REAL ESTATE, CONSTRUCTION AND RENTAL LAW in Istanbul, Turkey
The cost of living in our country, especially for those living in cities such as Istanbul, Mugla, Antalya, Ankara and Izmir is among the topics that have not fallen off the public agenda lately. We are in a period where we have witnessed that the average rent has increased by eighty four percent in the last year throughout Istanbul, the rents have increased three to four times in some districts, and the average rent in Istanbul has exceeded 6.000 TL as of May 2022. This situation has brought the tenants and property owners, who are struggling with their livelihoods, against each other and caused them to start legal procedures against one another. Especially in recent months, we have observed a great increase in the number of landlords who applied to our law office in order to obtain information on how to evict the tenants and in the number of tenants who are forced for an evacuation through lawsuit or enforcement proceedings. As real estate lawyers in Turkey, we will speak of action for evacuation under this article based on frequently asked questions we receive in order to provide our clients a preliminary information regarding the matter.
A fixed-term rental agreement agreement is a contract in which the expiry date of the tenancy is determined explicitly or implicitly within the contract. It is a requirement of freedom of contract that the parties can specify a certain period in the rental agreement. As a rule, a fixed-term rental contract automatically expires upon the expiration of the period specified in the contract. However, the most important point to be considered at this point is that only the tenant has the right to terminate the contract ‘based on the expiry of the period’ at the end of the period determined in the fixed-term residence and roofed workplace rental contracts. According to Turkish Obligations Code, unless the tenant gives a written notice 15 days before the end of the contract, the rental contract will be extended under the same conditions. But this term should not be understood as the landlord can’t make an increase on the rentage. On the other hand, the landlord will not be able to freely determine the rate of increase in rentage upon extension of the rental agreement. In accordance with the temporary article brought to the 6098 numbered Turkish Code of Obligations, with the 4th Article of the 08.06.2022 dated Law on the Amendment to be Made on the Turkish Code of Obligations and the Attorneyship Law, regardless of the CPI rate in the rent agreements renewed between 11.06.2022 and 01.07.2023 a rent increase of more than 25% will not be applied. It should be noted that this rule is only applicable for residential rentals with a rental period of between 1 and 5 years. In rental agreements with a duration of more than 5 years, the landlord has the right to file a determination lawsuit to re-determine the rentage. In terms of workplaces, it should be known that business owners cannot decide on a rent increase rate above the CPI increase rate.
As we have mentioned above, at the end of a fixed term rental agreement, it is not possible to force the tenant for evacuation based on expiration of the rental period. In the event of expiration of the fixed term rental agreement, the landlord has three main options to evict the tenant: by taking a written eviction notice from the tenant; by sending a written notice of termination to the tenant at least 3 months before the end of the 10 year extension period if the tenant has used the real estate property for over 10 years; or by filing an action for evacuation lawsuit if the landlord or his relatives listed under Article 350 of the Turkish Obligations Code need the leased property and this need is genuine and sincere. In order to accurately determine the date range ‘for issuance of termination notice’, ‘of the period of prescription for filing of the eviction case’ or ‘for the date the tenant shall evacuate’, a real estate lawyer in Istanbul Turkey shall be consulted since many legal periods and prescribed term is regulated in our law system and omitting or miscalculating one of these elements can lead to major loss of rights.
By law, the landlord cannot demand eviction of a good tenant for 10 years. Article 347 of our Turkish Code of Obligations clearly states that in residence and roofed work place rents, unless the tenant notifies the landlord within 15 days before the end of the contract of limited duration, the rental contract is assumed to be extended for one year under the same conditions. The landlord cannot terminate the agreement with regard tto the end of contract duration. Nonetheless, he may terminate the agreement without having to indicate any reason on the condition that he notifies the tenant within three months before the end of each extended year following the end of ten-years overrun. In rental agreements of unlimited time period on the other hand, the tenant may at any time terminate the contract by a termination notice and the landlord after 10 years beginning from the lease agreement in accordance with general terms.
