WASHINGTON DC: US officials accused Facebook of discrimination Thursday for using its targeted advertising to limit who sees postings for certain kinds of housing.Administrative charges filed by the US Department of Housing and Urban Development said Facebook "unlawfully discriminates based on race, colour, national origin, religion, familial status, sex and disability" by restricting who can view housing-related ads."Facebook is discriminating against people based upon who they are and where they live," said HUD Secretary Ben Carson."Using a computer to limit a person's housing choices can be just as discriminatory as slamming a door in someone's face."The move comes ...

KARACHI: The government has lifted the moratorium on the purchase of property worth over Rs5 million by non-filers of tax returns but has closed the window of legalising black money through investment in real estate in order to welcome only genuine buyers.“The previous government had imposed a restriction on the registration or transfer of property exceeding Rs5 million to a non-filer. It has been observed that the restriction has not achieved the desired goal of increasing the number of tax return filers, rather such restriction has been legally challenged in courts on the point of jurisdiction,” said Minister ...

ISLAMABAD: The federal government has decided to establish a Real Estate Regulatory Authority (RERA) to manage the affairs of real estate with an appellate tribunal to settle the disputes of the concerned sector.The real estate agents will have to register with the authority for the sale of plots, houses or buildings. For the purpose, the government has finalised the Real Estate Regulation and Development Bill 2019. Real Estate Regulation and Development Act is expected to be implemented later through a presidential ordinance.According to a document available with The Express Tribune, the Real Estate Regulation and Development Bill 2019 ...

LAHORE: The Competition Commission of Pakistan (CCP) has initiated a formal investigation in real-estate markets of Lahore, Sheikhupura, Kasur and Nankana Sahib over fraudulent practices in the corporate sector.Speaking to The Express Tribune, a spokesperson for the commission highlighted that the CCP has launched a thorough probe into 62 private housing societies allegedly involved in fleecing common citizens through deceptive marketing.After conducting public hearings in Lahore, Karachi and Islamabad and concerns raised by the Lahore Development Authority (LDA), he indicated, the commission has initiated this probe to safeguard public interest.The commission has already slapped over Rs20 million penalties ...

LAHORE: Punjab's tax authorities are unhappy with the outcome of a property valuation exercise five years in the making, The Express Tribune has learnt.According to senior Punjab Excise and Taxation officials, the department's field staff carrying out a survey of residential and commercial buildings in the province has been unable to collect adequate information to prepare a valuation table for new property tax rates. Subsequently, a departmental committee overseeing the exercise rejected the sample survey data as insufficient, they said.The department has been surveying residential and commercial buildings across Punjab to track how rent amounts have changed from ...

RAWALPINDI: The Rawalpindi Development Authority (RDA) has decided to recover its billions of rupees worth of land from Rawalpindi Metropolitan Corporation (RMC).A meeting of the RDA board noted that for the past 25 years, RMC has been collecting rent from 562 shops and open sheds present on 14 kanals of land which actually belong to the authority.According to the minutes of the meeting, it has been decided that RDA Chairman Tariq Mahmood Murtaza and Director-General Ammara Khan will take up the matter with the RMC administrator and Rawalpindi commissioner for the possession of the above-mentioned shops and sheds.The ...