Karachi Property Enforcement: Illegal Construction, Collapses and Buyer Safety

Karachi's property rules are not weak on paper. The Sindh Building Control Ordinance requires an approved plan before construction, a sale NOC before marketing and a completion plan before registry. The problem is enforcement. Extra floors, unapproved projects, encroached land and buildings declared dangerous often stand for years, and when action finally comes, it usually falls on the people who bought in good faith.

This is why buyer safety in Karachi starts with knowing how enforcement works. Our guide on how to verify property in Karachi explains which authority controls the land, the building and the title. This guide looks at what happens when those rules are broken: who acts, what courts have said about buyers, what the major failures of recent years show, and how to avoid buying into the next one.

It draws on SBCA's own figures, Sindh High Court orders and public inquiries, and each section introduces a detailed investigation that follows in this series.

Who enforces what in Karachi

The gaps between these bodies are where most failures happen. A building can pass one office's inspection while breaking another's rules, and no single body is responsible for the whole picture.

Illegal construction: the scale of enforcement

SBCA's enforcement is real but small against the size of the city. According to SBCA's director general, the authority took 396 actions against illegal construction in Karachi between January and mid-April 2026, including demolition, sealing and stopping work.

In February 2026, the Sindh government also approved a special anti-illegal construction task force using drone surveillance in dense areas. SBCA has about 1,381 employees across the whole province, which limits how much any task force can cover.

The legal tools are strong. Under the Sindh Building Control Ordinance 1979, section 7-A allows SBCA to seal a building raised without an approved plan, eject its occupants and order demolition, while section 19 sets imprisonment of up to three years and a minimum fine of Rs50,000. In practice, enforcement often arrives after units have been sold.

What courts have said about buyers

Sindh's courts have been consistent, and their position is hard on buyers who did not check approvals.

In a 2023 order in CP No. 3725 of 2023, concerning a building in Nazimabad raised without an approved plan, the Sindh High Court held that buyers holding agreements of sale had no right, title or interest in their units and no right to a registered deed, even though they said they had been deceived and did not know the law. The court relied on earlier rulings, approved by the Supreme Court, that agreements defeating the Ordinance are void under section 23 of the Contract Act 1872. It refused even to hear them as parties to the case.

Section 18-G of the Ordinance adds a second barrier: no sale deed, lease or sub-lease of newly built premises can be registered, and no utility connection provided, without SBCA's approved completion plan.

The lesson is direct. In Karachi, a buyer of a unit in an unapproved building is not a victim the law protects by default. The checks must happen before payment. A running tracker of Sindh High Court orders on illegal construction will follow in this series.

Building collapses and dangerous buildings

The cost of failed enforcement is counted in lives. In July 2025, a five-storey residential building in the Baghdadi area of Lyari collapsed, killing 27 people. Within days, another seven-storey building in Agra Taj Colony was declared uninhabitable, sealed and evacuated, and SBCA registered a case against its builder for substandard materials.

SBCA's dangerous buildings list shows how many more are at risk:

More than 90% of Karachi's dangerous buildings are in District South, including Lyari, Saddar, Kharadar and the Old City. Heritage buildings cannot be demolished without a separate NOC from the culture department's heritage committee, which slows action further.

For buyers and tenants in older neighbourhoods, one question comes before price: is this building on SBCA's dangerous list? An investigation into what approval records show about Karachi's building collapses will follow in this series.

Gul Plaza: how approvals grow after the fact

The Gul Plaza fire in January 2026 killed more than 70 people and exposed how approvals can drift away from reality. SBCA told the judicial commission that 1,043 shops were approved in 1998 and 1,102 were regularised in 2003 under an amnesty scheme, and that the building's original file could not be found.

The commission, led by Justice Agha Faisal of the Sindh High Court, found that 1,153 shops were actually operating, more than even the regularised plan allowed. It also found that Civil Defence inspections in 2024 and 2025 had flagged missing fire-safety equipment and blocked exits that were never fixed, and described the disaster as a collective failure across institutions. Our report on the Gul Plaza fire probe findings covers how the police challan later placed the main responsibility on the building's management.

For anyone buying or renting a shop in an older commercial building, the case shows three checks: the original approval, any regularisation order, and whether the number of units operating matches either.

Encroachment, China cutting and land grabbing

Land is the other half of Karachi's enforcement problem.

