How TO Set Your Bedget: Personal Finance Tips

Buying Poperty Guide For Foreigners in Pakistan:Sale Property Guide:Commercial Property Guide:Property Tax Guide

Foreigners working and living in Pakistan can buy or rent properties; however, the Government requires them to complete certain legal formalities with the board of investment and the Trade Development Authority of Pakistan. Foreigners intending to rent to buy property also have to submit the following documents to the Home Department.
1) A letter of employment from the company in which they are working  at(e.g embassy/consulate/multinational) that mentions the nature of their residency, as well as the period of intended stay, along with the company's physical address in Pakistan.
2) A complete copy of foreigner's passport with a valid visa and six recent photographs.
Additionally, the following are also required by the Home Department.
3) The landlord/ property owner and the real estate agent are both required to submit a copy of their CNIC for record keeping.
4) The landlord/property owner is required to provide proof of ownership(e.g, certified copy of registered lease document of the property, a map, drawing and approval site plan) that has been attested by a Nottery public.
According to the current law , the property can only be occupied by the person, whose name is on the contract. If the occupant of the property changes, a new contract or deed should be drawn up, and the name of the new contract should be communicated to the respected Home Department within a day.
In case of violation of the procedures, the following actions can be taken by the Government:
1) Thorough scrutiny of the premises by the police.
2) Cancellation of visa and prosecution before the deportation of the foreigner.
3) The building's owner will not allow to rent or sell the property for next five years.
4) Investigation and prosecution of the real estate agency owner as well as the estate agent under the prevailing law.

Is Anyone Following Rent Laws In Pakistan?

Concluding a rental agreement is part of the routine for a real estate agent. Unfortunately, there are many agents who despite having several years of experience conduct these deals in a manner that not only leaves both landlords and tenants dissatisfied, but also violates local rental laws.
Most tenants would like rental agreement s to be made for at least 12 months although there is no law limiting the maximum number of years of an agreement. However, the law requires all rental agreements of 12 or more months to be registered with the Area Registrar and the fixation of revenue stamps on the rental agreement. These fees are paid by the tenant.
In order to save on stamp duty and registration fee, both the landlord and the tenant sign an agreement for 11 months. The reality is that most tenants do not move from the premises in such a short periods it involves expenses and payment such as brokerage/service charges to an estate agent, as well as the cost of packing and moving.
This means that the landlord, tenants and estate agents who brokers the deal, all are equally responsible for evading government taxes which is a criminal offense.
The estate agent should ideally inform both the landlord and the tenant that the rental agreement should be signed for the actual term of tenancy; this will save both parties from incurring unnecessary expenses after 11 months. More importantly, this will prevent both parties, from breaking the law, which, at the end of the day, results in financial losers for the provincial government.

How Tenants Can Safe Guard Their Investment: Some Helpful Points For Tenants To Safe Their Investment

In most cases, tenants lease properties that are in a moderately decent condition. Then there are those tenants who lease properties from landlords for properties that requires extensive renovation. Such properties are rented on an "as is and where is basis", with a tenant usually getting a long term lease ranging from five to 10 years and beyond. Tenants usually rent out such properties because they feel that the landlords will rent them the property at a considerably lower rate, due to state of the property.
After the tenants/lease agreement is signed, the tenants renovates the property at his/her own expense, which in some case runs into million of dollars.
All is well till the tenant and landlord meet near the expiry of the initial tenancy/Lease agreement. It is usually this time that landlords conveniently forget the condition in which the property was rented out and usually demand a higher rent then the prevailing market rate to the tenant who has already spent a lot of money in renovating the property in question.
The thinking from the landlord's point of view is that the tenant will rather pay the higher rent then forgo the millions investing in renovated the premises. The question at this point is: How can Tenants safeguard their investment?

Here Are Some Useful Tips For Tenants:

1) Take photographs and make the video of the property before singing the first term of tenancy.Lease Agreement, so that there is the proof of the condition in which the property was handed over to the tenant.
2) Always put an upper cap on the rent for the renewed term in the initial lease, so that in case of renewal of tenancy/lease agreement, the landlord cannot demand an exorbitant rent.
3) The pay off period of the cost of renovations must also be mentioned in the tenancy/lease agreement to ensure that the landlord asks for a fair rent when renewing the agreement for the second term.
When negotiating, landlord should realize that if the current tenant doesn't renew the agreement, and vacates the premises, it will extremely difficult for them to rent the same property to another tenant at a similar rate.

