What Is a Baina-nama?
Disclaimer: General information, not legal advice. Registration requirements and time limits under the Registration Act and the Specific Relief Act have been amended over the years. Have a lawyer draft or review any baina before you pay.
Between agreeing a price and signing the final sale deed (Saf-Kabala), there is usually a gap of weeks or months — while the buyer arranges funds and the seller clears paperwork.
The baina-nama, or agreement to sell, is the document that holds that gap together. It is also the point at which most of the buyer's money is already at risk.
What it is
A baina-nama records that:
The seller agrees to sell a specified property to a specified buyer
With an earnest payment (the baina) made now
And the balance payable by a stated deadline, at which point the sale deed is executed
It is a promise to transfer. It is not the transfer itself — ownership passes only when the sale deed is registered.
Registered or unregistered: the distinction that matters
Many baina agreements in Bangladesh are written on stamp paper, signed by witnesses, and never registered. That is cheaper and quicker, and it is where buyers get hurt.
An unregistered agreement is far harder to enforce if the seller changes their mind or sells to someone else. A registered baina-nama, by contrast, creates a public record that the property is already under agreement — which is what deters a second sale.
The rule of thumb: the larger the earnest money, the less sense an unregistered baina makes.
What a baina-nama must contain
Full identification of the property — plot or flat number, khatian, mouza, area, boundaries. Copied from the deed, not written from memory.
Both parties' details — full names, parentage, addresses, NID numbers.
The total price, in words and figures.
The earnest amount paid, the date, and the method. Pay by bank transfer or cheque, never cash, so that payment is independently provable.
The deadline for completing the sale.
What happens on default — on both sides. If the buyer fails, is the earnest forfeited in whole or part? If the seller fails, what is the remedy?
Who bears registration costs.
Possession — when it passes, and in what condition.
Signatures of both parties and witnesses on every page.
Before you sign, verify the seller can actually sell
A baina with someone who does not own the property is worth nothing. Before paying:
Read the current title deed and trace the chain backwards
Check the khatian and the mutation record are in the seller's name
Confirm land development tax (khajna) receipts are up to date
Search for existing mortgages or charges
If a developer is selling, check the power of attorney from the landowner
See our guides on khatian verification and namjari.
Questions buyers ask
Is a baina-nama compulsory?
No, but paying any significant earnest money without one leaves nothing in writing about what the money was for.
How much earnest money is normal?
There is no fixed rule; it is negotiated. The relevant question is not the percentage but whether the agreement is registered and what the default terms say.
Can the seller sell to someone else after taking baina?
They should not, and a registered agreement makes it far harder. With an unregistered one, recovery becomes a court matter.
What if the seller simply refuses to execute the final deed?
Specific performance — asking a court to compel the sale — is the usual route, and the agreement's terms and registration status weigh heavily. Take legal advice early; time limits apply.
Browse verified listings where ownership documents have already been reviewed before the listing goes live.