Power of Attorney for a property sale in Bangladesh

Selling family property in Bangladesh from abroad almost always means a Power of Attorney: you sign an instrument where you live, appointing someone in Bangladesh to act for you, and it has to survive a counter there months later. This is the most common legalisation job in the diaspora, and the most expensive one to get wrong.

The short answer

• Order matters: decide the route, draft, sign, legalise, send — in that sequence. Signing before you know the route is how documents get rejected.
• Get a lawyer in Bangladesh involved before you sign, not after. The wording of the powers granted, the description of the property and the way the document is executed are all things the receiving office cares about.
• The legalisation route — apostille or embassy attestation — is unsettled after March 2025. Read apostille vs embassy attestation before you spend anything.
• Never send the only original of anything.

Step 1 — Establish who accepts it, and what they accept

Before a word is drafted, find out what the office that will register or rely on the deed requires. For a sale, that is the sub-registry office in the jurisdiction where the land sits, and in practice it is your lawyer or your attorney-in-fact who asks. You want to know: what form of POA they expect, what legalisation they expect on it, and whether anything must be done in Bangladesh after it arrives.

That last point is the one people miss. A POA perfectly attested abroad may still need a further step once it lands in Bangladesh before it can be used. We are not stating what that step is, or whether it applies to you — ask.

Step 2 — Have it drafted by someone who will answer for it

A POA for a property sale is not a form to fill in. It has to identify the property precisely, name the attorney-in-fact, and state exactly which powers are granted — sell, sign the deed, receive consideration, appear before the registrar, and so on. Powers that are not granted do not exist, and powers granted too loosely are their own risk: you are handing a real person the legal ability to dispose of real property.

Have it drafted or reviewed by a lawyer in Bangladesh who has recently registered a deed of this type in that district — practice varies, and recency matters more than seniority. For which instrument suits your situation, see general powers of attorney.

Step 3 — Sign it the way the route requires

How you sign is dictated by the route the document will travel. Broadly, one of two things happens:

• You sign before a notary where you live, and the notarised document then goes through the legalisation chain — authentication, and then the mission or an apostille authority, depending on which route applies.
• Or you sign at the mission itself, in front of a consular officer, which some missions offer for some document types by appointment.

These are different processes with different prerequisites, and which is available depends on your mission and the document. Ask before booking — see embassy appointments and fees.

Bring identity documents matching the name on the property records. A mismatch between your passport name and an old deed is a common cause of trouble; raise it with your lawyer early, not at the counter.

Step 4 — Legalise it

This is the step that changed in March 2025, and the step where confident wrong advice is everywhere. Follow the route the receiving office confirmed in step 1, and confirm it again with the mission before you pay. Missions publish their own fee schedules and appointment rules — check yours rather than a forum post.

Keep a complete scan of every page, stamp and sticker at every stage. If the package is lost in the post, those scans are what let your lawyer work out what to reconstruct.

Step 5 — Get it to Bangladesh, and check what happens next

Send by a courier that gives you tracked, signed delivery, and have your attorney-in-fact confirm that what arrived is complete — pages, seals and attachments — before anyone relies on it.

Ask your lawyer whether the POA needs anything further in Bangladesh — a local step, a translation, a registration of its own — and whether it has a practical shelf life. Some offices are reluctant to accept an old instrument even where nothing formally expires, so if the sale is months away, ask about timing.

What we could not verify

• Which legalisation route applies to a POA after March 2025 — apostille, embassy attestation, or either. Confirm with your mission and the sub-registry.
• Whether an additional step is required in Bangladesh after a foreign-executed POA arrives, and what it is called.
• Any fee, stamp cost, notary charge or processing time. These vary by mission, by state or region, and by district, and we publish none.
• Whether a POA must be registered, and where, for a sale in your district.
• Whether a POA has an expiry or a practical acceptance window.
• Whether a translation is required — see translating documents.

This page is general guidance, not legal advice, and not a promise that a POA prepared this way will be accepted. Property is the largest asset most families here own; pay a lawyer in Bangladesh rather than rely on a web page.