KARACHI, Nov 18: The Sindh government has raised valuation rates of properties (immovable) by 15 per cent for commercial units and 10 per cent for residential and industrial units.

The rates were enhanced by the Sindh Board of Revenue (SBR) through a notification issued here on Saturday.

The existing valuation rates for properties in Clifton area are Rs7,000 per sq yard for residential and Rs10,000 for commercial units, followed by PECHS with Rs7,000 for residential and Rs12,000 for commercial units.

In Gulshan-e-Iqbal valuation rates are Rs3,500 per sq yard for residential and Rs6,500 for commercial units. In Landhi these rates are Rs1,500 for residential and Rs2,700 for commercial units.

Sources in the SBR told Dawn that the valuation rates had been enhanced in view of the tremendous boost in value of properties in different localities of the city during last couple of years. The existing valuation rates were fixed about five years ago.

It may be pointed out that the rates fixed by the government for valuation of properties for registration were still eight to 10 times lower than the prices of properties prevailing in the market. For example a 400 sq yard house in Gulshan-e-Iqbal is evaluated by the Registrar Properties at Rs1.5 million against its actual market price of Rs8 to 10 million.

District Registrar Karachi Abdul Baqi Mahar said that the registration of property documents, which on average earn revenue of Rs7 billion per annum, had already come down after the levy of CVT and municipal tax from this year.

The raise in valuation rates would further cut the registration of sale deeds presently averaged at 100,000 documents, including power of attorneys, lease and mortgage documents per year.

He opined that the registration of properties transferred within the families would be discouraged with the high cost of registration.

There is three per cent stamp duty and one per cent registration fee on registration of properties.

The cost for registration of a 400 sq yard house in Clifton on existing valuation rates will come to Rs123,200 compared to registration of a similar house in Gulshan-e-Iqbal costing Rs61,600.

There are 24 sub-registrars in Karachi but due to lack of staff registration of sale deeds takes about a month. There is no proper office building for the registration department to provide one window facility to the public.

There are also no foolproof arrangements for the security of rare property records of the metropolitan, which is 150 years old.