RDA increases property transfer fee by almost 100%

Authority says rates revised first time since 1999

RAWALPINDI: The Rawalpindi Development Authority (RDA) has approved a drastic raise in transfer fees for residential properties in the city, including all housing societies and residential colonies.

According to documents seen by The Express Tribune, RDA maintains that the deputy commissioner rates for land have been increased throughout Punjab.

Moreover, RDA says, it has not increased its fees since 1999, therefore, the current hike was justified.

The authority has however kept the fee for ownership transfer of residential properties of one marla to five marla unchanged at Rs1,400 .

However, transfer fee for housing units between five and 10 marla has been increased from Rs1,400 to Rs2,800 per marla, while properties over 10 marlas will be charged at Rs3,000 per marla.

Similarly, transfer fee for one kanal home which stood at Rs1,500 has been increased to Rs2,500. The transfer fee for residential-cum-commercial properties of one kanal will be charged at Rs7,500 per marla instead of the previous rate of Rs3,750 per marla.

For commercial properties, transfer fee for units between one and seven marlas has been doubled to Rs8,000 per marla from the previous rate of Rs4,000 per marla.

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The transfer fee for commercial properties of 10 marlas which stood at Rs5,000 has been increased to Rs10,000 per marla. For commercial plots of one kanal, RDA will charge Rs12,000 per marla instead of the previous transfer fee of Rs6,000 per marla.

In inheritance cases, transfer fee which earlier stood at Rs500 per marla has been increased to Rs5,000 per marla while fee for residential-cum-commercial property which stood at Rs1,000 before now stands at Rs10,000 per marla. The new rates will be made effective after final approval from the chief minister.

RDA has also increased its building plan scrutiny fees. After the revision, scrutiny charges for building plan for apartment units has been increased from Rs3 per square feet to Rs5 per square feet while rates for commercial building units is increased from Rs7 to Rs10 per square feet. Likewise, the rate for industrial buildings is increased from Rs5 to Rs10 per square feet. According to sources, the revisions have been made after unanimous decisions.

Published in The Express Tribune, October 26^th, 2019.