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AyRojgar

Deed writer (dolil lekhok)

Writing land deeds at the sub-registry office. It needs a District Registrar's sanad: Tk 1,000 to get, Tk 250 a year to renew. The scheduled fee is Tk 10-15 per 300 words; TIB found Tk 500-5,000 is what clients actually pay.

  • Last reviewed: 21 September 2026
  • Version 1
Deed writer (dolil lekhok)

Deed writer (dolil lekhok)

Starting capital
৳1,250 – ৳3,00,000
Disputed
Manpower
1 – 3 people
First sale
30 – 180 days
Editorial estimate
Break-even
0 – 12 months
Editorial estimate
Kind of work
Shop · Medium difficulty

About the business

Writing land deeds from a seat inside a sub-registry office. This is not an open trade. It needs a sanad from the District Registrar under section 80G of the Registration Act 1908. The Deed Writers (Sanad) Rules 2014 set the bar: not under 21, an SSC pass, good handwriting, and working knowledge of the Transfer of Property Act 1882, the State Acquisition and Tenancy Act 1950, the Stamp Act 1899 and the Registration Act 1908. The application goes in on Form 1, in the applicant's own hand. If the Registrar is satisfied, a sanad fee of Tk 1,000 is paid and the sanad issues on Form 2. It runs only to 31 December of the year of issue, then is renewed every year for Tk 250, applied for through the sub-registrar between 15 December and 15 January, with no renewal past the age of 65. Miss the window and the name is struck off the register. The money is the real story. The scheduled remuneration was fixed by two SROs, in 1994 and 2002: Tk 15 per 300 words for drafting, and Tk 10 per 300 words for writing the deed from the draft plus all help with registration. A three-page deed works out at Tk 30-45 on that schedule. What happens is different: TIB found in 2019 that deed writers take Tk 500 to Tk 5,000 from a client, often called an association fee, and that most clients have no idea what the real rate is. Charging above the schedule makes the sanad cancellable under rule 10(2). Most of what the client hands over goes to the state. On a sale deed: stamp duty 1.5 percent, registration A fee 1 percent with a Tk 100 floor, local government tax 3 percent in union, upazila, zila and cantonment board areas and 2 percent in city corporations, E fee Tk 100, N fee Tk 24 per 300-word page, NN fee Tk 36, court fee Tk 10, and source tax under section 125 of the Income Tax Act 2023. The deed writer's fee sits on top of all of that.

Unit economics

ItemRangeEvidenceSuggest a correction
Monthly working capital৳500 – ৳5,000Editorial estimate
Selling price৳30 – ৳5,000 / unitDisputed
Variable cost৳1 – ৳50 / unitEditorial estimate
Gross margin47% – 99%Editorial estimate
Time to first revenue30 – 180 daysEditorial estimate
Break-even time0 – 12 monthsEditorial estimate
Cash cycle0 – 1 daysEditorial estimate
Waste / loss1% – 5%Editorial estimate
Daily capacity1 – 4Editorial estimate

What you need to start

  • The Form 6 register, a Form 5 receipt book, Tk 300 affidavit stamps, Tk 10 court fee stamps, a computer and printer and access to a photocopier. A finished register must be kept three years.Equipment
  • Deed writer's sanad from the District Registrar under section 80G of the Registration Act 1908 and the Deed Writers (Sanad) Rules 2014. Sanad fee Tk 1,000, valid to 31 December of the year of issue, annual renewal Tk 250 applied for between 15 December and 15 January, duplicate copy Tk 100 if lost. No renewal past age 65.Licence
  • If you open a separate chamber or office you need a trade licence from the city corporation, municipality or union parishad, currently valid one year. Dhaka South City Corporation said on 16 August 2026 it will move to five-year renewal, and Tk 3,000 of the renewal goes to the NBR.Licence
  • Drafting in the local language, reading a khatian, a mutation and a DCR, setting the value against the mouza rate, and getting the stamp duty, registration fee, local government tax and source tax to add up. An SSC pass and good handwriting are conditions in the rules.Skill
  • The Directorate of Registration's current fee schedule, the version published 16 September 2025, and the mouza rate book for your upazila. Under rules 9 and 10 the gazetted remuneration list must be displayed publicly outside the office.Supplier
  • Permission to sit within the sub-registry office boundary. Sanad holders may enter and work under the control of the registering officer. Anyone without a sanad found writing deeds on the premises is treated as a tout under section 2(11) and put on the section 80A tout list.Workspace