How To Resolve The Issue Of Inherited Property

 When property owner do not transfer the the Title of property to their legal heirs(blood relative) while they are alive, or fail to leave a "will" stating who the ownership will pass to, problem arise for legal heirs when they try to claim the property after the property owner's death.
Currently, in order to inherit the property legally, heirs have to obtain a letter of Administration(in case a person dead after making a will;this letter establishes the right of the executor to execute the will) or a succession certificate (in case the person has died intestate- leaving no legal will); both documents are issued by the relevant court of law. However these legal procedures are rarely enforced, and as a result legal heirs usually face a variety of problems which include:

1)Possession Of Property:

Legal heirs who are not living in the property, or do not have physical possession of it, are unable to claim the property as their own.

2)Sale Of Inherited Property:

Legal heirs are unable to agree on the sale value of a property, as each legal heir might consult a different estate agent in order to obtain the maximum price.

3)Distribution Of Appropriate Shares:

If the inherited property is sold in the open market,it is seldom that each legal heir receives his/her due shares.
To avoid such difficulties, now legislation is needed which should require legal heir(s) in possession of the property to submit the list of names of the remaining legal heir(s)- within 90 days of the death of the property owner. He/she should also be required to file an application in the relevant court of law to obtain a letter of Administration or Succession certificate, as the case may be.
If this is not done, it should be considered a willful default and illegal possession by those legal heirs who are in the possession of inherited property with the intention of neither settling the matter with nor giving due share to other legal heirs; the government should also set a side penalty for such acts.
This will not resolve the issue of inherited properties within a specific time period, but will also save legal heirs from stress, aggravation, a sense of deprivation, and injustice. Once enforced this procedure will also discourage legal heirs from taking take the law in their own hands to settle property disputes.

How To sell Your Property Online: E-Marketing Property: E-Marketing Of Real Estate And Product Property

Changing life cycle trends and access to the internet have changed the waves properties are marketed.  Today prospective buyers and tenants need no longer visit countless properties in order to draw up a short list and make an offer. Instead the property owner, can e-mail the digital photographs and dimensions of a particular property to the state agent. For newer properties computer-Aided Design (CAD) drawings can also be sent.
Here are tips on the kind of information that should be e-mailed to real estates agents:

Residential:

1) Scan of the floor plan and the frontage and depth of the house.
2) Expose the front elevation, the lawn,the car porch and servant quarters.
3) Include dimensions of all bedrooms, attached bathrooms and TV lounge(s).
4) Photos of the neighborhood.

Commercial:

1) The facade of the building.
2) Photographs of the showroom, shop or the complete office space.
3) If a furniture premise, photographs the fixtures, fittings and furniture.
4) Include the floor plan which should mention the gross and net covered areas.

Industrial:

1) The floor plan and technical drawings of the industry, highlighting information such as distance between pillars, height of roof, details of concealed writing, etc.
2) Photographs of the front, back and side road of the property.
3) Photographs of the office blocks, sheds and machinery.

After receiving the information, the estate agent will store the specification of the property on his/her computer will show the details to the prospective buyer.tenant on the monitor.
The seller will only be contacted if the property has been short listed, saving all concerned precious time.

Soccer World Cup Win Can Boost The Netherlands Economy

If Holland wins Sundays world cup final, the Netherlands economy could be boosted by up to 3.8 billion euros as the Dutch spends more when they are on high, economists says.
Economist predict that's a Dutch victory in soccer wold cup final will add .5 per cent of the gross domestic product to the economy over the next year. If Netherlands will wins on Sunday evening that will be good for Dutch self-confidence, which is good for consumer confidence.
Charles Kalshoven, chief economist for Duct Bank ING, said euphoric moments have proved in the past prompted the Dutch to loosen their pursue settings. :It is a psychological effect. We also see it when the weather is good. When it is a long rainy winter, consumer confidence is lower." Kalshoven however was more cautious about the windfall in case of a world cup victory, forecasting as additional 700 million euros in consumer spending to the end of this year a rise of .25 per cent.
The amounted to a boost of 0.1 per cent to the economy, he said, about 600 million euros : as some of the benefit will leak abroad". When the feels-good factors kicks in we can expect that people ill make some of those large purchases that they have been postponing.
Bloemer said victory would improve the Netherlands economy, generally contributing to long term consumer and investor confidence.