Land Use Regulations in Bangladesh 2026: Zoning, Land Surveys and Buying Property With a Pending Case

Land use regulations Bangladesh: the 2026 framework for zoning, surveys and disputed land

Land use regulations Bangladesh owners, buyers and developers face in 2026 are stricter, more digital and more enforced than at any time since independence. On 10 April 2026 the gazette carried a national land use and agricultural land protection Act, a three-tier spatial planning Act, a new RAJUK Act, a national building regulator and five new city development authorities.[1] Each decides what can lawfully be built on a plot before anyone asks who owns it.

This guide joins three questions clients usually ask separately: which zoning, development-control and water-body rules apply to a plot; how the survey record behind it is made and corrected; and what happens if you buy while a case about the property is pending. Where another TRW insight already covers a sub-topic in depth, we link to it rather than repeat it.

Summary: Land use regulations Bangladesh applies in 2026 rest on the Land Use Control and Agricultural Land Protection Act 2026, the Spatial Planning Act 2026, RAJUK and the Detailed Area Plan in Dhaka, development authorities and building committees elsewhere, the Building Construction Act 1952 and a strict water-body regime. Title rests on survey records prepared under section 144 of the State Acquisition and Tenancy Act 1950, and any purchase made while a property case is pending is caught by section 52 of the Transfer of Property Act 1882.

Key point: Zoning, survey records and pending litigation are three separate checks, and failing any one can make a correctly registered purchase worthless. Land shown as a natural water body, multi-crop farmland or flood-flow area may be unbuildable whoever owns it, and a buyer who purchases during a pending suit is bound by the eventual decree.

At a glance

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Table of Contents

What land use regulations Bangladesh owners must navigate in 2026

There is no single planning code. National statutes classify land and restrict conversion of farmland. Spatial plans run from a national plan down to Detailed Area Plans for city areas. Development authorities and building committees decide whether a particular structure may be built. Environmental and water-body laws overlay and override all of this. Finally, the record of rights decides who may deal with the land at all. A plot can therefore be clean on title and still be commercially useless, or perfectly zoned and tied up for years by a pending case the seller never mentioned.

Detailed khatian correction and Tribunal strategy are covered in our guide to khatian correction; title checks in land ownership verification; RAJUK flat approvals in buying an apartment in Dhaka; demarcation in boundary disputes; government land in khas land; and declaratory suits in title suits.

The Land Use Control and Agricultural Land Protection Act 2026

The centrepiece of land use regulations Bangladesh now enforces is the Land Use Control and Agricultural Land Protection Act 2026, Act No. 50 of 2026, gazetted on 10 April 2026.[1] Parliament passed the bill unanimously on 9 April 2026 on the motion of Land Minister M Mizanur Rahman Minu, repealing the interim government's 2026 Ordinance while preserving action taken under it.[2] No separate agricultural land protection Act was enacted in 2024 or 2025; this is the operative statute. It applies to all land except the hill districts of Rangamati, Bandarban and Khagrachhari, and binds all government and private development projects.[2]

Land use zoning maps

The government will prepare a land use zoning map using digital tools, satellite imagery and field verification, classifying land by current use, topography and environmental features, nationally or in phases. A draft map is published first and citizens have 30 working days to object; the map is updated every ten years.[2] That objection window is the cheapest moment to correct a wrong classification, such as long-standing homestead recorded as cropland.

Protected cropland and the conversion cap

Double, triple and multi-crop land, and special agricultural zones for high-value or high-yield production, cannot be used for non-agricultural purposes, save for limited national-necessity cases such as energy or mineral extraction. Non-agricultural use is capped at 10 per cent of total agricultural land, and tobacco is banned on land producing three or more crops a year.[2] The Act also bans removing topsoil for brick kilns and filling water bodies and wetlands, and restricts hill cutting. District administrations must list agricultural and ecologically critical land and remove illegal structures.[2]

What an owner may still build

Landowners may build essential structures on their own agricultural land, including houses, places of worship, family ponds and small cottage industries, but only with prior approval and subject to conditions.[2] Treat any informal "approval" offered by a local intermediary with caution until the rules are in force.