As per Article 350/1 of the 6098 numbered Turkish Obligations Code, the landlord may terminate the lease contract, if he necessitates to use the leasehold as residence or work place for him, his spouse, descendants, lineal ancestors, or legal dependents, in the contracts of limited duration, at the end of the duration; in the contracts of unlimited duration, with a suit that shall be brought within a month beginning from the date to be determined according to the durations provided for termination notice of termination period according to the general terms related to rent. In order for the rental agreement to be terminated due to necessity, the reason for the eviction brought forward by the property owner must actually exist and the situation of need must be sincere and compulsory. In workplace lease agreements, the landlord may be a legal entity, in this case, the legal entity landlord will only be able to file a lawsuit for his own workplace needs. In eviction lawsuits filed due to both residence and workplace needs, the court shall examine detailly whether if the plaintiffs claim of need actually nexists or not. While examining sincerity of the workplace need by the landlord, whether the plaintiff owns more than one immovable property or not; whether the landlord is on rent or not; whether there is another usable or equivalent immovable as a workplace in the same or nearby area owned by the landlord or not; whether the immovable, that the plaintiff who owns more than one immovable, has requested to be evicted has features superior to the immovable currently used will need to be examined.
Due to high increase on real estate property values, the landlord, who cannot evict the tenant at the end of the period determined by the fixed-term rental agreement, does not want to deal with the eviction lawsuit that will take more than a year, and cannot increase the rentage above the CPI rate since the time spent in the real estate property by the tenant has not yet reached 5 years, is in the tendency to sell the leased property. In case the immovable is sold, the new owner becomes a party to the lease agreement. Pursuant to Article 351 of our Turkish Code of Obligations, the new owner of the leashold may terminate the lease agreement with a lawsuit that shall be brought after six months from the time he notified the lessee within a month beginning from his ownership provided that he necessitates to use the leasehold as residence or work place for him/herself his/her spouse, descendants, lineal ancestors, legal dependents. The new owner may use his termination right due to necessity with a lawsuit that may be brought within a month beginning from the end of contract duration. In other words, if the new owner does not notify the tenant within 1 month after acquiring the ownership of the leased property, the lease agreement will be undertaken under the same conditions. On the other hand, if there is less than 6 months for the expiry of the rent, there is no need to wait for 6 months following the written notification, and an action of eviction can be filed by the new landlord by expiry of the lease contract period. Apart from this, legislative has introduced another method of termination -due to necessity- to the new landlord. As per Turkish Obligations Code, Article 351/2, if the owner wishes he/she may use this right with an eviction lawsuit to be filed within 1 month following the expiry of the lease contract period.
When an action for eviction is filed by the landlord against the tenant due to need, it is unclear at what rate the rent should be increased until the eviction lawsuit is concluded. In our opinion, if the rentage cannot be determined fairly by the parties, taking into account the interests of the parties, and if a rental increase rate has not been determined through the rental agreement, it would be beneficial to file a lawsuit for determination of the rentage. It should be emphasized that if the rent term has not yet completed the five years and the rent increase rate has not been determined in the lease agreement, in this case, filing a rent determination lawsuit in order to determine the rent increase rate fairly is based on the Turkish Obligations Code Article 344/2. In this case, the judge will decide on a certain rent increase rate, provided that it does not exceed the CPI rate of the previous rental year. If there is no rentage increase clause in the contract, a lawsuit must be filed at the latest 30 days before the start of the new rental period. However, if you have sent a warning letter within this period, it is also possible to file a lawsuit until the end of the new lease period.
Real estate, construction and rental law is a legal discipline that defines types of rights that can be possessed related to immovables and aims to resolve disputes in which immovables are brought as subject. MESCI Law Firm, with its team consisting of real estate lawyers in Istanbul Turkey, provides cost-effective legal consultancy and services to property owners, tenants, investors, contractors, architects, engineers and construction companies from all around the World, in all matters related to real estate law in Turkey along with construction law and rental law. Real estate law is a field that requires deep legal knowledge, experience and strategic legal protection planning due to its complex nature and changing regulations of the field. In order for real persons or legal entities not to face any loss of rights, they certainly should take consultancy from a lawyer specialized in sub-branches of real estate law in Turkey before any transaction to be performed related to the field. MESCI Law Firm, provides legal consultancy and services about almost all sub-branches of real estate law in Turkey such as purchase and sale of a real estate property, registration and deletion of rights in rem such as usufruct, right of easement and mortgage, urban transformation, expropriation, confiscation without expropriating, construction agreements in return for land share, remittal and release of leased property.
Please contact our law firm in Turkey if you require further information related to the matter.
Contact US
Location
19 Mayis Mahallesi Inonu Caddesi Mercan Sokak No: 15/7 1st Floor Kadikoy Istanbul TURKEY
info@mescilaw.com
Phone
+ 90 553 909 1335
OUR RANGE OF SERVICES AS REAL ESTATE LAWYERS IN TURKEY
- Obtaining Turkish citizenship through buying a property.
- Real estate property purchase and sale transactions.
- Preparing due diligence report regarding the real estate property to be sold. Drafting and preparing sales contract.
