Police registration of tenants in Pakistan

When you let a house, portion, flat or shop, the law in most of Pakistan requires the new tenant to be reported to the police. The rules are provincial, so they differ: who reports, by when, from which date, and how. This guide sets out what each law says, as far as we could confirm it from official texts.

At a glance

We have not researched Gilgit-Baltistan or Azad Jammu and Kashmir. Ask the local police station.

Punjab

The law. The Punjab Information of Temporary Residents Act 2015 applies.

Who and when. The property dealer, the landlord and the tenant must each give the tenant’s details to the police within 15 days of the tenant getting possession. If any one of them does, the others are covered (section 3).

What happens if you do not. A person who knowingly breaks the Act can be imprisoned for up to six months and fined between Rs 10,000 and Rs 100,000. The offence is cognizable and non-bailable. The government may compound it for an administrative penalty of at least Rs 10,000, but not for someone convicted or compounded before (sections 11 to 13).

How. Online through the Punjab Police Tenant Registration System, or in person at the nearest police station or Police Khidmat Markaz. For registration in person, Lahore Police ask for:

• the owner’s CNIC, original and copy;
• the tenant’s CNIC, original and copy;
• the rent agreement, original and copy;
• an affidavit;
• a photograph of the tenant.

The Lahore Police page says registration in person is free and done on the spot. We found no official statement of a fee for the online route.

Sindh

The law. The Sindh Information of Temporary Residents Act 2015 (Sindh Act No. XXI of 2015) applies.

Who and when. The property dealer, the landlord and the tenant must give the tenant’s details to the police within 48 hours of the tenant getting possession (section 3). Before letting anyone stay, a landlord, manager or property dealer must check the tenant’s CNIC or passport and give the police a copy (the Act; we read this duty in an excerpt of the Act that did not show its section number).

What happens if you do not. A person who knowingly breaks the Act can be imprisoned for up to six months and fined between Rs 10,000 and Rs 45,000. The offence is cognizable and non-bailable (sections 11 and 12). A police officer of the rank of Sub-Inspector or above may inspect rented premises on reasonable notice.

How. Online through the Sindh Police TRUST portal, where you sign in with an email address or a CNIC, or in person at the police station. We could not confirm the list of documents or the fee from an official source; check the portal or ask the police station.

Khyber Pakhtunkhwa

The law. The Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Restriction of Rented Buildings (Security) Act 2014 applies.

Who and when. The landlord, lessee or manager, and the property dealer if there is one, must give the police station the required information within seven days of signing the agreement, not counting public holidays (section 4). We read that wording in an unofficial copy of the Act; check it against the official text.

What you give. According to the Act:

• an attested copy of the rent agreement;
• an attested copy of the tenant’s CNIC;
• the names, CNIC copies and phone numbers of two references who can identify the tenant;
• the particulars of the male members over 14 who live with the tenant.

Once satisfied, the police issue a tenant acknowledgment receipt. The police may ask a tenant for the ownership papers, the agreement and that receipt, which must be produced within 24 hours.

What happens if you do not. The Act’s text provides imprisonment of up to one year, or a fine, or both; it is a cognizable, non-bailable offence. A landlord, manager or property dealer who knew of a tenant’s criminal designs, or did not take due care in checking the tenant’s credentials, may be charged with abetment. A Dawn report (press) gave different penalties (six months and a fine of Rs 10,000 to Rs 100,000); the Act’s text is what we rely on here.

How. In person at the local police station, using the Tenant Information Form that the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Police publish. We found no online portal for the province.

Balochistan

The law. The Balochistan Restrictions of Rented Buildings (Security) Act 2015 applies.

Who and when. The landlord, lessee or manager, and the property dealer if there is one, must give the information on Form-I to the officer in charge, the SHO of the police station or the Levies thana for the building. The text of the Act we read says within three days of signing the agreement. An academic analysis from LUMS (secondary) says fifteen days, so the deadline is not settled beyond doubt; registering within three days meets both.

What you give. An attested copy of the rent agreement and an attested copy of the tenant’s CNIC. The police issue a tenant acknowledgment receipt.

What happens if you do not. Imprisonment of up to one year, or a fine, or both (the Act).

In April 2026 the provincial government announced that registration would be enforced across the province, including Quetta, and officials warned of cases being registered and of property being sealed (press reports in Dawn and ProPakistani). We did not find a power to seal property in the Act’s text; that was the officials’ warning. We found no online channel for Balochistan; register in person.

Islamabad

The law. We found no statute that requires tenant registration in the Islamabad Capital Territory. The duty has been imposed in the past by orders of the District Magistrate under section 144 of the Code of Criminal Procedure, each for a fixed period. One such order, reported by Dawn in about 2022 (a press report), barred owners and property dealers from renting out property for two months without giving tenant details to the police. We found no tenant-specific order for 2026, but such orders are made from time to time, so check with the police.

In practice. The Islamabad Capital Territory Police say registration is mandatory for all tenants. You can register through the online form on their website, at any Police Khidmat Markaz, or at the local police station. They ask for the tenant’s and owner’s CNIC copies and the original rent agreement; the online form also asks for both sides of the CNIC, passport-size photos and a thumb impression photographed on plain paper. We could not confirm the fee from an official source.

How Maalik-e-Makaan will help

When version 1.0 is released, the app will keep each tenancy’s police registration with it: the status, the channel, the reference number and the date. It will remind you before the deadline, counted the way each law does:

• Punjab: 15 days from the tenancy’s start (possession);
• Sindh: by the end of the second day after the tenancy’s start. The app does not record the hour of possession, so this date can fall a few hours after the 48 hours end: register as soon as you can within 48 hours;
• Khyber Pakhtunkhwa: 7 days from the date the agreement was signed. The app counts calendar days, so its date can come earlier than the legal deadline when there are public holidays;
• Balochistan: 3 days from the date the agreement was signed;
• Islamabad, Gilgit-Baltistan and Azad Kashmir: a suggested deadline of one day after the tenancy starts, with a reminder from the start. This is the app’s own suggestion, not a legal deadline.

Record the date the agreement was signed. Without it, the app counts from the start of the tenancy (possession), and in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa and Balochistan that can be later than the law allows, if the agreement was signed earlier.