Building a House · Property
A double unit house for rent earned less than a whole house in our check of Zameen listings: Rs 1.16 lakh vs Rs 1.25 lakh for 5 marla. Rules, meters and tax.
AI Summary
In our check of two areas, a double unit house for rent didn't earn more than a whole house. In Zameen listings on 18 October 2026, two 5 marla portions in Johar Town, Lahore asked a median Rs 1.16 lakh a month together against Rs 1.25 lakh for a whole house, and for 1 kanal Rs 2.78 lakh against Rs 3.53 lakh. Portions suit owners living on one floor. A second electricity meter needs its own entrance and kitchen. Rent is taxed with other income after a one-fifth repairs allowance.
A double unit house for rent doesn’t earn more than letting the whole house, on the evidence we found. In Zameen’s listings on 18 October 2026, a lower and an upper portion of a 5 marla house in Johar Town, Lahore asked a median Rs 1.16 lakh a month together, against Rs 1.25 lakh for a whole 5 marla house. For 1 kanal the gap was wider: Rs 2.78 lakh for two portions against Rs 3.53 lakh for a whole house.
Building two units pays off in other ways: you can live in one floor and let the other, and one empty portion doesn’t stop all your rent. Below is the rent evidence, the rules on meters and storeys, and the tax.
A double unit house is built as two separate homes, usually one per floor, each with its own kitchen, bathroom and entrance. LDA’s Building and Zoning Regulations define a dwelling unit as “a part or whole of a residential building capable of being used independently for human habitation”, and require every independent unit to have at least one WC and one bathroom.
Listings call these “upper portion” and “lower portion”. A “single unit” house is one home over one or more floors.
On 18 October 2026 we read Zameen rental listings in two areas, Johar Town in Lahore and G-13 in Islamabad: up to 150 per type in Zameen’s default order (all 106 upper and 84 lower portions in Johar Town; 150 of 181 houses there; in G-13 all 125 upper portions, 150 of 155 lower portions and 150 of 186 houses). We compared the median asking rent by plot size.
| Area and plot | Whole house | Lower portion | Upper portion | Both portions | Portions as % of house |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Johar Town, Lahore, 5 marla | Rs 125,000 | Rs 56,000 | Rs 60,000 | Rs 116,000 | 93% |
| Johar Town, Lahore, 1 kanal | Rs 352,500 | Rs 148,000 | Rs 130,000 | Rs 278,000 | 79% |
| G-13, Islamabad, about 4 marla | Rs 125,000 | Rs 55,000 | Rs 60,000 | Rs 115,000 | 92% |
| G-13, Islamabad, about 10 marla | Rs 260,000 | Rs 125,000 | Rs 125,000 | Rs 250,000 | 96% |
| G-13, Islamabad, about 14 marla | Rs 382,500 | Rs 150,000 | Rs 140,000 | Rs 290,000 | 76% |
Source: which.pk analysis of Zameen.com asking rents, 18 October 2026. Plot size from the listed area at 225 sq ft a marla. The “both portions” and percentage columns are our calculation.
In these two areas, on plots up to 10 marla, two portions brought in about 92% to 96% of a whole house’s rent. On 14 marla and 1 kanal plots it drops to 76% to 79%. Upper portions asked slightly more than lower portions on 5 marla and smaller plots, the same on 10 marla, and less on 14 marla and 1 kanal.
The table compares letting everything. Your own plans change the answer:
Zameen’s rent index tracks whole houses only; its upper and lower portion pages show no data. For houses, the average asking rent in August 2026, the latest month the index shows:
| City | 5 marla house | A year earlier | 10 marla house | A year earlier |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Lahore | Rs 104,716 | Rs 86,892 | Rs 173,405 | Rs 149,260 |
| Islamabad | Rs 120,640 | Rs 105,040 | Rs 212,100 | Rs 170,100 |
| Rawalpindi | Rs 78,110 | Rs 67,410 | Rs 151,270 | Rs 133,982 |
| Karachi | Rs 133,882 | Rs 102,200 | Rs 163,458 | Rs 117,044 |
That is a rise of 13% to 40% in a year (our calculation), the largest for 10 marla houses in Karachi.
In LDA-approved schemes in Lahore, a house on a 5 to under 10 marla plot may have up to 3 storeys, cover 75% of the plot and rise 38 ft. From 10 marla to under 1 kanal, up to 4 storeys, 70% coverage and 45 ft. Above 38 ft, LDA needs a structure stability certificate and drawings vetted by a structural engineer on its panel.
