Walking into a property deal in Pakistan without knowing the vocabulary is like signing a contract you cannot read. Real estate in our country runs on a mix of local revenue-department terminology and colonial-era paperwork that the Patwari system has preserved for over a century. Miss a term and you can miss a fraud. Here is what every buyer, seller, and first-time investor needs to actually understand before the token money changes hands.
The people behind the paperwork
Before you look at a single document, it helps to know who actually issues them. Property records in Pakistan begin at the village level, and the people who maintain those records carry titles that have survived since the British Raj.
Patwari — The Patwari is the lowest-level official of the revenue department and the person who physically keeps the land records for a given circle of villages. Every mutation, every boundary dispute, every ownership change starts and ends on a Patwari’s desk. If your local Patwari is responsive, half your documentation battle is already won.
Girdawar (also spelled Gardori) — One rung above the Patwari. The Girdawar inspects land records periodically and verifies the Patwari’s work. The certificate a Girdawar issues to record leasing rights is called a Girdawri.
Tehsildar — The senior revenue officer at the Tehsil level. Mutation entries and major changes are formally attested by the Tehsildar’s office.
The documents you will actually see
Fard — If there is one document you must learn to read, it is this one. The Fard is a certified extract from the revenue record that shows who owns a piece of land right now. Any seller who cannot produce a current Fard is a red flag. Get a fresh Fard from the Arazi Record Center or from the relevant Patwari before you commit to anything.
Aks Shajra — A scale drawing prepared by the Patwari on tracing paper, showing the exact shape and position of a plot within the wider area. Think of it as the official sketch of where your land sits. When a buyer is told “the plot is next to the main road,” the Aks Shajra is what proves it — or disproves it.
Shajra (the parent map) — The comprehensive Patwari map of all the Khasra numbers in an area, including measurements and surrounding boundaries. The Aks Shajra is essentially a copy of the portion that matters to your deal.
Registry — The formal deed of ownership issued by the sub-registrar’s office when a sale is recorded. A registered deed is stronger evidence of ownership than any verbal claim or unregistered agreement.
Inteqal (Mutation) — This is the transfer of ownership in the revenue record from the seller’s name to yours. A sale is not legally complete in rural/semi-urban land until the Inteqal is attested. In DHA and Bahria Town, the equivalent step is the society’s own transfer, but the principle is identical: the record must reflect your name.
Jamabandi — The quadrennial update of the revenue records. Roughly every four years the Patwari consolidates all changes — sales, inheritances, partitions — into the master register. If you are buying land in a village or agricultural area, you want to see the latest Jamabandi entry for the seller.
Numbering systems that can trip you up
Khasra Number — The unique identifier for a specific piece of land. One plot can fall inside one Khasra number or span multiple. Always match the Khasra on the Fard to the Khasra on the Aks Shajra.
Khewat (or Khata) Number — Groups together all the land owned by the same person or co-owners in a village. If a seller owns five scattered plots, they will share one Khewat number but each will have its own Khasra.
Khatuni Number — Groups parcels of land that are being cultivated by the same tenant, regardless of ownership. More relevant for agricultural dealings than residential.
Measurements — learn these in your sleep
- 1 Marla = 272.25 sq ft (about 25.29 sq m). The smallest working unit in urban plots.
- 1 Kanal = 20 Marla = 5,445 sq ft (about 505.86 sq m). The standard premium plot size in DHA.
- 1 Acre = 8 Kanal = 43,560 sq ft. Used for larger agricultural and commercial parcels.
- 1 Bigha (Punjab) = 5 Kanal = 27,225 sq ft. Varies in other provinces.
- 1 Sarsahi = 9 sq ft. The sub-unit of a Marla (1 Marla = 9 Sarsahi in some regions, 30.25 sq ft × 9).
The bottom line
You do not need to become a Patwari yourself. You do need to recognise the names of the documents your agent produces, insist on fresh Fard and Aks Shajra copies at the time of sale, and confirm the Inteqal is filed after the money moves. If any of those three are missing or stale, pause the deal — no plot in Pakistan is worth skipping verification for.
If you want our team to run these checks for a property you are considering, call us at +92 334 5336112 or drop a WhatsApp message. We do documentation verification as a standalone service, not just for properties listed with us.