Power of Attorney in Nepal — Notary Public Kathmandu

A Power of Attorney (Nepali: mukhtiyarnama / adhikar patra) is the legal instrument by which one person — the principal — authorises another person — the attorney-holder or mukhtiyar — to act on their behalf. We draft, attest and register POAs for property transactions, banking, court representation, business and the most common case of all: Non-Resident Nepalis (NRNs) abroad who need a parent, sibling or spouse in Nepal to handle land, bank or family matters in their absence.

Quick answer: If you can't be physically in Nepal — or in front of a particular counter — to sign, decide or transact, a properly drafted and attested POA lets a trusted person stand in for you. The notary's job is to witness the principal's signature; for property transactions, the Land Revenue Office (Malpot) registration is a separate downstream step.

What a Power of Attorney does — and what it doesn't

A POA does one thing: it grants authority. It is the document that lets your attorney-holder lawfully sign for you, transact for you, or appear for you within the scope you specify. Under Part 4, Chapter 2 of the Muluki Civil Code 2074 (2017), the principal–agent relationship is governed by the principles of agency: the agent acts in the principal's name, the principal is bound by the agent's lawful acts, and the agent owes a duty of good faith and accountability.

What a POA does not do is execute the transaction itself. A POA authorising your brother to sell your land does not, by its own force, transfer title — it lets your brother appear at the Land Revenue Office (Malpot) and sign the registered deed of transfer (rajinama) on your behalf. The deed is what moves the title; the POA is the credential that lets him sign that deed instead of you. Same with banking: the POA lets the agent operate the account; it doesn't transfer ownership of the funds.

This distinction matters because foreign jurisdictions sometimes treat a POA as if it were the transaction. In Nepal it is not. Notarisation under Sec. 19 of the Notary Public Act 2063 attests the principal's signature on the POA; the downstream act (sale, transfer, withdrawal, court appearance) follows its own statutory route.

Powers of Attorney we draft and attest every week

NRN-from-abroad workflow — how a POA actually crosses the border

This is the most-asked POA scenario, and the one most likely to fail if done incorrectly. A POA executed abroad cannot simply be emailed to a relative in Nepal and used at the Land Revenue Office. The execution and authentication chain is:

1. We draft the POA in Nepal — to the exact format the destination authority (Malpot, bank, OCR, court) will accept. Sent to you abroad as a clean PDF for review.
2. You execute it abroad in front of a Nepali Embassy / Consul. The principal signs the POA at the Nepali diplomatic mission in your country of residence. The Embassy / Consul attests the principal's signature under their consular authority — this is the recognised route under Nepal's diplomatic-attestation practice for foreign-executed mukhtiyarnamas. (Some jurisdictions accept a local notary + apostille in lieu, but for use at Nepali authorities the Embassy attestation is the safer path.)
3. The attested POA is couriered to Nepal. Original document, not scanned — the Land Revenue Office and most banks require wet-ink originals.
4. Local registration / use as required. For property POAs, the attorney-holder presents the POA at the relevant Malpot Karyalaya for the specific transaction; for banking, at the bank branch with the account; for court, filed with the case papers.

If the principal is in Nepal at the time of signing, the chain is shorter — the POA is signed in front of our notary, attested under Sec. 19, and used directly by the attorney-holder.

Property POAs — the registration reality

The single most important fact about property POAs: a notarised POA is not the same as a registered deed of transfer. The POA gives your attorney-holder the legal authority to sign the transfer; the actual title change happens only when a registered deed of sale, gift, partition or exchange (rajinama / hakhastantaran patra) is executed at the Land Revenue Office and the entry hits the Malpot register.

This means three separate steps for an NRN selling land in Nepal:

1. POA execution (abroad, embassy-attested, or in Nepal in front of our notary)
2. POA presentation at Malpot — the Karyalaya verifies the POA is valid, in scope, and not revoked before allowing the attorney-holder to sign on the principal's behalf
3. Registered deed of transfer — separate document, separate fee (capital-gains tax under the Income Tax Act 2058 + Malpot registration fee), separate timeline

Notary Nepal handles step 1 and helps prepare paperwork for step 2; steps 2 and 3 are conducted at the Malpot Karyalaya by the attorney-holder. We do not register property transfers — that is the Karyalaya's exclusive function.

Why POAs fail — and how we draft to avoid it

POA fees — what the law caps

Notarial fees on a POA are governed by Rule 20 of the Notary Public Rules 2063 — a statutory ceiling that applies the same way to every licensed notary in Nepal. Translation attestation (where the POA needs Nepali↔English) carries separate per-page caps under the same Rule 20 schedule. Our drafting time — particularly for property POAs with detailed scope and Lalpurja references — is quoted separately.

What we don't charge for, because they aren't notarial fees: Land Revenue Office registration fees, capital-gains tax on property transfers, embassy attestation fees abroad, and any disbursements at the receiving counter. WhatsApp the situation and we'll send the full Rule 20 cap + drafting + courier breakdown before any work starts.

Walk-in or fully online — pick what suits you

POA vs Authorization Letter vs Court Attorney — what's different

The legalisation chain — POAs used abroad

The reverse case — a POA executed in Nepal for use abroad (e.g. an NRN in Nepal authorising a relative in the destination country to manage an asset there) — needs the standard consular chain:

Important: Nepal is not a party to the 1961 Hague Apostille Convention, so there is no apostille route for a Nepali-issued POA. The consular chain above is the alternative — see our explainer on the alternative-to-apostille route.

Internal links — services that often go with POAs

• Legal documents notarization — the parent service.
• Affidavits and sworn statements — often needed alongside a POA (e.g. NRN identity affidavit).
• Document translation — for bilingual POAs and translation attestation.
• Document legalisation — for POAs leaving Nepal.
• True-copy certification — for citizenship and Lalpurja copies attached to the POA.

Our notary office in Kathmandu

Send your POA request now — reply within 15 minutes

Working hours promise: WhatsApp the situation in plain language — who is the principal, who is the attorney-holder, what authority needs granting, and where the POA will be used. We respond inside 15 minutes with the drafting plan, the IDs we'll need, the embassy route if you're abroad, and the exact total under Rule 20. Most General POAs are drafted, signed, sealed and emailed back the same business day. Property POAs and NRN-from-abroad POAs typically take 1–2 working days because of format and embassy coordination. Land sale closing tomorrow? Bank deadline this week? Say so up front — message us on WhatsApp now.