Offences and restoration orders

Unauthorised change of land use and illegal construction, including housing projects, resorts or factories on protected land, are offences; some carry up to two years' imprisonment or a fine of up to Tk 2 lakh. Offenders may be ordered to restore the land, cases are tried by judicial magistrates, and mobile courts may enforce the law.[2] Restoration is the real sanction: an investor who builds on triple-crop land risks losing the building, not just paying a fine.

Spatial planning and the National Land Use Policy

Before 2026, rural land use was guided mainly by the National Land Use Policy 2001, whose central objective was minimum use of agricultural land for non-farm purposes. A 2024 evaluation found that objective unmet, citing unclear agency roles, low awareness, the absence of zoning and weak local enforcement.[4] The 2026 statutes supply the legal backbone the policy lacked.

Three tiers under the Spatial Planning Act 2026

The Spatial Planning Act 2026, Act No. 31 of 2026, was gazetted on 10 April 2026.[1] Passed on 8 April on the motion of Housing and Public Works Minister Zakaria Taher, it replaced the Spatial Planning Ordinance 2025 and creates a National Spatial Plan, Regional Spatial Plans for areas such as the haor, coastal belt and hill tracts, and Local Spatial Plans, including Detailed Area Plans. Draft plans must undergo public review with a 30-day hearing. Activity contrary to an approved plan can be halted and structures demolished, with up to two years' imprisonment, a fine of up to Tk 20 lakh, or both, triable by mobile court.[3]

Dhaka zoning: RAJUK and the Detailed Area Plan 2022–2035

In the capital, land use regulations Bangladesh applies are administered by RAJUK, which now operates under the Rajdhani Unnayan Kartripakkha Act 2026, Act No. 67 of 2026, gazetted alongside the Bangladesh Building Regulatory Authority Act 2026, Act No. 66 of 2026.[1] The operative zoning instrument is the Detailed Area Plan (DAP) 2022–2035, which assigns land use and permitted intensity area by area, and RAJUK's land use clearance confirms that an intended use matches the DAP zone before any design is approved.

The revised DAP and floor area ratios

The DAP revision finalised in October 2025, with the draft Dhaka Metropolitan Building Rules 2025, raised height limits across most RAJUK areas. Floor area ratio rose, for example, from 2.8 to 3.4 in Mirpur, from 2 to 3.4 in Khilgaon and Savar, and from 2.5 to 4.8 in Mirpur DOHS. Block developments that merge plots earn a bonus of 0.25 to 0.75 FAR, and more open space earns more height at the same FAR.[5]

A landowner negotiating a joint venture should model the scheme on current DAP figures, and a buyer should never assume that marketed floors are approved. A residential clearance does not authorise a commercial ground floor or a school. Our Dhaka apartment guide explains the permit and occupancy certificate stages.

Development control outside Dhaka

Outside the capital, land use regulations Bangladesh imposes are applied by local planning bodies. Chattogram and Khulna have long had development authorities exercising master plan and building control in their areas. In April 2026 Parliament added the Narayanganj, Barishal, Mymensingh, Cumilla and Rangpur Development Authority Acts and the Maheshkhali Integrated Development Authority Act.[1] Where an authority exists, its master plan and approvals govern.

District and upazila building construction committees

Outside development authorities, city corporations and municipalities, the housing ministry formed district and upazila Building Construction Committees in June 2026 under section 11 of the Bangladesh Building Regulatory Authority Act 2026, chaired by the Deputy Commissioner and the Upazila Nirbahi Officer respectively. Upazila committees approve designs up to seven storeys and district committees taller buildings, checking the National Building Code 2020, setbacks, ground coverage, FAR and fire safety, and they can suspend work, cancel approvals and order demolition of unauthorised portions.[6] Rural building is no longer outside the approval system.

The Building Construction Act 1952: sanction, use and demolition

The Building Construction Act 1952 remains the base statute for building control where it applies, aimed at preventing haphazard construction, excavation of tanks and cutting of hills that interfere with planning.[7] Check how it interacts with the 2026 regulator in each area, but its core rules still drive enforcement.

