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Flat registration cost in Dhaka: a resale and a developer flat, worked in full
Dhaka flats register under two different tax sections depending on who is selling. An existing owner selling to you is a section 125 transfer; a developer selling its own flat is a section 126 supply. The two bills look alike only from a distance.
Example 1 — a resale flat: Dhanmondi, ৳1.5 crore, 2,000 sq ft, land share 4.17 decimals
Seller's side — ৳11,80,000. Land tax: the higher of 5% of the ৳60 lakh land value (৳3,00,000) and the Group 1 floor ৳9,00,000 × 4.17 (৳37,53,000) — capped at the higher of the land value and the ৳20 lakh-per-katha limb, here ৳3,00,000. Structure tax: the higher of 185.81 sq m × ৳800 (৳1,48,648) and 8% of the ৳1.1 crore structure value → ৳8,80,000.
Your side — ৳6,75,000. Registration fee ৳1,50,000 · stamp ৳2,25,000 · local government tax at 2% ৳3,00,000.
All-in: ৳18,55,000 — about 12.4% of the price, before the small fixed fees and e-mutation. Worked in the flat calculator in resale mode.
Notice the cap doing real work: without the section 125(2) ceiling the land floor alone would have been ৳37.5 lakh on a ৳60 lakh land share. Prime-area resales are exactly where the ceiling matters, and any quote that skips it is not a quote.
Example 2 — a developer flat: Uttara, ৳2 crore, 1,800 sq ft, land value ৳30 lakh
Developer's side — ৳15,46,622. Section 126 per-square-metre tax: 167.23 sq m × ৳1,400 = ৳2,34,122. Land tax under rule 7(2) at 5% (Dhaka is a listed district): ৳1,50,000. Rule 6(1) land tax also collected: higher of 5% (৳1,50,000) and the Group 3 Class B/D floor ৳1,75,000 × 1.5 decimals (৳2,62,500) → ৳2,62,500. VAT at 4.5% (over 1,600 sq ft): ৳9,00,000.
Your side — ৳9,00,000. Registration fee ৳2,00,000 · stamp ৳3,00,000 · local government tax ৳4,00,000.
All-in: ৳24,46,622. Note what is absent: the rule 6(2) structure tax does not apply to a developer sale (rule 7(5)) — its place is taken by the section 126 tax and the VAT.
The charges nobody's calculator mentions
Two more costs sit around a Dhaka flat registration, and both are real even though neither is in the totals above. The development-authority transfer fee (RAJUK and its sister bodies): published figures conflict — 3% of deed value in one worked example, ৳100 per sq ft in a developer guide — so this site will not put it in a calculation until the authority's schedule settles it; ask the authority before you budget the shortfall. And the society and utility transfers (building society name change, gas and electricity connections): small, negotiable, and entirely outside the official schedule. The developer VAT guide covers the section 126 side in depth.
Questions
What is the total registration cost of a flat in Dhaka?
It depends on which of the two sales it is. A resale (existing owner to you) prices the land share at the section 125 group rates and the structure at ৳800 per sq m or 8% — on a ৳1.5 crore prime-area flat, about ৳6,75,000 on your side and ৳11,80,000 on the seller’s. A developer sale runs under section 126 instead: on a ৳2 crore, 1,800 sq ft Uttara flat, about ৳9,00,000 on your side (that is the VAT) and ৳15,46,622 on the developer’s. Both examples are worked in full on this page.
Do I pay VAT on a resale flat?
Usually not, and never by default here. The VAT table lists 2% on re-registration of a flat of any size, but the Finance Ordinance 2025 exempted transfers of buildings by other persons, and practice at the counter is not uniform. The flat calculator shows the resale VAT as a separate conditional line you can switch on if your sub-registry applies it — it is never inside the headline total.
What is the RAJUK transfer fee on a flat?
Not published consistently. One worked example in circulation prices it at 3% of the deed value; a developer guide prices it at ৳100 per square foot. Until the authority’s own schedule settles which is right, this site discusses the fee in words and keeps it out of every calculation — a wrong number in a total is worse than a disclosed gap.