Immovable properties, regardless of it being a piece of land, an apartment, or even an entire building; for most people, buying one may seem like an easy process at first. But you are far more likely to be tangled or involved with a lot of complex factors related to cost, functionality, positions, and legal issues when buying one. For example, when purchasing land, location is one of the most important factors to consider. Because, not only the price, from utility facility to laws and regulations, a lot of things will vary depending on the location. This is just the impact of one fundamental factor that must be taken into consideration while buying land. However, there are many such factors that need to be addressed and known before making a purchase decision. Otherwise, you may fall victim to trickery and lose big money in the process. Here are 6 fundamental questions to ask before buying land.
What sized property can be built?
When it comes to constructing a building, factors such as the size of the land, the width of the road bordering the land, and FAR (Floor Area Ratio) measurements will determine maximum ground coverage (MGC) or in other words, how large of a structure can be built on it. Of which FAR measurement will differ depending on what you want to build on it (we have an excellent article explaining how FAR is calculated). That is to say, FAR measurements will differ for residential houses and residential hotels even if they both have the same land area. Put simply, you can’t build the same sized building for both residential hotels and houses.
Besides, if you want to build an educational institution, organization or healthcare centers you need to have more than 5 katha of land for that. So keep these facts in mind when buying land.
Is the land ready for construction?
This is one of the most important questions to ask before buying land. In general, buildable land or ready for construction land refers to a piece of land suitable for residential development and not encumbered by easements, water, wetlands, isolation or restricted areas, topography, or street right-of-way. Put simply, if the piece of land tends to submerge after a downpour or is in an isolated area, that land should not be considered ready for construction. Likewise, if a piece of land slopes down more than 45 degrees, it is not suitable for building a residential house either. Likewise, cropland is not suitable for construction either. It will require you to develop the land first.
How developed is the area?
The location of an immovable asset is one of the key elements that determine the valuation of the asset. And depending on the future prospect and development opportunity of the location, the price can increase dramatically. Therefore, the more closely it is built to other important areas or establishments, the better it can be appreciated. In addition, also look for road infrastructure in the area. Because well planned road infrastructure eventually leads to the emergence of urban development.
Also connectivity, transportation, and road conditions are other important aspects that need to be taken into consideration. Because these are directly related to the development of the area and can signify how developed an area is. So among all the questions to ask before buying land, this should be near the top of your list.
What would be the final cost of the property?
There is much more to a piece of land than just the cost of the asset. Let’s say you want to buy a piece of land from a land development company. Now there are a couple of things that need to be taken into consideration. There are legal fees and other hidden fees that should not be overlooked. For example, in addition to the price of the asset, in Bangladesh you have to pay 1.5% stamp duty, 1% registration fee, 2-3% local tax (depending on the region your property is located), 2% VAT, 4% gain tax, 5% additional income tax or AIT and other additional fees which can add up to a large amount of money. But if you are purchasing land from an individual seller, you generally do not have to pay 2% VAT, 4% gain tax, 5% additional income tax or AIT as legal fees.
Is the documentation of the land authenticated and verified?
Of all the questions to ask before buying land, this one holds the foremost importance. It is your responsibility to ask for all the legal documents and check if they are authentic. In a lot of cases, transactions have completely fallen apart because of invalid documentation. Also, real estate scams are a real thing in our country and property-related suits can last for a long time in Bangladesh. That is why a sensitive issue like this should be dealt with carefully and with very close inspection. To that end, we have an excellent article on how to validate the authenticity of a property’s ownership. You can go through the article if you need in-depth information or come to us. We have a team of experts who can guide you through the entire process.
What utilities are readily available?
Look for what utilities are readily available. This is one of the most important things that need to be taken into account. Otherwise, you may have to go through some unnecessary hassle. For example, if you are purchasing a new land inside the Dhaka metropolitan area, you won’t have any gas connection. On the other hand, old lands may not have such issues. Furthermore, if your property is not served by water or sewer lines, you will need to build a septic system to handle the sewage and manage a solution for your water supply.
The entire process of purchasing land is an arduous task in our country. No matter who you are buying from, you have to take care of a lot of things. But with Bproperty on your side, you don’t have to worry about any of these. We have experts who can guide you through the entire process and can do a lot of this work for you so that you don’t have to go through all these.
What other concerns do you have about buying lands? Please let us know if you think we missed anything that you think should have been included in the comments section below.
