Perches, Roods and Acres: Sri Lankan Land Units Explained
How to read Sri Lankan land measurements: what a perch is in square feet, how acre-rood-perch notation on a deed works, and how to compare plots fairly.
Sri Lankan land is advertised in perches, written on deeds in acres-roods-perches, surveyed in metres, and compared by buyers in square feet. Four systems for one plot of ground, and almost nobody has all four in their head.
This guide gives you the conversions, explains the notation on a deed, and covers the two mistakes that cost people real money.
Start with the perch
A perch is the unit Sri Lankan land is priced in.
1 perch = 272.25 square feet = 25.29 square metres
That is the number to memorise. Everything else follows from it. The odd-looking 272.25 is not arbitrary: a perch is a square of side 16½ feet, and 16.5 × 16.5 = 272.25.
For a rough mental picture, a perch is about the footprint of a small two-car garage. A 10-perch plot — the classic Colombo suburban block — is 2,722.5 square feet of land.
The full ladder
| Unit | In perches | Square feet | Square metres |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 perch | 1 | 272.25 | 25.29 |
| 1 rood | 40 | 10,890 | 1,011.71 |
| 1 acre | 160 | 43,560 | 4,046.86 |
| 1 hectare | 395.37 | 107,639 | 10,000 |
The two relationships worth remembering:
- 40 perches = 1 rood
- 4 roods = 1 acre, so 160 perches = 1 acre
Note that these do not step in tens. That single fact is the source of most confusion when reading a deed.
You can convert any of these directly with the Unit Converter, which now handles Sri Lankan land units alongside length and weight.
How to read acre-rood-perch notation
Older deeds and survey plans write area as three numbers separated by hyphens:
1-2-20
That means 1 acre, 2 roods, and 20 perches. It is not 1.22 acres, and it is not 1 acre and 220 perches.
To convert it to a single figure in perches:
- Acres to perches: 1 × 160 = 160
- Roods to perches: 2 × 40 = 80
- Perches: 20
- Total: 160 + 80 + 20 = 260 perches
And 260 perches is 1.625 acres, or 70,785 square feet.
The mistake to avoid: reading 1-2-20 as a decimal. Someone who treats it as 1.22 acres will value the plot at about 195 perches instead of 260 — understating it by a quarter.
Here are a few more, worked out:
| Deed notation | Meaning | Total perches |
|---|---|---|
| 0-1-00 | 1 rood | 40 |
| 0-2-20 | 2 roods, 20 perches | 100 |
| 1-0-00 | 1 acre | 160 |
| 1-2-20 | 1 acre, 2 roods, 20 perches | 260 |
| 2-3-15 | 2 acres, 3 roods, 15 perches | 455 |
If any of the middle digits is 4 or more, something is wrong — a rood figure of 4 would be a whole acre, and should have been carried over.
Comparing two plots fairly
Land is advertised per perch, which makes comparison look easy and occasionally isn't.
Convert both to a price per perch before comparing anything. A listing quoting a total price and one quoting per-perch are not comparable at a glance, and a plot given in square feet needs dividing by 272.25 first.
Worked example. Two plots:
- Plot A: 12 perches at Rs. 1,800,000 per perch → Rs. 21,600,000
- Plot B: 3,500 square feet at a total of Rs. 22,000,000
Plot B is 3,500 ÷ 272.25 = 12.86 perches, so its per-perch price is 22,000,000 ÷ 12.86 = Rs. 1,711,286.
Plot B is the cheaper land per perch and the larger plot, despite the higher headline price. Without the conversion you would likely have picked A.
The two expensive mistakes
1. Confusing land extent with building area
A listing saying "10 perches, 2,200 sq ft house" is describing two different things: 10 perches (2,722.5 sq ft) of land, and a building of 2,200 sq ft floor area, which may be spread across two storeys and therefore sit on a much smaller footprint. Neither number tells you the other.
2. Assuming the deed and the survey agree
The area on an old deed and the area on a current survey plan do not always match. Boundaries move, road-widening takes strips, and older surveys were less precise. The survey plan and the physical boundaries are what matter, and confirming them is the surveyor's and the lawyer's job — not something to settle by arithmetic.
Where you will meet each unit
- Perch — every land advertisement, every price negotiation, every valuation.
- Rood and acre — deeds, larger blocks, estate and agricultural land.
- Square feet — houses and apartments, floor area rather than land.
- Square metre and hectare — survey plans, government and planning documents, anything international.
Being able to move between them quickly is genuinely useful when you are standing in front of a plot with a broker.
Common questions
How many perches are in an acre?
- An acre is 4 roods and a rood is 40 perches.
How many square feet is a perch? 272.25 square feet, or about 25.29 square metres.
How many perches is 1,000 square feet? 1,000 ÷ 272.25 = about 3.67 perches.
What does 1-2-20 mean on a deed? One acre, two roods, and twenty perches — 260 perches in total.
Is a perch the same everywhere? The Sri Lankan perch of 272.25 sq ft matches the traditional square rod used in British measure. Some other countries use units of the same name differently, so do not assume a figure from abroad transfers.
Related tools and reading
- Unit Converter — perches, roods, acres, square feet and metres
- The Real Upfront Cost of Buying Property in Sri Lanka — stamp duty and the cash you need at transfer
- Housing Loan Calculator — instalment and stamp duty together
- Sri Lanka Finance Glossary — perch, rood, A-R-P and more, defined