The Ultimate Due Diligence Checklist Before Buying Property in Kathmandu Valley

Before paying an advance on a Kathmandu Valley property, establish who can transfer it and what the purchase includes. A boundary mismatch or an undocumented access route can affect the deal even when the house itself suits you.

For a Kathmandu Valley house or plot, start with the registered owner and the parcel, then work through access, building records and the terms of payment. Keep the findings together so your lawyer, surveyor and engineer are reviewing the same proposed purchase. Their advice needs to cover the actual property and the responsible offices; a document accepted in one municipality is not a universal Valley-wide requirement.

Before bayana, establish who can sell

Request the Lalpurja, or jaggadhani praman purja, the land ownership certificate, alongside the seller's identity documents and the kitta, or parcel, details. Have a locally qualified lawyer compare these with current records at the responsible Malpot, the land revenue office. The name, parcel number and recorded area should match the property you intend to buy.

The person showing the house may not be the only person whose authority matters. Co-ownership, an inherited interest or a representative signing for an owner can change the documents and consents needed. Your lawyer should establish who must participate and whether any unresolved succession or authority issue prevents the proposed transfer. A family assurance is not evidence that those steps are complete.

Do this before committing bayana, the advance agreed toward a purchase. Obtain a list of outstanding records and a realistic review period. If the seller cannot provide a necessary document yet, the agreement needs to address that gap rather than assume it will disappear before registration.

Match the kitta to the land you are being shown

Give the surveyor the ownership details and Napi naksha, the cadastral map. The task is to compare the recorded parcel with the site: its position, area, boundaries and relationship to adjoining plots. Walk the boundaries together and note any wall, occupied strip or entrance that does not fit the records.

The Survey Department's Mero Kitta service offers map, plot-register and field-book prints, as well as applications for field demarcation. Its document requirements include the landowner's ownership certificate and citizenship document. Arrange the appropriate records through the owner and your adviser; an online map print does not settle a boundary disagreement by itself.

Where a Char Killa, or four-boundary, confirmation is relevant, establish what the responsible office requires for this parcel. It should help explain the boundaries under review, not stand in for resolving a mismatch between the map and the ground. If part of the advertised plot cannot be reconciled, pause the price negotiation until the discrepancy has an explanation you can rely on.

Resolve rokka and document the access route

A rokka is a recorded restriction. It may involve a lender or another authority, so first establish its basis and scope. Have your lawyer obtain the current position from the relevant office and explain what formal fukuwa, or release, would be needed.

If purchase money is intended to clear a seller's loan, agree the sequence with the lender and your lawyer before paying: who receives the money, what evidence confirms release, and when registration can proceed. A repayment receipt or a promise to remove the restriction does not establish that the record has been cleared. Reconfirm the position close to the transfer.

Access needs its own investigation. Trace the entire route from the public road to the kitta and establish the legal basis for using each part. A motorable track can cross private land. Document any shared access arrangement, its extent and the rights that will pass with the purchase. Then have the surveyor compare those rights with the entrance and approach visible on site.

Identify the authority before relying on a road or setback figure

Record the property's municipality and ward, then identify the authority responsible for the adjoining road. Obtain parcel-specific confirmation of applicable road lines, widening proposals, setbacks and other development restrictions through your advisers. These can affect both the usable land and an existing house.

Lalitpur Metropolitan City's published GLD maps are arranged by particular areas. They are a reason to identify the correct map and location, not to apply one road-width rule across Lalitpur district or the whole Kathmandu Valley. A Bhaisepati-area address alone is not enough to establish which authority or planning document applies.

Compare the relevant road and planning information with the cadastral map and any approved building drawings. Where the records leave uncertainty, get it clarified before treating the advertised area or existing frontage as fully usable. A neighbouring building is not proof of what your parcel permits.

For a house, compare approved drawings with what was built

Request the naksa pass records, meaning approved building drawings and related permit documents, together with available nirman sampanna, or completion, documentation. Include records for added floors, extensions and other alterations. An approval for an earlier design does not explain a later enclosed terrace or additional storey.

