Construction in Karachi requires approval, and building beyond what was sanctioned is common. So is discovering the consequence years later — when a notice arrives, when a sale falls through, or when a buyer's lawyer asks for the completion certificate and there isn't one.

The people most damaged are usually not the developers who built the excess but the purchasers who bought a flat in good faith.

The approvals a building needs

At a minimum, a lawful building involves:

  • Approved building plans sanctioned by the relevant authority
  • Land use consistent with what is being built — residential, commercial, amenity — and any conversion properly obtained
  • No-objection certificates from the utilities and other bodies where required
  • Construction in accordance with the sanctioned plan
  • A completion or occupancy certificate on completion

The gap is almost always between the fifth point and the fourth: plans sanctioned for a defined height and coverage, and a building put up with extra floors, reduced setbacks, converted amenity space or covered mandatory open areas.

If a notice arrives

Do not ignore it, and do not continue building.

Establish precisely what is alleged — which portion of which structure is said to be unauthorised, and under what provision.

Obtain your own file: the sanctioned plan, the approval, the completion certificate if any, and the correspondence.

Reply within the time stated, with documents. Where the construction is in fact within the sanctioned plan, that is answered with the plan itself.

Where there is genuine excess, establish whether regularisation is available. It sometimes is, on payment of charges and where the deviation is within permitted limits. Where it is not, the honest advice is that demolition may follow and the question becomes mitigation.

Do not deal with it informally. Payments made to make a notice go away leave you with no record, no protection, and a repeat visit.

Where the authority has acted without lawful authority, without notice, or beyond its powers, that can be challenged by constitutional petition before the High Court — see constitutional and writ petitions. Courts in Sindh have also taken an active interest in unauthorised construction on their own motion, and orders in such proceedings can affect buildings whose owners were never parties.

If you are buying

This is where most readers should focus, because the risk transfers to you.

Before buying an apartment or a built property, verify:

  • The sanctioned plan, and that the building as constructed matches it
  • The completion or occupancy certificate
  • The land use and any conversion
  • Whether the project is registered with the relevant regulator
  • Whether any notice or proceedings are outstanding against the building
  • Whether the specific floor or unit you are buying is within the approved envelope — extra floors are frequently sold to the least informed buyers

A flat on an unauthorised floor can be lawfully demolished, and the purchaser's remedy is then against a developer who may no longer exist. Utility connections, transfer of title and mortgage finance can all be obstructed as well.

See checking title before buying property in Karachi and files, plots and developer risk.

If you already own in an affected building

Do not assume you are powerless because you did not build it.

Options depend on the facts and may include: participating in the proceedings to protect your position, seeking regularisation collectively with other owners, acting as a group of purchasers against the developer for misrepresentation and loss, and challenging any action taken against you without notice.

Owners acting collectively are taken more seriously and share the cost. If your building has received a notice, the first step is usually to organise the owners.

Neighbour disputes

Building control also arises between neighbours — construction blocking light or access, encroachment onto your plot, excavation affecting your structure, or commercial use in a residential area.

The routes are a complaint to the authority and, where damage or encroachment is occurring, an injunction and a suit. Photograph everything before it is built, and act while it is still a foundation rather than a completed structure. Courts are markedly less willing to order demolition of a finished building than to restrain one going up.

Practical advice

Build to the sanctioned plan. Deviation is cheap now and expensive later.

Get the completion certificate. It is the document that proves the building is lawful, and it is what a serious buyer will ask for.

Verify before you buy, particularly for apartments.

Reply to notices properly and in time.

Act early on neighbouring construction.

How the firm can help

We advise on building approvals, land use and regularisation, respond to notices from the building control authority, and act in proceedings including constitutional petitions where action has been taken unlawfully.

For purchasers, we verify approvals and completion status as part of a title investigation before you commit funds — the point at which the risk can still be avoided. We also act for groups of owners against developers who sold unauthorised construction.

If a notice has arrived or you are buying in a building you cannot fully verify, contact the firm.