Staying safe

Before you pay anything

1. See the property in person, or send someone you trust. Never buy from photographs alone.
2. Meet the owner, not only an intermediary. Ask to see their CNIC and check the name against the title documents.
3. Check the title yourself. Ask for the registry or allotment record, the mutation, and the complete chain of ownership. Have a lawyer read them.
4. Check the scheme. If the property is in a private housing society, confirm its current approval position with the relevant authority directly — not from a brochure, and not from the seller.
5. Check for encumbrances. Ask whether the property is mortgaged, under any court order, or has unpaid dues or utility arrears.
6. Confirm possession. A file, an allotment letter and actual possession of a plot are three different things.
7. Use your own lawyer. Not the seller's, and not one recommended by the seller.

Warning signs

• Pressure to pay a token or advance today, before you have seen documents.
• A price noticeably below everything else in the same area.
• A seller who will not meet in person, or who is always travelling.
• A request to pay into a personal account that does not match the owner's name.
• Refusal to let your lawyer see the original documents.
• Documents produced only as photographs or photocopies.
• Being told an approval is "in process" or "about to come through".
• The same photographs appearing on other advertisements at a different price.

If you live overseas

Buying from abroad carries extra risk simply because you cannot walk in and look. Appoint someone you genuinely trust under a properly drawn power of attorney, have that document prepared and attested correctly, and instruct your own lawyer in Pakistan — not a relative acting informally, and not the seller's contact. Release money in stages against documents, never in a single transfer before transfer of title.

Paying safely

• Use banking channels so there is a record. Avoid cash.
• Pay the registered owner, into an account in the matching name.
• Keep every receipt, agreement and message.
• Tie payments to milestones: documents verified, agreement signed, transfer completed, possession handed over.

If something goes wrong

Report the advertisement to us and we will review and, where appropriate, remove it — use the report form or the link on any advertisement. Please understand what that does and does not achieve: we can take an advertisement down and suspend a member's account, but we cannot recover your money, mediate a dispute, or compel anyone to do anything. We are an advertising platform and we are not party to your transaction.

For anything involving money already paid, report it to the police and take your own legal advice promptly. We cannot advise you — nothing on this site is legal advice.

Advertisers, this applies to you too

• Do not send documents, CNIC copies or ownership papers to someone who has only messaged you.
• Be careful about publishing your exact address — you can leave it out and still receive enquiries.
• Take someone with you to viewings, and hold them in daylight hours.
• Be wary of anyone offering to pay above the asking price sight unseen, or asking you to refund an "overpayment".

This page is general guidance, not legal advice. Please consult a qualified lawyer about your own transaction.