Buying land: dos and don'ts

General information, not legal advice. Land rules, fees and local restrictions change and differ between municipalities and provinces. Check with the land office, the Survey Office, your municipality or a lawyer before you pay.

Land is the biggest purchase many Nepali families make, and mistakes are hard to undo. Most problems come from paying before checking: a plot with no legal road, a seller who is not the only owner, a bank loan nobody mentioned, or land that cannot be built on. Here is what to do, and what not to do.

Do: get the plot details first

Ask the seller for the plot (kitta) number, ward, area and map sheet number, and copies of the land ownership certificate (Lalpurja), the trace map, and the seller's citizenship certificate. Photocopies are only a starting point: verify everything with the offices.

Do: check the record at the land office

Visit the Land Revenue Office (now also called the Land Administration Office) that keeps records for the area. The Land Administration Directive 2081 lists what buyer and seller should confirm before registration:

• the owner's name matches the seller and the Lalpurja matches the map
• who actually occupies the land
• road access, both on the map and on the ground
• any freeze (rokka), such as a bank mortgage or court order, or encroachment
• the type of land (ordinary raikar or guthi, for example)
• whether co-heirs, other rights-holders or a registered tenant (mohi) have to sign

The record also shows the land-use zone the plot is classified in and the name of any registered tenant.

Do: walk the boundaries with the map

Get a current trace map from the Survey Office (the Survey Department's Mero Kitta service takes applications online) and walk the boundaries, ideally with a surveyor. Check that the area, shape and boundaries on the ground match the map, and that neighbours agree where the boundaries are.

Do: check the road carefully

• The road should be shown on the trace map, not just exist on the ground or in the seller's promise.
• Road width matters. Municipal building bylaws commonly tie setbacks and what you can build to the width of the access road, so ask your municipality. Banks also set their own minimum road widths for home loans.
• Ask the municipality about planned road widening: land within the widening line cannot be built on.

Do: check what you can build

• Ask the municipality about the land-use zone, building bylaws, ground coverage and height limits for that location.
• If you are buying part of a plot, it must be divided through the Survey Office. The Land Use Regulation 2079 sets minimum sizes: for residential or commercial land, at least 130 square metres in most cases, and a plot under 500 square metres may not be more than four times as long as it is wide. Agricultural land has much larger minimums.
• Check for hazards: flooding, riverbanks, landslides, steep slopes, filled ground and high-voltage lines. Some of these make building harder, costlier or impossible, and some banks will not lend near high-voltage lines.

Do: check the seller and the paperwork

• Meet the owner in person and check their citizenship certificate against the Lalpurja. If several people own the land, all must sign.
• For family land, ask whether other heirs have a claim. The directive says co-heirs and rights-holders may need to sign as witnesses.
• If someone is selling on the owner's behalf, the authorised attorney must be certified before a district judge, or at a Nepali embassy or consulate for owners abroad. Speak to the owner directly.
• Ask for the current year's land revenue (malpot) receipt and the municipality's property tax clearance.
• For guthi land, transfer needs the consent of the Guthi Sansthan (or Pashupati Amalkot Kachahari), and some guthi land cannot be transferred at all.

Do: budget for the full cost

On top of the price, plan for the registration fee (set by each province; in Bagmati Province for FY 2083/84 it is 3% to 5.3% depending on the type of local government, with concessions for women and some other buyers), deed-writing charges, survey costs if the plot is divided, and any bank fees. See How property transfer works.

Do: protect your money

• Sign a written advance (bainaa) agreement with the plot details, price, advance, registration date, who pays which costs and what happens if either side backs out.
• Pay through a bank, never large amounts in cash. Some provinces require payment through banking channels at registration.
• Keep the time between advance and registration short, and check the record again just before registration.
• Use a licensed deed writer for the deed.

Don't

• Don't pay a large advance before checking the record at the land office yourself.
• Don't buy on a promised road. If the road is not on the map, you may never get one.
• Don't buy land with a freeze (rokka) unless the release is arranged as part of the deal.
• Don't rely only on brokers. Verify everything independently, and agree any commission in writing, payable after registration.
• Don't under-declare the price in the deed to save fees. It is illegal and leaves you unprotected if something goes wrong.
• Don't hand over cash outside the office, or accept "we'll register later".

After you buy

Collect the new Lalpurja, update the property tax record at your municipality, and keep the deed, receipts and trace map safely together. For a fuller walk-through of the checks, see Checks before buying land.

Checklist

• Kitta number, ward, area and map sheet obtained
• Land office record checked: owner, land type, rokka, tenant
• Boundaries walked with a current trace map
• Road on the map; width and widening plans checked
• Land-use zone, bylaws and hazards checked
• All owners and heirs identified; attorney verified
• Malpot receipt and tax clearance seen
• Written advance agreement; bank payments; record rechecked before registration