Pre-emption

The right of ‘pre-emption’ is given to the owner of immovable

property to acquire another immovable property that has been sold
to some other person. It is the purchase by one person before all
others. Therefore, it is a right of substitution and not of re-purchase.
The objective behind this right is to maintain privacy and prevent
strangers to come in neighbor or in a family.
In the words of Mulla, “The right of shufaa or pre-emption is a
right which the owner of an immovable property possesses to
acquire by purchase another immovable property which has been
sold to another person”.
The foundation of the right of pre-emption is the human desire to
avoid the inconvenience and disturbance which is likely to be
caused by the introduction of a stranger into the land.
However, to exercise the right of pre-emption, there are certain
conditions that need to be satisfied. Those conditions are-

1. ownership over an immovable property,

2. sale of the property which is not of the person exercising the right
of pre-emption,
3. there should be some relation with respect to the property
between the pre-emptor and the seller of the land,
4. possession of the other property is given to the pre-emptor on the
same terms as on which the other person is given the right.
The right of pre-emption arises –

1. The right arises only in cases of SALE (does not include Sadqah,
Hiba, Inheritance, Bequest of Lease in perpetuity, Waqf, Wasiyat)
2. Only when the SALE IS COMPLETE- when the price is paid to
the seller by the purchaser

Classification of Pre-emptor

The shafi-i-sharik or a co-owner in the property.

The shafi-i-khalit or a participator in appendages. This expression

means a person who is entitled to such easements as a right of way,
or discharge of water.

The shafi-i-jar or owner of an adjoining property.

 Formalities Necessary for the Exercise of the Right of Pre-emption

• First demand or talab-i-muwasibat

• Second demand or talab-i-ishhad
• Third demand or talab-i-tamlik

When the right of Pre-emption is lost

• By acquiescence or waiver
• By the death of the pre-emptor
• By release
Effect of Pre-emption
Once a suit for pre-emption is decreed, the pre-emptor stands the
pre-emptor stands in the shoes of the vendee and take the property
subject to all existing equities. However, the original vendee is
entitled to mesne profits, such as rents and profits, of the property
between the date of the first sale and the date of transfer to the pre-
emptor.