Power of attorney in a Bangladeshi property sale
By Bdproperty Editorial Team · Updated:
A power of attorney lets one person act for another, and in property transactions it is common when an owner lives abroad or cannot attend. A power of attorney that authorises the transfer of immovable property must be registered to be effective for that purpose — an unregistered one is not enough to sell land. If you are buying from an attorney rather than the owner, read the document itself, check it is registered, and confirm it has not been revoked and that the principal is alive.
When does it have to be registered?
A power of attorney empowering the sale or transfer of immovable property must be registered. A general authority to manage affairs, drafted loosely, does not automatically carry the power to sell — the document has to say so.
For a principal outside Bangladesh, execution is typically attested at the Bangladesh mission in that country and then authenticated and registered here before it is used.
What should a buyer read in it?
Whether it names this specific property, whether it authorises sale rather than merely management, whether it permits sale to the attorney themselves, and whether it carries an expiry. Each of those has stopped a transaction that everyone assumed was fine.
How do you know it is still in force?
A power of attorney can be revoked, and it generally ends on the death of the principal. Ask for evidence the principal is alive and the authority current, and have a lawyer check for a registered revocation before money moves.
Is a sale by attorney riskier?
It carries more to verify, not necessarily more risk, provided the document is registered, specific and current. The danger is in accepting a photocopy of a vague authority and assuming the rest.
Common questions
Can I sell land with an unregistered power of attorney?
Not for transferring immovable property. Authority to sell land has to be conferred by a registered instrument; an unregistered document will not support the transfer.
Does a power of attorney end when the owner dies?
Generally yes. That is one reason a buyer should confirm the principal is alive at the time of the sale, not merely at the time the document was signed.
Can the attorney sell the property to themselves?
Only if the document expressly permits it, and even then it invites scrutiny. Take legal advice before proceeding with that arrangement on either side.
Sources: Powers of Attorney Act 2012 · Registration Act 1908. This is general information, not legal advice. Confirm anything that affects a transaction with your Sub-Registrar or AC (Land) office.