Property owned by someone living abroad is the most frequently targeted asset in Pakistan, for the obvious reason: nobody is watching it. The owner is thousands of miles away, the neighbours have no standing to object, and whoever takes possession knows that a response requires the owner to instruct lawyers from another country.
The firm acts for overseas clients in exactly these matters, and the single factor that most determines the outcome is how quickly the owner moves once they learn something is wrong.
The situations we are usually instructed on
The facts vary but the patterns are consistent:
- A plot or house occupied by a tenant, caretaker or relative who now refuses to vacate and asserts a right of their own
- A property sold by someone using a power of attorney that had been revoked, had lapsed, or was never valid
- A transfer effected after the owner's death, when the power relied on had already terminated by operation of law
- Encroachment by a neighbour, or construction begun on land the client owns
- A single plot sold to more than one buyer
- Co-heirs dealing with inherited property as though it were solely theirs, while an heir abroad is left out
- Records altered or mutations effected on forged documents
What can be done, and how fast
The remedies depend on the facts, but the first question is always whether the position on the ground is still changing. Where construction is under way or a further sale is threatened, an urgent injunction to preserve the position matters more than the eventual suit, because a property that has been built on or transferred to a further purchaser is much harder to recover.
Beyond interim relief, the principal remedies are a suit for possession, a suit for cancellation of a forged or void instrument, a declaration as to title, and — where the facts support it — a criminal complaint. These are frequently pursued together, since a purely civil approach can be slow against a party who is content to remain in occupation.
- Injunction restraining further construction, alienation or dispossession
- Suit for possession and recovery of the property
- Cancellation of forged or void sale deeds, powers and mutations
- Declaration of title and correction of the record
- Mesne profits for the period of wrongful occupation
- Criminal complaint where forgery, impersonation or criminal breach of trust is disclosed
Why delay is the real enemy
Clients abroad routinely wait — through a hope that a relative will resolve it, through reluctance to litigate against family, or simply through the difficulty of starting from another country. That delay costs more than any other factor in the case.
Time allows the occupier to consolidate possession, to create documents, to transfer onward to a purchaser who may claim to have bought in good faith, and to build on the land. It also raises questions of limitation, and it makes the client's own account harder to evidence. A matter brought within weeks of discovery is a materially different case from the same matter brought after three years.
How we act while you remain abroad
We begin with the record rather than with the dispute: a search of the title, the chain of transfers, any registered encumbrance, and whether the property is already the subject of proceedings. That establishes what is actually true, which is frequently different from what the family in Pakistan believes.
From there, we advise in writing on the position and the options. If action is warranted, you execute a power of attorney at the Pakistani mission in your country of residence and we conduct the matter here. Your personal attendance is required only rarely, and we tell you well in advance when it is.
Common Questions
Frequently asked
Someone has occupied my property in Karachi. What should I do first?
Do not instruct a relative to negotiate before the position is established. Get the title and the current record checked, and find out whether anything has been registered against the property. If construction or a further sale is under way, the priority is an urgent injunction to stop the position changing while the substantive claim is prepared.
My property was sold using a power of attorney I had revoked. Is the sale valid?
A sale made under a revoked power is open to challenge, but revocation must generally have been brought to the notice of those who might rely on the power — and where the power was registered, the revocation should have been registered too. A purchaser who dealt in good faith without notice may raise a defence, which is why prompt and properly recorded revocation matters so much.
Can I recover a property sold after the owner had died?
A power of attorney terminates on the death of the person who gave it, so anything purportedly done under it afterwards is void. Transactions of this kind are regularly set aside. The practical difficulty is usually evidential — establishing the date of death against the date of the transaction — and it becomes harder the longer the matter is left.
Do I have to come to Pakistan to pursue this?
Generally no. The matter is conducted under a power of attorney executed and attested at the Pakistani mission where you live. There are limited stages where a court may require the owner personally, and we give you notice well ahead if that arises.
Enquiries
Acting for you, from Karachi.
Almost every step can be conducted under a power of attorney, without your travelling. Tell us what the matter concerns.