How the work is done

  1. 1Find out whether the sub-registry office you want has room. The rules use about one writer per 300 deeds a year, and the District Registrar fixes the number for each office.
  2. 2Check you qualify: at least 21, an SSC pass or equivalent, able to draft in the local language, and good handwriting.
  3. 3Learn the working provisions of the Transfer of Property Act 1882, the State Acquisition and Tenancy Act 1950, the Stamp Act 1899 and the Registration Act 1908. The application form asks about it directly.
  4. 4Write the Form 1 application in your own hand and send it to the District Registrar, directly or through the sub-registrar, with any testimonial you have.
  5. 5If the Registrar is satisfied, pay the Tk 1,000 sanad fee. Your name goes into the Form 3 register and the sanad issues on Form 2, effective from the date it is handed over.
  6. 6Remember the sanad only runs to 31 December of that year. Between 15 December and 15 January apply through the sub-registrar with a treasury chalan or money order receipt for the Tk 250 renewal fee.
  7. 7Keep the Form 6 register and give a Form 5 receipt whenever you are paid. A completed register must be kept three years and produced at inspection.
  8. 8Learn the client's full bill by heart: on a sale deed, stamp duty 1.5 percent, A fee 1 percent with a Tk 100 floor, local government tax 3 percent or 2 percent in a city corporation, E fee Tk 100, N fee Tk 24 a page, NN fee Tk 36, court fee Tk 10, plus source tax.
  9. 9Before drafting, check the khatian, the mutation, the DCR and the mouza rate. Put the wrong value in and both the stamp duty and the source tax come out wrong.
  10. 10Read the draft back to the client, then hand the file in at the counter and stay through the signing and thumb impressions.
  11. 11If you take on returning the original deed under section 52 of the Registration Act, the schedule allows a separate Tk 5 for it. Take it against a receipt.
  12. 12Renew every year. Miss the application and your name is struck off and you must apply for a fresh sanad. If a cancellation order is passed you have 30 days to appeal to the Inspector General of Registration.

Seasons

  1. JanNormal
  2. FebNormal
  3. MarNormal
  4. AprNormal
  5. MayNormal
  6. JunNormal
  7. JulNormal
  8. AugNormal
  9. SepNormal
  10. OctNormal
  11. NovNormal
  12. DecNormal
HighNormalLow

Where it works well

  • Strong fitChattogram · Areas under the Chattogram Development Authority carry their own commercial and residential source tax bands, and land around the port carries both high prices and large deed values.
  • Strong fitCox's Bazar · The Cox's Bazar Development Authority area is named separately in the source tax schedule, and tourism keeps land and plot sales moving.
  • Strong fitDhaka · The most expensive land and flat market in the country. In the mouzas of Gulshan, Banani, Motijheel and Tejgaon the source tax floor alone runs to Tk 9 lakh a shotok, so both the deed values and the volume are large.
  • Strong fitGazipur · The industrial belt next to Dhaka, with heavy land transfer for factories and housing, and its own source tax band under the Gazipur Development Authority.
  • Strong fitNarayanganj · Land prices south of Dhaka are high and industrial, warehouse and housing sales are constant; local government tax is 2 percent inside the city corporation and 3 percent outside.
  • Strong fitSylhet · Expatriate families buying land, dividing it and executing powers of attorney. A special power carries Tk 800 stamp duty and a general power Tk 1,500, and these are deed writer work.
  • PossibleBogura · The trading hub of the north, with heavy farmland sales, bank mortgage deeds and partitions. On a mortgage deed the A fee is 1 percent up to Tk 5 lakh, floored at Tk 200 and capped at Tk 500.
  • PossibleCumilla · Land prices are rising along the Dhaka-Chattogram highway and upazila-level deed volume is high; local government tax here is 3 percent.
  • PossibleKhulna · The Khulna Development Authority area carries its own band, and transfers of industrial land and shrimp ghers are the regular work here.
  • PossibleRajshahi · The Rajshahi Development Authority area is listed separately in the source tax schedule, and outside the city partition and exchange deeds on farmland are steady work.

Risks and cautions

  • HighCompliance: Taking more than the gazetted schedule makes the sanad cancellable under rule 10(2), and the entire trade runs above the schedule. The schedule is Tk 10-15 per 300 words; TIB found in 2019 that Tk 500-5,000 per client is what is taken, often as an association fee. A written complaint is enough for the District Registrar to order cancellation, with 30 days to appeal.
  • HighCompliance: The renewal window is one month, 15 December to 15 January. If the application does not go through the sub-registrar with a treasury chalan or money order receipt inside it, the name is struck off both the District Registrar's and the sub-registrar's books, and you start again with a fresh Tk 1,000 application.
  • HighDependency: The sanad is issued against one named sub-registry office, and the Registrar fixes how many writers that office carries, roughly one per 300 deeds a year. No vacancy, no sanad. TIB found in 2019 that up to Tk 3 lakh is paid for a licence and an apprenticeship.
  • MediumDemand: The work rides entirely on land changing hands. Registration revenue was Tk 11,600 crore in FY22 and Tk 15,124 crore in FY23; when the property market turns or a source tax rate changes, deed volume moves with it. Nine months of FY24 produced 36.5 lakh documents across 497 sub-registry offices.
  • HighOther: TIB called sub-registry offices at risk of institutionalised corruption, documenting bribes of Tk 1,000 to Tk 5 lakh on a single registration across 16 district and 41 sub-registry offices. You work inside that chain, and when a complaint lands it is the writer's sanad that goes.

Sources

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