estate agent called me and told the file was not there. He later called and offered a much lower price of the house if I still wanted to sell. I had to travel from Jeddah to Islamabad and the “clerk badshah” told me the file cannot be traced and I should either sell the house at lower rate (he will manage to get a new file made) or I should start the lengthy process of making a new file. I complained to CDA chairman but no result. I did not sell my house then, instead I made new file and later sold the house to someone else at even higher price than agreed earlier. These people specially target overseas Pakistanis and all of them are together from top to bottom in playing these games. God help Pakistan….
In reference to patwarri culture… can we not bring back the guillotine. I bribe for 1hand, 2 bribes for 2hands and 3rd bribe for his head….
Though I live in the UK, my day to day running are in Pakistan property and believe me, if there is anything In this world I hate it’s the patwarri culture. And please don’t talk about this government or any other, as long as the pockets are warm all year round, they all will turn a blind eye.
By the way I forgot to mention… there is no patwari system in the capital is there? But try transferring any file without bribe…
@Siddiqui,
Yes sir, you are right. You shared something about CDA and my experience with LDA was also not so good. They try to exploit you to get bribe.
Corruption everywhere. May Allah bless our country.
“Patwari culture stains Pakistan’s real estate with corruption, hindering growth and transparency. It’s time for reform to restore trust and progress.”