Section 3 bars construction, reconstruction, addition or alteration of a building, or excavation of a tank, without the previous sanction of an Authorised Officer, valid for three years. Section 3A bars using a building for a purpose other than the sanctioned one without permission, and lets the officer order a use that does not conform to the master plan to be discontinued within six months and a building removed within twelve, while protecting mixed residential and commercial use unless it undermines the zone's dominant character and is a nuisance.[7]

Section 3B allows unsanctioned work to be stopped after a show-cause notice and removed. Section 12 punishes building without sanction, ignoring directions or breaching the Building Code with up to seven years' imprisonment, a fine of not less than Tk 50,000, or both, and the court may fix a date for removal of the structure.[7]

Water bodies, wetlands and flood-flow zones

No part of land use regulations Bangladesh enforces is as unforgiving as the water-body regime. Act XXXVI of 2000, which protects playgrounds, open spaces, parks and natural water bodies in metropolitan, divisional and district towns and municipal areas, overrides other laws and bars any change in the class of such land.[8]

What counts as a natural water body

Under section 2(cha), a natural water body means a river, canal, beel, dighi, spring or reservoir marked as such in a master plan, and includes any place declared a flood-flow area by gazette notification and any land that holds rain or surface water.[8] A flood-flow zone is therefore a water body in law, even if the plot is dry most of the year.

The bar on change of class

Section 5 provides that such land may not change class, be used otherwise, or be rented, leased or transferred for other use. Section 8 punishes breach with up to five years' imprisonment, a fine of up to Tk 50,000, or both; authorities may order demolition without compensation, and offending structures are forfeited by court order.[8] Section 6E of the Environment Conservation Act 1995 separately prohibits filling or changing the class of land marked as a water body, relaxable only in unavoidable national interest with Department of Environment clearance.[8] Parliament also enacted the Bangladesh Haor and Wetland Conservation Act 2026, Act No. 10 of 2026.[1] See our overview of environmental law in Bangladesh.

The BGMEA building

In BGMEA v Bangladesh, 9 SCOB (2017) AD 70, the Appellate Division considered a fifteen-storey complex built on part of the Begunbari Khal and Hatirjheel lake, recorded as a water body. It held that the class of such land cannot be changed, leased or transferred, that the construction breached section 5 of the 2000 Act and section 6E of the 1995 Act, and that the building had to be demolished without compensation.[8] If a registered transfer from a government body could not save that building, a private deed will not save a smaller one.

Land survey Bangladesh records: CS, SA, RS and BS

Every plot sits inside a mouza map and a set of khatians produced by successive survey and settlement operations. Land use regulations Bangladesh imposes attach to the plot shown on those maps, and title checks start from the same record of rights.

Four generations of record

The Cadastral Survey (CS) covered Bengal between 1885 and 1940 under the Bengal Survey Act 1875 and the Bengal Tenancy Act 1885. After the abolition of zamindari, the State Acquisition (SA) record was prepared under the State Acquisition and Tenancy Act 1950, under which survey and settlement operations are now conducted.[9] The Revisional Survey (RS) and the current Bangladesh Survey (BS), including city surveys, revise the record of rights under section 144 of that Act.[11] Older khatians remain key evidence of title, but only the last revised record of rights can be challenged in the Land Survey Tribunal.

The Bangladesh Digital Survey

The Bangladesh Digital Survey (BDS) uses satellite, drone and plot-to-plot mapping. Under the Establishment of Digital Land Management System project, permanent survey mark pillars were being set in Chattogram and Narayanganj City Corporations, Manikganj and Dhamrai in early 2024, with operations to follow in Rajshahi and Kushtia, and a separate project was preparing a digital land zoning map.[10] Digital records move disputes earlier rather than removing them, so owners in survey areas should treat the field stages as seriously as a lawsuit.

The land survey process step by step

Section 144 of the 1950 Act is the legal skeleton. The government orders a record of rights prepared or revised; the Revenue Officer records the particulars, publishes a draft, receives objections, allows appeals to an officer not below Assistant Settlement Officer, and finally publishes the record.[11] The Tenancy Rules 1955 supply the detail.

