Covered area and setbacks in Lahore: how much of your plot you can build, by plot size

The covered area of a 5 marla house in an LDA-approved Lahore scheme is up to 844 sq ft a floor: 75% of a 1,125 sq ft plot. You must leave a 5 ft open space at the front and 5 ft at the rear, and you may build 3 storeys up to 38 ft. Two floors come to about 1,688 sq ft and three to about 2,531 sq ft (our calculation from LDA’s rules).

These figures come from LDA’s Building and Zoning Regulations 2019, as amended to 28 January 2020. LDA’s own copy of the document no longer opens, so we used a copy hosted by a law firm, Khalid Zafar & Associates. DHA, Bahria Town and some other societies set their own rules.

How much of a plot can you cover in Lahore?

In LDA-approved housing schemes, the ground floor may cover this share of the plot. FAR (floor area ratio) caps the total covered area of all floors, including any basement, as a multiple of the plot area.

Source: LDA Building and Zoning Regulations 2019, clause 2.2.3 (amended to January 2020). Parking inside the plot is optional at every size.

A basement counts towards FAR. Covered parking does not. Every storey other than the basement must have at least 9 ft 6 in of clear height, and height is measured from the crown of the road to the top of the parapet.

What setbacks do you leave on a 5 marla, 10 marla or 1 kanal plot?

LDA calls these “mandatory open spaces”. In the regulations, a “setback” means land given up for road widening, but most people use the word for these spaces.

Source: LDA Building and Zoning Regulations 2019, clause 2.2.1, approved schemes.

A few things may go inside these spaces:

• Car porch. Up to 20 ft long, in the side space. Where a 5 ft side space is required, you may also build a room over the porch of the same size.
• Toilet. One of up to 40 sq ft and 8 ft high, in the rear corner against the back wall.
• Sun shades. Up to 1 ft 6 in where the open space is under 10 ft, and up to 3 ft where it is 10 ft or more.

No bay window, porch or roof extension may stick out beyond the face of the building otherwise. So an upper floor can’t be built out over the open spaces beyond those limits, and a pergola isn’t allowed in them either.

What is the covered area of 5 marla, 10 marla and 1 kanal?

Take whichever is smaller: the coverage limit, or what is left after the open spaces. This table uses DHA Lahore’s standard plot shapes (as listed by Zameen), which are common elsewhere in Lahore too, and LDA’s marla of 225 sq ft. The sums are ours.

On a 10 marla plot 35 ft wide, the open spaces limit you more than the 70% rule does. A wider or shorter plot of the same area gives a different result, so work it out from your own plot’s measurements.

FAR rarely limits a two-storey house. On 5 marla it allows 2,588 sq ft in total, enough for three full floors of 844 sq ft (2,531 sq ft). On 10 marla it allows 6,300 sq ft.

Not sure what your plot measures in square feet? Use the marla to square feet converter: a marla is 225 sq ft under LDA and DHA Lahore, but 272 sq ft in housing schemes in other Punjab districts.

Why do contractors quote a bigger covered area?

Published cost examples often use more floor area than LDA’s limits allow. Zameen’s 5 marla example has a 910 sq ft ground floor, above the 844 sq ft cap. Its 10 marla example has 1,650 sq ft on the ground floor, above both the cap and the open-space footprint.

Those examples also count the mumty (the stair room on the roof): 175 sq ft for 5 marla and 100 sq ft for 10 marla. They don’t say which authority’s rules they follow. Use LDA’s figures for a house in an LDA scheme, and ask your architect for the covered area of each floor on the approved drawing.

What are the rules in older areas of Lahore?

LDA’s “established built-up areas”, outside approved schemes, follow clause 2.1. On roads 25 ft wide or less, the front line follows the existing buildings, and coverage is higher: 80% for 5 to under 10 marla and 70% for 10 marla to under 1 kanal. FAR is lower, at 1:1.6 and 1:1.5, and the height limit is 38 ft.

On wider roads in those areas, the approved-scheme coverage and FAR apply.

Are DHA Lahore’s rules different?

Yes. DHA Lahore has its own Construction and Development Regulations (2014, reprinted in 2026, according to Avenir Developments, an architecture and construction firm). We didn’t find DHA’s own document online, so these figures come from two secondary summaries:

The two summaries agree on the front and rear spaces. They disagree on the first-floor limit, and on whether a 5 marla plot needs side space on one side or both. Avenir’s figure cites the 2026 reprint, but its page still carries an editing note, so check with DHA’s Building Control before you design.

DHA’s limits leave less to build. Avenir’s example for a 35 x 65 ft DHA plot has 2,332 sq ft above ground: 1,185 on the ground floor, 972 on the first and a 175 sq ft mumty. Under LDA’s rules, a 10 marla plot of the same width gives about 2,820 sq ft on two floors.

What covered area should you budget for?

Budget from the covered area on your approved drawing, floor by floor, plus the mumty. If you don’t have drawings yet, use the two-floor figures above as a ceiling for an LDA scheme.

Put that area into the construction material calculator to estimate cement, steel and bricks. Then see house construction cost in Pakistan for current per-sq-ft rates, or the size guides for 5 marla and 10 marla.

If you plan separate portions, building a house to rent out covers entrances and meters. More guides: construction material prices, Property.