RAJUK Apartment Approval Documents Explained — What to Ask For Before You Sign
Every Dhaka apartment building was supposed to be approved by RAJUK — Rajdhani Unnayan Kartripakkha, the city’s development authority. In practice, a meaningful share of buildings in Dhaka have partial approvals, expired approvals, or deviations from what was originally approved. As a tenant or a buyer you never see the paperwork unless you ask, and most tenants never ask.
This post is a working guide to the five documents that matter, what each one proves, and what to do when the landlord cannot produce them.
The five documents
1. Land ownership deed (Dolil). Establishes that the building sits on land the landlord actually owns. Ask for the registered sale deed or partition deed. If the landlord shows only a mutation slip (Khatian) without a registered deed, that is a warning — mutation records are updateable but do not prove ownership by themselves.
2. Building plan approval (Nokshar Onumodon). The stamped drawing showing the number of floors, unit layout, and setbacks that RAJUK actually approved. This is the single most important document. Ask to see it and compare the drawn floor count and unit size to what actually exists. Deviation is common; a building approved for 6 floors that has 8 is a de facto illegal structure that can be de-listed at any point.
3. Land Use Clearance (LUC). Confirms the plot’s approved land use — residential, commercial, mixed. Some residential-only zones have buildings running commercial ground floors without amendment. If the building has an unrelated commercial ground floor and the LUC says purely residential, an amendment is missing.
4. Occupancy Certificate. Issued after RAJUK verifies the completed building matches the approved plan. Many older buildings simply never obtained one. The absence of an occupancy certificate does not always mean the building is unsafe, but it means RAJUK has never signed off that what was built matches what was approved.
5. Fire Service Clearance (Fire NOC). From the Bangladesh Fire Service and Civil Defence. Required for buildings above certain heights and for any commercial use. Older residential-only buildings under six storeys often do not have one; anything above ten storeys should.
Quick reference
| Document | What it proves | What its absence means |
|---|---|---|
| Land deed | Landlord owns the plot | Ownership is disputed or informal |
| Building plan approval | Structure was legally permitted | Building may be entirely unauthorised |
| Land Use Clearance | Zoning matches actual use | Commercial-in-residential risk |
| Occupancy Certificate | As-built matches approved plan | Deviation from plan, or paperwork never filed |
| Fire NOC | Fire safety inspected and approved | No formal fire-safety verification |
Red flags when the landlord cannot produce documents
- “The documents are with the lawyer / architect / previous owner and will take time” — reasonable once, suspicious if it stretches beyond a week.
- Photocopy shown but never the original, or blurred copies where dates are illegible.
- Approval documents from before the current owner but no chain of ownership documents showing how the plot changed hands.
- The building has extra floors compared to the approved plan and the landlord explains it as “regularised later” without proof.
- No fire NOC in a building of ten storeys or more.
How to actually verify
If documents are provided, do not stop at looking at them. Verify:
- Land deed — check the deed against the current Khatian at the local land office. Names should match; a small fee pulls the updated mutation.
- Building plan approval — RAJUK maintains records; a lawyer or architect familiar with the RAJUK office can pull the file and confirm the document is genuine.
- Fire NOC — call the Fire Service directorate that issued it. NOC numbers are traceable.
- Occupancy certificate — verify by RAJUK reference number.
For a rental, most tenants will not go that far. But for anything longer than a two-year lease or for a purchase, this verification is worth its cost — a lawyer will pull all of the above for ৳15,000–25,000, which is trivial next to the deposit at stake.
The specific tenant-side risks
If a building is unauthorised or over-height:
- Sudden demolition orders. RAJUK periodically publishes lists of buildings marked for enforcement action. Tenants get short notice.
- Utility disconnection. DPDC and Titas can be ordered to disconnect unauthorised structures. Landlords sometimes then run illegal connections that are unstable and dangerous.
- Insurance void. Home insurance policies exclude losses in unauthorised buildings — a hidden exclusion for the few tenants who carry contents cover.
- Difficulty transferring utility connections into your own name — some connections can only be transferred if the underlying building is on the authorised list.
What to add to the lease
If you cannot get all five documents, at least add a clause: the landlord warrants the building is on the approved RAJUK list and will indemnify you for any losses caused by enforcement action. This does not prevent enforcement, but it gives you a cleaner path to recover the security deposit and moving costs if it happens.
The realistic bar
Most tenants will not walk away from a good flat because the landlord cannot produce a fire NOC. That is fine, if you know what you are choosing. The purpose of this post is not to make you refuse imperfect buildings — most Dhaka buildings are imperfect. It is to make sure you know what class of paperwork risk you are taking and can price it into what you are willing to pay in rent, deposit, and length of commitment.