Lalitpur Metropolitan City's building-permit document page distinguishes new construction from added floors and reconstruction. For a property within that municipality, use its current process as the starting point for questions to the building office. Properties governed by other municipalities need their own applicable records and requirements confirmed.

The engineer or architect reviewing the purchase should compare those documents with the house on site and identify discrepancies that need further municipal clarification. Keep the approval review separate from the condition assessment: a municipal document does not, by itself, establish the building's present structural condition.

Commission an independent technical assessment with a written scope. Available structural drawings, visible cracking, alterations, retaining walls, dampness and drainage may call for different checks. The report should distinguish what was inspected or tested from what remains concealed or needs specialist investigation. A bank valuation is not a substitute for that report.

Include the systems you will take over: electrical installation, water supply and storage, wastewater arrangements and roof or terrace drainage. During the inspection, confirm the orientation of the main rooms and note any daylight limitation that affects your intended use. Unresolved defects belong in the decision about repairs, price and contract terms before you pay the balance.

Note the solar orientation during the viewing: which way the main rooms face and what shades them. If sunlight matters to your purchase, revisit at another time of day rather than rely on a 'south-facing' label alone.

Make the bayana terms reflect the unfinished checks

Have the purchase agreement reviewed before signing or transferring the advance. It should identify the property and parties, record payments and set out the proposed registration and possession arrangements. The amount of bayana and its consequences need to be agreed for this transaction; there is no useful basis here for assuming a standard percentage.

Suppose the surveyor finds a boundary discrepancy before bayana is paid. The agreement needs to say what evidence will resolve it, how long the review can take and what happens to the advance if the result is unsatisfactory. Have your lawyer draft the terms for your transaction.

Your lawyer should explain the consequences of failed checks, delay, withdrawal and a financing shortfall, including any refund or forfeiture terms. Keep a payment trail and copies of signed documents. Do not treat a verbal promise of a refund as an adequate answer to a written condition you do not understand.

Obtain a current cost statement and confirm the loan conditions

Request an itemised calculation for this purchase from the responsible office and your advisers. Distinguish statutory charges from legal, survey, engineering and any agreed agency fees. Clarify who is paying each amount and which receipts you will receive.

Bagmati Province's official listing currently includes the Economic Act 2083. Do not use an older rate table to fix your budget without checking the current fiscal-year provisions, applicable valuation and relevant notices. The amount payable depends on the transaction; confirm the calculation before committing the funds.

If borrowing, get the lender's written conditions, required documents and disbursement sequence early. Establish whether approval or release of funds depends on a valuation, record checks, registration or security arrangements, and how any shortfall will be met. Coordinate these conditions with the purchase agreement rather than leave them until the seller expects the balance.

Coordinate registration, record updating and possession

A bayana agreement and payment do not complete registered ownership. Section 464 of Nepal's Civil Code requires registration of instruments transferring immovable property. Have your lawyer prepare and verify the appropriate rajinama, the sale deed, and the likhat parit, or registration, process with the responsible office.

Also establish how the ownership records will be updated. Section 471 addresses dakhil, kharej and namsari following a registered deed where required. Namsari is not exclusively an inheritance process. Registration of the transfer and the associated record update are related steps; confirm which records and documents will show that your purchase has been completed.

Before releasing the balance, reconfirm the parties' authority, restrictions and any agreed release arrangements. Align payment instructions with the lawyer, office and lender where involved. Retain the registered deed, official receipts and evidence of the resulting ownership-record update rather than rely on an informal account that the work is finished.

Agree possession separately and put the handover in writing. Record:

• The possession date and the keys to be delivered.
• The original documents and receipts you will receive.
• The agreed condition of the house or plot at handover.
• Any outstanding work or payment obligations.

Compare the property and documents delivered with those terms before signing the handover acknowledgement.

File the registered documents, receipts and handover record together. Keep the lawyer's outstanding-action list with them if any agreed work remains after possession.

Square Estates' buyer's guide covers the earlier work of setting a brief and arranging viewings. Use a locally qualified lawyer, surveyor and engineer for conclusions about the particular property you are buying.