We found no clause in the LDA regulations capping the number of dwelling units in a house. We read a third-party copy of the 2019 regulations (as amended to January 2020), because LDA’s own link no longer works; confirm the current version with LDA before you submit a plan.
We couldn’t check Islamabad’s rule on the number of units per house: CDA’s zoning regulations are online only as scanned images. Ask CDA’s building control directorate, or your society’s office if you are in a private scheme, before you draw two units.
Yes, under conditions. In June 2025 the Power Division said a second meter is still allowed under NEPRA’s Consumer Service Manual 2021 for a residential property with separate sections that have their own entrance and kitchen, as Daily Pakistan and APP reported.
So plan a separate entrance and a full kitchen for each unit at the drawing stage. We couldn’t read the manual itself: NEPRA’s website blocked our requests.
Rent is taxed under the head “Income from Property” in section 15 of the Income Tax Ordinance. Since 2021, an individual’s rent no longer has its own rate table: it is added to your other income and taxed at the normal slabs.
Before the tax is worked out, you can deduct (section 15A):
For 2026-27, non-salaried income is taxed at 0% up to Rs 600,000 a year and 15% from Rs 600,000 to Rs 1.2 million, rising in steps to 45% above Rs 5.6 million. If salary is more than 75% of your taxable income, the salaried slabs apply instead. See income tax slabs 2026-27.
Example: two 5 marla portions, no other income
About Rs 77,040 tax a year
Rent Rs 56,000 + Rs 60,000 a month = Rs 13.92 lakh a year. Less one-fifth repairs allowance = Rs 11.14 lakh. Tax at 15% on the amount above Rs 6 lakh. Our calculation, 2026-27 rates; other deductions would lower it.
Withholding by tenants. Some tenants must deduct tax from the rent they pay you (section 155). They include companies, government bodies, non-profits, private schools, hospitals, clinics, boutiques and beauty parlours, and any individual paying Rs 1.5 million or more in rent a year. For an individual landlord in 2026-27 the rate is nil up to Rs 300,000 a year, 5% on the next Rs 300,000, Rs 15,000 plus 10% between Rs 600,000 and Rs 2 million, and Rs 155,000 plus 25% above that.
Rent below the market rate doesn’t cut your tax: the law treats you as receiving the fair market rent.
Give each portion’s tenant a written agreement. See rent agreement in Pakistan for what to include and how to register it, and tenant registration in Punjab for the police record. File the rent in your return: how to file an income tax return.
To budget the build, see house construction cost in Pakistan and construction material prices. Zameen’s calculator already assumes 2 kitchens for a 5 marla double storey, at Rs 95.44 lakh finished in Lahore (16 October 2026).
More guides: property tax in Punjab, home loans in Pakistan, Property.
A house built as two independent homes, usually one per floor, each with its own kitchen, bathroom and entrance. LDA's building regulations call each part that can be lived in independently a dwelling unit.
Not in the listings we checked. In Johar Town, Lahore, a 5 marla lower and upper portion asked Rs 1.16 lakh a month together against Rs 1.25 lakh for a whole house (median asking rents on Zameen, 18 Oct 2026). In G-13, Islamabad, the pattern was the same.
Yes, if the portion has its own entrance and kitchen, according to the Power Division's June 2025 statement on NEPRA's Consumer Service Manual 2021.
An individual's rent, less allowed deductions such as one-fifth for repairs, is added to other income and taxed at the normal slabs. For non-salaried income in 2026-27 that is 0% up to Rs 6 lakh a year and 15% on the next Rs 6 lakh.
Photo: Najamuddin Shahwani / CC BY 3.0
Ask us. We read every question and reply by email when you leave one.
Building a House
A construction material calculator for Pakistan: enter your covered area and city to estimate cement bags, sarya, bricks, sand and crush at PBS Sep 2026 prices.
Building a House
Construction material prices in Pakistan, September 2026, from PBS: cement Rs 1,586 a bag and sarya Rs 2.31 lakh a tonne in Lahore, plus bricks, sand and wages.
Building a House
House construction cost in Pakistan in 2026: Rs 2,762 to Rs 3,500 a sq ft for grey structure and Rs 4,384 to Rs 4,786 finished, from Zameen and a builder.