Traverse, kistwar, khanapuri and bujharat

After gazette notification, a traverse party fixes survey stations and the kistwar stage produces the plot-to-plot map. Khanapuri, meaning filling up the columns, opens a khatian for each group of owners and each tenancy. At bujharat survey staff move from field to field, explain the entries to owners and correct errors in their presence.[9] Absent owners often find an occupier recorded in the record of rights instead.

Attestation

Under rule 28 the attestation officer reads out each draft khatian entry to the persons concerned, corrects it under his initial and seal and settles disputes.[9] Attend with deeds, mutation khatians, tax receipts and succession papers; the attested entry becomes the starting point for everything after.

Draft publication, rule 30 objections and rule 31 appeals

The attested record is placed for draft publication under rule 29 for at least 30 days. Any aggrieved person may object under rule 30, decided by an empowered Assistant Settlement Officer after notice, and a dissatisfied party may appeal under rule 31 to the settlement officer.[9] These are rules of the 1955 Tenancy Rules, not sections of a separate survey statute.

Final publication and its legal effect

Final publication is conclusive evidence that the record of rights was duly prepared, and section 144A presumes every entry correct until disproved. While the survey runs, section 144B bars civil suits about the framing, publication or attestation of the record, so survey-stage remedies are the only ones.[11]

The Land Survey Tribunal after final publication

After final publication of the last revised record, an aggrieved person may sue in the Land Survey Tribunal within one year of publication or of the Tribunal's establishment, whichever is later, with one further year if the delay is explained. The Tribunal may declare the record incorrect and direct correction, must finish trial within 180 days of the date fixed for final hearing, and appeals lie within three months to the Appellate Tribunal; civil courts within its limits cannot hear such suits.[11] For buyers the point is timing: after a recent final publication, ask whether the one-year window is still running against the entry the seller relies on. Strategy is covered in our khatian correction guide.

Buying property while a case is pending: the lis pendens rule

A property case pending in court changes what a buyer can acquire. Section 52 of the Transfer of Property Act 1882 provides that, during a non-collusive suit or proceeding in which a right to immoveable property is directly and specifically in question, the property cannot be transferred by any party so as to affect the rights of any other party under the eventual decree, except under the authority of the court and on its terms.[12]

How long a pending case lasts

Pendency starts on presentation of the plaint and continues until final decree and complete satisfaction or discharge of the decree, or until execution becomes time-barred.[12] A suit "decided" years ago may still be pending for section 52 purposes if the decree is unexecuted.

What the buyer actually gets

The sale is not void, but the buyer takes subject to the outcome: if the seller loses, the buyer is bound as if a party. In Mohammed Mokarram Hossen v Alhaj Mohammad Zalal Uddin, Civil Revision No 1765 of 2022, decided on 28 April 2025, the High Court Division held that purchasers who bought in 1998 during a 1994 specific performance suit against their vendors, without leave under section 52, could not use a later suit to stall execution of the decree.[13]

Criminal exposure for a seller who conceals a case

Under section 4 of the Land Crime Prevention and Remedy Act 2023, transferring land while concealing information is land fraud, punishable with up to seven years' imprisonment and a fine.[14] Prosecution punishes the seller but will not return the land, so searching for any pending case matters more than remedies.

Property case pending checks before you pay

Section 23 of the Land Crime Act 2023 requires the government to build an interoperable database covering government land, land in civil and criminal cases, mortgaged land and transfer, survey and registration data.[14] Until it is usable, every pending case search must be done forum by forum.

Start with disclosure

Require the seller to list in writing every suit, appeal, revision, writ, Tribunal suit, mutation case, criminal case and mortgage touching the property, and to warrant the answer in the agreement. Then test it with certified copies of plaints, order sheets and injunction orders for each pending case disclosed.

Search the forums

Check the civil courts of the district for title, partition, injunction and specific performance suits; the Land Survey Tribunal for record challenges; and the High Court Division for writs and revisions. Ask the AC Land whether any mutation objection is pending, check for possession proceedings, and if the land is mortgaged, check for a loan recovery case.

Read the land itself

A third party in possession, an injunction signboard, a refused mutation or tax receipts in another name are warning signs. Section 53C bars sale by a person whose name, or whose predecessor's name for inherited land, does not appear in the latest khatian.[12] A seller who cannot show that record often has a dispute behind him.

