A flat is usually the largest purchase a family in Dhaka will ever make. The decision often starts with a site visit and a chat with a sales officer. It becomes binding at a table, with a pen, over a booking form and then a deed of agreement. Buyers who read those pages slowly, line by line, rarely regret it. Buyers who sign in a hurry often find the surprises later.
The booking form, sometimes called the allotment form, records the first terms. It names the buyer, the project, the flat number, the size and the price. It records the booking money, the amount paid to hold the flat. That money is part of the price, not an extra fee, unless the form says otherwise. Ask for that in writing. Ask how long the booking holds the flat, and what happens if the buyer changes their mind within that period. A verbal promise from the sales desk does not survive a dispute. A written clause does.
Price and the payment schedule
The headline price is only the start. The form should break down the total: the price of the flat, the cost of the car parking space if it is charged separately, utility connection charges, and any other amount the buyer must pay. Read the payment schedule beside it. Most Dhaka projects ask for instalments tied to construction stages: a share at booking, more at the foundation, the roof, the plastering, and the rest near handover. A schedule tied to visible progress is fair to both sides. A schedule that demands most of the money before the building rises above the ground deserves a question, and a pause.
Check the size too. The form states the flat in square feet. Ask whether that figure is the carpet area, the area inside the walls, or the super built-up area that includes a share of the common spaces. Two flats described as 1,200 sq ft can differ by a room. The difference sits in the definition, and the form should carry it.
Cancellation, refund and the handover date
Life changes. A buyer may need to cancel, and the form will say what that costs. Some forms return the booking money minus a small deduction. Others keep a fixed share. Some set a time limit, after which the deduction grows. Read the refund clause before paying, not after deciding to cancel. The same care applies to the handover date. The form or the agreement should state a month and a year, not a vague season. It should also state what happens if the date slips: whether the buyer gets compensation, a rent allowance, or simply waits. Where the clause is silent, the buyer should ask for it to be written in.
The agreement that follows the booking form carries the heavier terms. That is where the specifications live: the brand and quality of tiles, sanitary fittings, kitchen counters, doors and windows, the lift, the generator and the water supply. A flat sold with "standard fittings" and a flat sold with named brands are two different products. Ask for the specification sheet, and keep it with the agreement. If the delivered flat uses cheaper fittings than the sheet promised, the sheet is the evidence.
Common areas, service charges and the fine print after payment
A flat is not only the rooms inside the door. Staircases, lifts, lobbies, the rooftop, the car park and the generator room belong to everyone, and someone must maintain them. The agreement should say how the service charge is calculated, who collects it, and what it covers. Buyers in Dhaka have learned this the hard way, when a low flat price turned into a high monthly charge after handover. Ask for a sample service charge, and ask what rises with it.
Registration comes after payment, and it carries its own costs. Under the site's published guide, registration costs follow a set pattern: stamp duty of 1.5 percent, a registration fee of 1 percent, land development tax of 2 percent in city corporation areas and 3 percent outside them, VAT of 2 percent on new flats up to 1,600 sq ft and 4.5 percent above that size, and a mutation fee of Tk 1,170 fixed. Source tax varies. A buyer should budget for these on top of the flat price, and ask the developer for a written estimate before signing. Mutation, the updating of the land record into the buyer's name, should be done promptly after registration. It is the step that makes the ownership record match the person who paid.
None of this is meant to frighten a buyer away from the table. A clear booking form protects the developer too, because it settles the terms before money moves. The buyers who run into trouble are usually the ones who signed a form they had not read, trusting a conversation instead of a clause. Take the form home. Read it with a family member. Show it to a lawyer who handles property work. A day spent reading is cheap beside a decade spent paying for a flat whose terms were never understood.
