Although the government has made it mandatory to obtain a license for real estate transactions, only 52 companies have obtained it so far. The government has made it mandatory to obtain a license for real estate transactions with a value of more than 30 million rupees in metropolitan cities and sub-metropolitan cities across the country. 

The Department of Land Management and Records has stated that although 151 companies were eligible to be granted licenses, only 52 companies have been issued them as the revenue has not been paid. Apart from these, 4 companies have already paid the revenue but are in the process of granting licenses, said Khimananda Acharya, Director of the Department's Land Revenue and Land Reforms Branch.

Once a license is decided, the firm or company that transacts up to 50 million rupees at a time will have to pay a fee of 500,000 rupees and those that transact any amount less than or more than 50 million rupees at a time will have to pay a fee of 1 million rupees. ‘Although 95 companies are eligible to be issued licenses, they have not paid the revenue,’ Acharya said, ‘37 companies are in the blacklist, and a decision has not been made on that,’ he said, ‘A decision on issuing licenses to 9 companies is yet to be made.’

The department has been sending documents to the police to obtain information about the companies that have applied for permission, the shareholders of three of them, whether they have been blacklisted or not, and whether they have been found guilty by the court. Companies that have been issued licenses will be allowed to conduct business within 6 metropolitan cities and 11 sub-metropolitan cities.

The department had issued a notice on 11 Falgun and made arrangements for mandatory transactions only through companies from 25 Falgun. The department had issued a notice on 19 Falgun until the companies that have been issued licenses obtain permission to operate land service centers. There is a legal provision that real estate transactions must be conducted through the geo-information system by operating land service centers. The circular issued earlier has been suspended until the companies that have been issued licenses obtain permission to operate land service centers. 

‘Since there is a legal provision to operate a land service center and conduct real estate transactions through the land information system, the provision of the circular issued earlier has been suspended until further orders unless the licensee obtains permission to operate a land service center, and therefore, it is requested to continue/have the work done as per the order,’ the department stated in the notice issued.

The government had issued a notice in the gazette on 27 Ashoja last year, making it mandatory for companies dealing in real estate worth more than 30 million rupees at a time to obtain permission. Real estate companies had to apply for the permit by 27 Mangsir. The Land Management Records Department had issued a notice on 13 Kartik asking them to submit the application within 30 days.

Immediately after, an additional 15 days were added on 13 Mangsir. Although it was said that 198 companies had applied during that period, it has been stated that only 197 have been received now. The gazette states that the government has published a notice for the purposes of ‘a’ and ‘b’ of Section 26 of the Land Revenue Act. Section 26 (a) of the Land Revenue Act states that a license is required to conduct real estate transactions. The section states that a license is required to conduct real estate transactions in an area specified by the government and published in the Gazette, exceeding the area or amount specified in the same notice.

Section 26 (b) of the Act states that an application for a license must be submitted. Sub-section 1 of Section 26 (b) states that a person who wishes to obtain a license to conduct real estate transactions must submit an application to an officer specified by the Government of Nepal by publishing a notice in the Nepal Gazette, along with the specified details, documents and fees. The Director General of the Department of Land Management has been designated as such an officer.

Sub-section 3 of the same section states that if the application received is found to be reasonable, the concerned officer shall issue a license to the applicant to conduct real estate transactions, stating the conditions as specified. The term of the license shall be for five years, as mentioned in Sub-section 4 of Section 26 (b). Sub-section ‘N’ of Section 23 of the Land Revenue Regulations, 2036 states that a person who wishes to obtain a license to conduct real estate transactions between natural and legal persons or legal persons, as per Sub-section ‘A’ of Section 26 of the Land Revenue Act, must submit an application to the designated authority.