List of Most Popular Real Estate Scams in Pakistan and How to keep yourself Safe from them?

Last Updated on May 9, 2022 by Zunaira

Pakistan Real Estate market is continually growing and evolving. Many top-notch housing schemes, apartment buildings, and commercial projects are available for living, investment, and business purposes. Despite the immense growth, real estate scams and frauds are also increasing. Nowadays, customers are informed still suspected to some frauds or scams.

Real estate scams in Pakistan vary from false promises to fake documentation, discount offers to ownership frauds, and much more. Let’s discuss some scams typically happening in Pakistan that investors must be known about before making any decision.

Common Real Estate Scams in Pakistan

The common types of property frauds & scams in Pakistan are as follows!

Unreliable Property Agents

Nowadays, so many real estate agents are claiming themselves to be authentic realtors. However, not all are trustworthy. Many investors are trapped in the fake promises and offer given by unauthorized real estate agents. However, these agents get a heavy amount from innocent buyers in form of booking payments.

Many people trust the agents without investing them properly and come across this scam. Many builders and brokers make false promises to the clients thus offering attractive discounts on immediate booking. However, the investors have to face such scams due to ignorance and lack of investigation.

Fake Documentations

False and unauthentic documentation is among the most common property scams that usually investors face. While buying property, the builders and brokers issue fake property documents to investors instead of original ones.

The buyers make deals and payments even without getting the original documents that indulge them into various serious problems later. Without the authentic documents, you cannot claim the property as yours nor can resell it.

Fake or Incomplete NOCs

Investing in legal and NOC-approved housing schemes is essential to secure your future. People are aware of this fact however they get trapped by fake or incomplete NOC documents. Sometimes, the whole land of the housing scheme is not approved.

However, the builders and brokers show the NOC of the approved area and give plots to buyers on the unapproved area. Because of this, the properties are not delivered as they have no proper documents.

Incomplete Development Scam

Showing the false development status and progress instead of the actual condition is another common property scam in Pakistan. In some societies, the developers show that construction and development are going on at a fast pace. Hence, they become persuasive about boundary walls, main gates, and roads.

Sometimes, the buyers find that work enough and consider such schemes ideal for investment. But this is not right. The society’s infrastructure is maybe developing but sometimes the main works such as sewerage, electricity, water connection, road leveling and more are not happening. Consequently, the buyers face delays in property delivery or ownership.

Making Return on Investment Too High than Actual

In a highly competitive real estate market, the builders are trying to sell considerable properties in the initial phase of their housing scheme to fulfill their development and funding requirements.

For this, the property scammers trick investors by ensuring upcoming overvalued prices of the property they want to sell. The real estate agents and builders market their projects by assuring high investment returns to lure buyers. They advertise and sell the property by showing its fake market value.

False Promises

The builders sometimes make fake and false promises to the buyers at the time of selling properties thus do not live up to them. This fraud can be manifested in multiple ways such as by advertising false amenities, fake area views, appealing discounts, etc. Some innocent buyers do not investigate the actual status of the society and are trapped by the utopian world portrayed by the developers.

Selling One Property to Multiple Buyers

This is another common and dangerous property scam in Pakistan that usually people fail to recognize. The property developers or agents sell the single property to more than one buyer through fake documentation and other scamming tactics. This is contrary to reselling of the property. Sometimes, the investors pay money for the property that is already in someone’s possession thus face serious loss.

Property Ownership frauds

One of the common property scams in Pakistan is fake possession promises or delays in property delivery. The property scammers allure buyers by promising ownership of plots at a specific time.

They do not deliver or give property ownership because of not having authentic documentation. Sometimes, the property does not exist on the ground. This scam happens to those who invest in a property without visiting the society on the ground.

How to keep yourself Safe from Property Scams in Pakistan

Real estate property frauds are increasing however people get trapped by the scammers due to a lack of professional guidance, knowledge, and research. However, the scams are hard to identify because of which many people get affected by them.

When all prospects seem fine and good, it is difficult to come across the actual prospect. Keep in view the following aspects in mind while investing in real estate to avoid property scams and frauds in Pakistan.

Consult Reliable Real Estate Company

To buy property in any city of Lahore, you need to consult an authentic, authorized, and reliable real estate company. Many reliable consultants are offering high-end services to clients. Wall Real Estate is a leading name when it comes to 100% authentic and reliable real estate consultants. You can check the authenticity of the real estate company in the following ways!

Important Guide: How Property Tax is Calculated and Paid in Pakistan?

Check Developers History & Authenticity

Before investing in any real estate development, you should properly investigate its developers and owners. Investors can prevent themselves from falling prey to property scams by taking the following steps!

Verifying the Documents

Fake documentation is a serious and most happened fraud in real estate. The developers sell unapproved and illegal properties which do not have proper documents. You can save yourself from this scam in the following ways!

Visit the Property on Ground before Buying

To avoid the scam of buying properties that do not actually exist, you must visit society on your own. Usually, the investors are trapped by the fake marketing and advertisement of real estate scammers thus make property deals online. You must visit the society on the ground for the following reasons.

Check Legal Status of the Society Properly

You should invest in societies that are legal and approved by the concerned authorities. Hence, the society in which you are going to buy property must be approved by LDA, CDA, RDA, MDA, SBCA, and other concerned authorities. Instead of believing in real estate brokers and developers, you must investigate the legal status of the society in the following ways.

Check the Property Ownership Status

Some sellers are sending one property to multiple buyers through scams and fraudulent tactics. This is a prevailing real estate scam that most investors face. However, you need to keenly check the possession or ownership status of a property before paying for it. For this, take the property documents to the registrar or sub-registrar’s office to check the current ownership status.