What it costs to register a flat in Dhaka

Almost every buyer we speak to has budgeted for the apartment and not for the registration. It is the last cost of the purchase, it is paid in one go, and it is large enough that discovering it late changes what somebody can afford.

This is what the bill is made of. The percentages are set by government and they change, so treat the list as what to ask about rather than as today's rate — your lawyer or the sub-registry office will give you the current figures against your deed value.

What you are actually paying

• Stamp duty, charged on the deed value

• Registration fee, charged on the deed value

• Local government tax, which differs between a city corporation area and a municipality

• VAT, where the sale is from a developer rather than a private owner

• Source tax, deducted at registration

• The mutation, afterwards, which is what puts the property in your name in the land records

The first four make up most of the total. The mutation is small and it is the one people forget, which matters because an unmutated property is difficult to sell and difficult to borrow against.

Deed value is not the same as what you paid

Everything above is charged on the value written into the deed. That figure has a floor — the mouza rate for the area — and it is not automatically the price you agreed.

Understating the deed value to reduce the bill is common advice and it is bad advice: it caps what you can prove you paid if you ever sell, and it is the sort of thing that surfaces at the worst moment.

The costs nobody itemises

• Deed drafting and the lawyer's fee

• Stamp paper

• The sub-registry office's own charges on the day

• If you are borrowing, the bank’s legal and valuation fees

Individually small, and together enough to matter on a day when everything else is being paid at once.

What to ask before you sign

• What deed value will be written, and how does it compare with the mouza rate?

• Who pays the VAT and the source tax — is it in the price you were quoted?

• What is outstanding on the flat: utility bills, service charges, any loan against it?

• When will the mutation be done, and by whom?

Ask those four in writing. A developer who answers them plainly is telling you something about how the rest of the transaction will go.

If you are looking at a specific apartment, every layout we sell has its full specification on its own page — size, bedrooms, bathrooms, balconies and facing. See what we have, and ask us for the price of the one you are interested in.