A plot on encroached or converted amenity land can be lost to a recovery drive years after purchase, whatever the seller's papers say. Explainers on China cutting and on how to spot encroached land will follow in this series.

Fake projects and file scams: red flags

Most Karachi property scams follow a small number of patterns:

• No sale NOC. A builder taking bookings without SBCA's NOC for sale and advertisement.
• Open or pre-ballot files. "Guaranteed ballot" offers for MDA, KDA or Lyari DA schemes before any official launch.
• Floors not on the plan. More floors or units being sold than the approved plan shows, often described as "revision in process".
• Revoked or provisional approvals. Projects marketed on an NOC that has since been suspended or withdrawn. Bahria Town Karachi's provisional sale NOC, for example, was cancelled in October 2023 and restored in October 2024 on fresh conditions.
• Deh-only papers. Land described only by deh and survey number, with no scheme, society or lease.
• Pressure to pay. Discounts that expire before you can verify with the authority directly.

A full red-flags guide to fake projects and file scams will follow in this series.

Does Sindh have a RERA?

Islamabad has a real estate regulatory authority under the Islamabad Real Estate (Regulation and Development) Act 2020, which registers projects and agents, and its framework is itself under review, as our report on the Islamabad RERA framework explains. Milkiyat.com has not found an equivalent Sindh authority in force as of October 2026.

Until one exists, Karachi buyers rely on SBCA's approvals and buyer remedies under the Ordinance, the land authority's records and the courts. Section 13 of the Ordinance gives buyers interest on delayed delivery and bars price increases without SBCA approval, and section 12(9) requires builders to fix structural defects reported within a year. These remedies only help buyers in approved projects.

What the numbers show: Milkiyat.com findings

Gul Plaza's shop count grew twice. 1,102 − 1,043 = 59 shops added by regularisation. 1,153 − 1,102 = 51 more operating beyond even the regularised plan. In total, 1,153 − 1,043 = 110 shops, about 10.5% more than the original approval.

SBCA's 2026 enforcement averages about four actions a day. January to mid-April is about 105 days. 396 ÷ 105 = about 3.8 actions a day for a city of more than 20 million people.

Two districts take two-thirds of enforcement. East and Central: 136 + 133 = 269. 269 ÷ 396 × 100 = about 68% of all actions.

Nine in ten dangerous buildings are still standing. 588 − 39 approved for demolition = 549 buildings, about 93%, with no demolition approval yet.

Buyer safety checklist

Frequently asked questions

Q1. Who acts against illegal construction in Karachi?

A. SBCA, outside DHA and the cantonments. It can seal buildings, eject occupants and order demolition under section 7-A of the Sindh Building Control Ordinance.

Q2. Do buyers of units in illegal buildings have any rights?

A. In a 2023 order, the Sindh High Court held that buyers of units in a building raised without an approved plan had no right, title or interest and no right to a registered deed.

Q3. How many dangerous buildings are there in Karachi?

A. SBCA told the Sindh PAC in July 2026 that 588 buildings in Karachi are dangerous, 444 of them heritage structures.

Q4. What happened at Gul Plaza?

A. A January 2026 fire killed more than 70 people. The judicial commission found 1,153 shops operating against 1,102 in the regularised plan and 1,043 originally approved.

Q5. What is China cutting?

A. The illegal carving of parks, playgrounds and other amenity plots into saleable plots, a practice KDA reported to the Supreme Court in 2017.

Q6. Does Sindh have a real estate regulatory authority?

A. Milkiyat.com has not found one in force as of October 2026. Buyers rely on SBCA, land authority records and the courts.

Q7. How can I spot a fake housing project in Karachi?

A. Look for missing sale NOCs, pre-ballot files, more floors than the approved plan, revoked approvals, deh-only papers and pressure to pay before verification.

Q8. Can an illegal floor be regularised later?

A. Only within limits. Deviations within 20% of permissible limits can be compounded on enhanced fees, but work that breaks the building regulations cannot.

This guide is for general information. Enforcement status, court orders and approvals change, and buyers should verify every approval, record and warning directly with SBCA, the relevant land authority and a qualified lawyer before paying.

Sources

• Sindh High Court order, CP No. 3725 of 2023, on buyers' rights in buildings without an approved plan
• Sindh Building Control Authority, official website
• Land Administration and Revenue Management Information System (LARMIS), Board of Revenue Sindh