DHA File:
Allocation vs Affidavit
A DHA file is a tradeable claim to a plot that has no plot number yet. An allocation file has cleared DHA's allocation stage and can enter balloting. An affidavit file has not. That one difference sets the price, the transfer charges and the risk you carry.
What is a DHA file?
A DHA file is a transferable right to a plot in a DHA phase before that plot has been given a number or a location. DHA sells files while a phase is still being developed. You are buying a claim of a certain size in a certain phase, not a piece of ground you can stand on.
That is why file rates move faster than plot prices. A plot's price is anchored to its block, its street and whether it is corner or park facing. A file has none of those yet, so its price moves on news: land acquisition, development progress, and above all balloting and possession announcements.
The single most useful question to ask a seller is not the price. It is which stage is this file at — because the four stages below are four different products at four different prices.
From file to a plot you can build on
Allocation file vs affidavit file
Both are files. The difference is whether DHA's own record carries an allocation letter against it, and that decides whether the file can enter the next ballot.
| Allocation file | Affidavit file | |
|---|---|---|
| Status in DHA's record | Allocation letter issued | Held on an affidavit between the parties |
| Can enter balloting | Yes | Not until it reaches allocation |
| Price | Higher | Lower |
| Transfer route | Transferred through DHA against the allocation letter | Depends on whether the affidavit is cleared or non-cleared |
| What you are waiting for | The ballot, and which block you draw | Conversion to allocation, then the ballot |
| Main risk | Timing — when balloting happens and where you land | Status — whether and when it converts |
| Suits | A buyer who wants a plot number in a predictable timeframe | A buyer with a longer horizon who is paid for waiting |
The discount on an affidavit file is not free money. It is the price of a wait whose length nobody can promise you. Decide whether you are buying time or buying certainty, then negotiate.
Cleared vs non-cleared affidavit files
Affidavit files are further described as cleared or non-cleared, and the distinction changes what you pay at transfer. Ask which one is being offered before price is discussed, not after you have agreed a number and the charges appear.
If a seller cannot tell you clearly which of the two it is, that is itself the answer about how well they know the file they are selling.
What actually moves a DHA file's price
What can go wrong with a DHA file
Files are a normal part of the DHA market and most transactions are uneventful. The losses that do happen cluster into four causes, and all four are checkable before money moves.
- The stage is not what you were told. An affidavit file sold as an allocation file is the most common and the most expensive mistake. Confirm it in DHA's record, not in the seller's words.
- The ownership chain is broken. A name that does not match the CNIC, a missing transfer in the chain, or an unregistered power of attorney.
- Dues are outstanding. They block the No Demand Certificate, and without that there is no transfer at all.
- A caution mark, lien or court stay sits on the file. The file looks normal on paper and is frozen in DHA's system.
Every one of these takes minutes to check at the DHA record office. Our full checklist is here: how to verify a DHA Lahore plot or file before you pay.
Which block you draw decides the rest
Balloting converts a size into an address, and from that moment the plot is priced like every other plot in that block. Corner, park-facing and boulevard positions carry real premiums; interior plots on narrow streets do not. This is why two 1 Kanal files bought on the same day for the same price can be worth visibly different amounts a week after the ballot.
Block-by-block asking prices for the phases where we hold stock are on the map pages: DHA Phase 6, DHA Phase 7 and DHA Phase 8.
Transferring a file once you have bought it
A file transfer runs through the same DHA machinery as a plot transfer: the seller applies for the No Demand Certificate, the transfer fee and FBR taxes are paid, both parties appear at the DHA Transfer Branch, and the transfer set is submitted within 30 days. Where the seller is abroad, DHA's Foreign Transfer procedure applies instead.
The fees, the documents and a worked example are on our DHA Lahore transfer process and fees page. For the units used throughout, see Marla and Kanal plot sizes.
Send us the file before you send anyone money
Tell us the phase, the size and what the seller says the stage is. We check it against DHA's record and tell you what it actually is, whether or not you buy through us.