Clearing a property case pending: strategy and next steps

Finding a pending case does not always mean walking away. A pending case means the risk must be removed or priced before money moves. Section 52 itself allows a transfer under the authority of the court and on its terms.[12] Where both sides want the sale, an application for leave, often with an order that proceeds be deposited or shared, gives the buyer a transfer the decree cannot unwind. It is the cleanest route in partition and inheritance disputes among co-sharers.

Compromise, or finality

A compromise recorded by the court binds the parties and ends the suit; a bare withdrawal may not stop a fresh suit. Mediation is often the fastest route to terms: see our guide to court-annexed mediation. Where the seller expects to win, the buyer can wait, but should obtain the decree, appeal record and execution record before treating the case as closed, because pendency runs until satisfaction.[12]

If you have already bought

A purchaser pendente lite should promptly seek to join the suit, protect possession and preserve a refund and warranty claim against the seller. Our insights on temporary injunctions and recovery of possession cover those remedies.

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Mistakes to avoid with land use regulations Bangladesh enforces

Five errors cause most losses. Relying on title alone, when no deed cures a water body, flood-flow area or protected cropland. Reading an old master plan or DAP when the 2026 statutes and revised plans govern. Missing attestation or the 30-day draft publication window, and then the Tribunal's one-year clock.[9] [11] Treating a pending case as the seller's problem, when section 52 makes it the buyer's.[12] And paying in full against promises instead of using escrow, staged payments and refund warranties.

What to watch in 2026 and 2027

Three developments will shape land use regulations Bangladesh applies next year: rules under the 2026 land use Act fixing approvals for homesteads and permitted structures, with zoning maps reaching more upazilas;[2] spatial plans starting to bind projects;[3] and building committees and the digital survey surfacing approval and record errors earlier.[6] [10]

Check land class and plan designation before price, the survey record before title, and the courts before payment. TRW's land records and khatian correction practice handles survey objections, Tribunal suits and record diligence, and our real estate disputes team acts on pending litigation and settlement. You can also contact TRW directly.

Frequently asked questions

What is the main law on land use regulations Bangladesh applies in 2026?

The Land Use Control and Agricultural Land Protection Act 2026, Act No. 50 of 2026, gazetted on 10 April 2026. It replaced the 2026 Ordinance and applies everywhere except the three Chittagong Hill Tracts districts.[1] [2]

Can I build a house on my own agricultural land?

Yes, with prior approval and subject to conditions. Houses, places of worship, family ponds and small cottage industries are permitted on that basis.[2]

Can double-crop land be converted to industrial use?

Generally not. Double, triple and multi-crop land and special agricultural zones cannot be used for non-agricultural purposes, save limited national-necessity cases such as energy or mineral extraction.[2]

Can a flood-flow zone plot be filled and built on?

Land declared a flood-flow area by gazette is a natural water body under the 2000 Act and its class cannot be changed. Breach risks imprisonment, fine and demolition without compensation.[8]

Who approves buildings outside city and municipal areas?

District and upazila Building Construction Committees formed in June 2026 under the Bangladesh Building Regulatory Authority Act 2026. Upazila committees approve up to seven storeys; district committees approve taller buildings.[6]

What are the stages of a land survey in Bangladesh?

Notification and traverse, kistwar, khanapuri, bujharat, attestation under rule 28, draft publication under rule 29 for at least 30 days, objections under rule 30, appeals under rule 31, and final publication.[9]

How long do I have to challenge a finally published record?

One year from final publication or from the Land Survey Tribunal's establishment, whichever is later, plus one further year if the Tribunal accepts the reasons for delay.[11]

Is a sale void if a property case is pending?

No. The sale binds seller and buyer, but under section 52 it cannot affect other parties' rights under the eventual decree, so the buyer is bound by the outcome.[12] [13]

When does a case stop being pending for lis pendens purposes?

Only when the final decree has been fully satisfied or discharged, or can no longer be executed because the limitation period for execution has expired.[12]

Is it a crime to sell land while hiding a pending case?

Transferring land while concealing information is land fraud under section 4 of the Land Crime Prevention and Remedy Act 2023, punishable with up to seven years' imprisonment and a fine.[14]