- Registration of mortgage and following up the process of foreclosure of mortgage.
- Registration and deletion of real and personal rights and preparing contracts related.
- Filing and following up elimination of joint ownership lawsuits.
- Filing and following up lawsuit for correction or cancellation of the title deed.
- Providing legal consultancy regarding zoning amnesty construction certificate of enrollment application method, filing and following up lawsuit upon rejection of construction certificate of enrollment regarding cancellation of the decision.
- Providing legal consultancy regarding urban transformation, filing and following up lawsuit against the risk assessment report.
- Filing and following up cancellation lawsuit upon rejection of construction permit application.
- Filing and following up cancellation lawsuit upon rejection of occupancy permit.
- Filing and following up confiscating without expropriating lawsuits and adequate pay lawsuits.
- Filing and following up cancellation lawsuit regarding decision of expropriation.
- Filing and following up expropriation – error in fact correction lawsuits.
- Filing and following up lawsuit regarding recovery of of expropriated property.
- In case of partial expropriation, conducting application to the administration with the justification indicating remaining part of the property which is excluded to expropriation is not suitable for use, obtaining price determination and filing lawsuit in order to enable remaining part to be expropriated.
- Filing price determination and registration lawsuits for detection of expropriated property.
- Action for annulment of unlicensed construction penalties.
- Action for annulment of decision of demolish.
- Action of annulment of decisions of preservation board.
- Filing and following up title deed registration and deletion lawsuits
- Handling of disputes arising due to inheritance on immovables.
- Drafting and reviewing construction agreements in return for land share and profit sharing.
- Drafting and reviewing preliminary sales contract.
- Drafting and reviewing pre-sale contracts, lease contracts and rental agreements.
- Handling terminations of rental agreements.
- Filing action for evacuation regarding the leased property.
- Collection of rentage.
- Filing lawsuit for determination, calculation and renewal of the rentage.
Turkish Property Lawyer
Turkey has been experiencing significant growth in the real estate sector, and many foreign investors have shown a keen interest in purchasing properties and obtaining Turkish citizenship through buying a property in Turkey. However, navigating the legal landscape of Turkish property ownership can be a complex and challenging process for foreigners. This is where a Turkish property lawyer comes in. A Turkish property lawyer in Turkey can assist both local and foreig clients in all matters related to property ownership, including buying and selling properties, drafting and reviewing contracts, resolving disputes, and managing legal proceedings. The role of a Turkish property lawyer is critical in ensuring that property transactions are carried out legally, transparently, and in compliance with Turkish laws and regulations. They are responsible for guiding their clients through the complex legal framework of property ownership, including issues related to property titles, taxes, zoning laws, and building regulations. They provide expert legal advice to clients on matters relateed to property transactions, ensuring that their clients fully understand their legal rights and obligations.
Real Estate Lawyer Turkey
Real estate investment in Turkey has seen significant growth in the past couple of years, with foreign investors showing a keen interest in buying properties in Turkey. However, navigating the complex legal framework of property ownership in Turkey can be challenging for both local and foreign investors. This is where the services of a real estate lawyer come in. A real estate lawyer in Turkey is a legal professional who specializes in property law, providing expert legal advice and services to clients on all matters related property ownership. One such law firm that offers real estate legal services in Turkey is Mesci Law Firm. Mesci Law Firm is a globally recognized law firm in Turkey consisting of experienced real estate lawyer Turkey. Our real estate lawyer Turkey is always prepared to handle real estate transactions. Our real estate law services consists of real estate property purches including real estate property purchase and sale transactions, filing and following up lawsuit for correction or cancellation of the title deed, preparing due diligence report regarding the real estate property to be sold, filing and following up cancellation lawsuits upon rejection of construction permit application, handling terminations of rental agreements, filing actions for evacuation regarding the leased property, collection of rentage, and many other services within the scope of real estate, construction and rental law.
Real Estate Lawyer Istanbul
One of the significant benefits of working with our law firm in Turkey is our familarity with the local real estate market in Turkey. Our real estate lawyer Istanbul has a wealth of experience working with local property developers, construction companies, and real estate agents, giving them insight into the trends and challenges in the local market. This allows our real estate lawyer Istanbul to provide clients with accurate and up to date information on the local real estate market, helping clients make informed decisions when investing in property in Turkey. Our real estate lawyer Istanbul also provides legal asisstance to clients in matters related to property disputes. They represent clients in legal proceedings related to property ownership, including litigation, filing legal complaints, and negotiating settlements. Additionally, they provide legal assistance to clients in matters related to tenant disputes, issuance of lease agreements, collection of the rentage, and monthly property management.
