According to The News on Saturday, the Punjab government is allegedly considering amending a 116-year-old law that will make it permissible for Pakistanis living abroad to buy and sell real estate in the nation.
After these modifications are implemented, foreign nationals of Pakistan who want to buy or sell real estate can do so without having to travel to Pakistan by sending their statement for the sale deed directly to their embassy.
In the past, in order to buy or sell real estate, Pakistanis residing overseas were required by Section 31 of the Registration Act 1908 to register and send their power of attorney to Pakistan.
It was believed that the person in Pakistan to whom the power of attorney was sent had the legal capacity to do it in person.
Owing to this outdated legislation, Pakistanis residing overseas have to cope with several legal concerns while buying and selling real estate, sometimes even including fraud.
In order to address this, the government of Punjab and the Ministry of Foreign Affairs (MOFA) collaborated to design a system that will grant certain MOFA officers at foreign embassies the authority of a sub-registrar.
After Section 31(1) of the Registration Act 1908 was amended, foreigners who wish to buy or sell any property in Pakistan must appear before the local commission officer assigned by the Foreign Office at their respective embassy.
