DHA Lahore Covered Area Rules 2026 — Bylaws, Setbacks & Height

Almost every guide online is out of date. DHA republished its regulations on 20 April 2026. The major property portals and agency blogs still publish the 2014 figures — 75% first floor coverage and a 30 to 35 foot height limit. Those were superseded. If you are building to numbers you read on a portal, you may be building to expired rules. The figures on this page are read from DHA's own current document.

Permissible covered area

DHA sets no percentage for the ground floor — it is simply whatever remains after you leave the mandatory clear spaces. Only the first floor is a percentage, and it is a percentage of the ground floor, not of the plot.

Plot	Ground floor (approx)	First floor allowance	Total
5 Marla 25′ × 45′ · 1,125 sq ft	814 sq ft	100% ≈ 814 sq ft	1,628 sq ft
8 Marla 30′ × 60′ · 1,800 sq ft	1,248 sq ft	82% ≈ 1,023 sq ft	2,271 sq ft
10 Marla 35′ × 65′ · 2,250 sq ft	1,448 sq ft	82% ≈ 1,187 sq ft	2,635 sq ft
1 Kanal 50′ × 90′ · 4,500 sq ft	2,703 sq ft	80% ≈ 2,163 sq ft	4,866 sq ft
2 Kanal 75′ × 120′ · 9,000 sq ft	5,839 sq ft	78% ≈ 4,554 sq ft	10,393 sq ft

A second floor is explicitly not permitted. A DHA Lahore house is basement, ground, first and mumty — that is all. Ground floor figures above are derived from DHA's standard plot dimensions minus the required clear spaces; your architect must confirm against your actual site plan, because plot shape and corner status change them.

Setbacks — and the detail most people miss

Plot	Front	Rear	Side	How many sides
5 Marla	5′	3′	3′	one side only
8 Marla	8′	4′	4′	one side only
10 Marla	10′9″	5′4½″	5′4½″	one side only
1 Kanal	15′9″	5′4½″	5′4½″	✓ both sides
2 Kanal	20′9″	8′4½″	5′4½″	✓ both sides

Read that last column carefully. DHA's table has two side columns, and both are filled only for 1 kanal and 2 kanal. On 10 marla and below there is only one side clear space — the other side may be built up to the boundary. Getting this backwards is one of the more common ways people end up with a demolition notice on work already paid for.

The rules in plain terms

Storeys permitted

Basement + ground + first + mumty. A second floor is explicitly not permitted.

Maximum height

39 feet from the crown of the road, for all phases. 32 feet without mumty and parapet. A lift machine room may reach 45 feet, maximum 75 sq ft.

Mumty

175 sq ft up to 10 marla; 300 sq ft for 1 to 4 kanal. Stair area only — no living space may be created in it.

Basement

Single storey only in residential. Up to 100% of allowable covered area. Ceiling 9 to 14 feet, excavation no more than 12 feet. An original soil test report, valid one year, is mandatory with the drawings.

Car porch

Maximum 9 feet wide, 12 to 18 feet deep. One porch up to 1 kanal — two if it is a corner plot. Two on 2 kanal. Columns not less than 9″ × 18″.

Boundary wall

Maximum 7 feet from the road crown, 9 inches thick. An electric fence up to 2′6″ is allowed on undertaking, so 9′6″ total. Concertina wire is not allowed.

Swimming pool

Not permitted below 1 kanal, and not on the roof. A 10-foot privacy wall is required.

Covered terraces

Roofing an open area or pergola in fibreglass, steel or sheet counts as covered area. It comes out of your entitlement.

What changed in 2026

Rule	Old (2014)	Now
First floor coverage	75% of ground (5M: 100%)	5M 100% · 7–10M 82% · 1K 80% · 2–4K 78%
Maximum height	35 ft, and 30 ft in Phases 1–4	39 ft — for all phases
Height without mumty/parapet	—	32 ft
Lift machine room	41 ft	45 ft
Basement ceiling	max 10 ft	max 14 ft, excavation ≤ 12 ft
Living room ceiling	max 12 ft	floor height max 18 ft
Mezzanine / inter-floor	Not provided for	Allowed — up to 40% of a liveable space
9 Marla plot	Absent from the tables	Added
CCTV	None	Mandatory — 2 cameras, 10 days retention
Solar panels	None	Own regulation — prior DHA approval required
Fire safety in houses	None	Mandatory equipment, scaled by plot size

The two that matter most for a house: first floor coverage rose from 75% to 78–82%, and height rose from 35 feet to 39 feet across all phases. On a 1 kanal that is roughly 135 extra square feet of first floor compared with the old rule. The old Phase 1–4 versus Phase 5+ height split is gone.

Approval, fees and timing

Item	Detail
Scrutiny fee	About PKR 10 per sq ft — drawing 6, fire safety 2, MEP 1, structural 1
Revised drawings	PKR 4 per sq ft
Completion certificate	PKR 7,000
Water connection	PKR 10,000 · Sewerage PKR 5,000
Demolition debris security	PKR 50,000, refundable
Scrutiny time	21 working days. A rejection restarts the full clock.
Drawing validity	Two years. Construction must complete within two years of approval or the drawings expire.
Transfer	No house transfer is processed without a completion certificate — not even Hibba.

Building without approved plans, in DHA's own words, "shall be demolished at the risk and cost of the owner." Inspections happen without notice, and refusing one gets your water and sewerage disconnected.

What we will not tell you, because DHA doesn't say

Four things are genuinely unclear in the regulations. We would rather flag them than guess — a confident wrong answer here is expensive.

Does a basement count toward covered area?

The regulations give the basement its own allowance in a separate clause, and define footprint as excluding it. That reads as 'no' — but DHA never says so in a sentence. Confirm with Building Control before designing around it.

Does a mumty count toward covered area?

Same situation. It is granted as a separate fixed allowance, but there is no explicit exclusion clause.

Servant quarter entitlement

No separate area allowance exists, which implies it falls inside your permissible covered area. Only privacy, sill-height and stair rules are written down.

Violation charges

The regulations say only 'as prescribed by the Authority'. The PKR 2,500 per sq ft penalty quoted all over the internet is not in the 2026 rules — it traces to a 2019 article. Ask DHA for the current schedule rather than trusting a number online.

Ask us about your plot What will it cost to build?

Source: DHA Construction & Development Regulations, published 20 April 2026, published on DHA Lahore's own site. We read the document rather than repeating other people's summaries of it. Rules do get revised — confirm anything critical with DHA Building Control before you commit money.

DHA Lahore Covered Area & Building Rules