Real Estate and Construction Law Services Istanbul
Real estate and construction are booming industries in Istanbul, with both local and foreign investors showing a keen interest in investing in properties in Istanbul. However, navigating the legal landscape of real estate and construction in Istanbul can be challenging, requiring the expertise of a specialized legal professional. This is where Mesci Law Firm come in, providing expert legal advice and services to clients in matters related to real estate and construction law services Istanbul. Our real estate and construction law services Istanbul can be listed as follows:
- Turkish citizenship through buying a property.
- Real estate property purchase and real estate property sale transactions.
- Due diligence for the property to be purchased.
- Services related to registration of mortgage and following up the process of foreclosureof mortgage.
- Services related to registration and deletion of real and personal rights and preparingcontracts related.
- Filing and following-up elimination of joint ownership lawsuits.
- Filing and following-up lawsuit for correction or cancellation of the title deed.
- Providing legal consultancy and services related to zoning amnesty constructioncertificate of enrollment application method, filing and following up lawsuit uponrejection of construction certificate of enrollment regarding cancellation of thedecision.
- Providing legal consultancy and services regarding urban transformation, filing andfollowing up lawsuit against the risk assessment report.
- Filing and following-up cancellation lawsuit upon rejection of construction permitapplications.
- Filing and following-up cancellation lawsuit upon rejection of occupancy permit.
- Filing and following-up confiscating without expropriating lawsuits and adequate pay lawsuits.
- Filing and following-up cancellation lawsuit regarding decision of expropriation.
- Filing and following-up expropriation – error in fact correction lawsuits.
- Filing and following-up lawsuit regarding recovery of expropriated property.
- In case of partial expropriation, conducting application to the administration with thejustification indicating remaining part of the property which is excluded toexpropriation is not suitable for use, obtaining price determination and filing lawsuit in order to enable remaining part to be expropriated.
- Filing price determination and registration lawsuits for detection of expropriatedproperty and following up such lawsuits.
- Filing and following-up action for annulment of unlicensed construction penalties.
- Filing and following-up action for annulment of decision of demolish.
- Filing and following-up ction of annulment of decisions of preservation board.
- Filing and following up title deed registration and deletion lawsuits
- Handling of disputes arising due to inheritance on immovables.
- Drafting, revising and negotiating construction agreements in return for land share andprofit sharing.
- Drafting and reviewing preliminary sales contract.
- Drafting and reviewing pre-sale contracts, lease contracts and rental agreements.
- Handling terminations of rental agreements.
- Filing and following-up action for evacuation regarding the leased property.
- Collection of rentage through enforcement procedures.
- Filing lawsuit for determination, calculation and renewal of the rentage and following upsuch a lawsuit.
One of the significant benefits of working with Mesci Law Firm’s real estate and construction lawyers in Istanbul is their in-depth knowledge of the local real estate market in Istanbul. Their lawyers have a wealth of experience working with local property developers, construction companies, and real estate agents, giving them the insight into the trends and challenges in the local market. This allows them to provide clients with accurate and up-to-date information on the local real estate market, helping clients make informed decisions when investing in property in Istanbul.
Turkey Construction Law
Turkey has a growing construction industry, with many local and international companies involved in a range of construction projects, from residential buildings to large-scale infrastructure projects. As with any industry, construction law plays a critical role in ensuring that all parties involved in a construction project adhere to legal requirements, regulations and contracts. Turkey construction law is regulated by a range of laws, including 6098 numbered Turkish Code of Obligations, 2644 numbered Turkish Land Registry Law, Articles of 4721 numbered Turkish Civil Code related to property ownership, possession and land registry, 3194 numbered Law on Public Improvement, 5543 numbered Settlement Law, 6203 numbered Law of Expropriation, 1319 numbered Real Estate Tax Law, 6570 numbered Law on Property Rents, 3402 numbered Law on Cadastres and many other laws. These laws set out the legal framework for construction projects, including requirements related to building permits, zoning regulations, and construction contracts.
Do you need a lawyer to buy property in Turkey?
Buying a property in Turkey can be a complex legal process, especially for our foreigner clients who are not familiar with legal system of Turkey. As such, many people wonder if it is necessary to hire a lawyer when buying property in Turkey. While it is not a legal requirement to hire a lawyer to purchase a real estate property in Turkey, there are several reasons why doing so can be beneficial for clients. First of all, a lawyer can provide expert advice and guidance throughout the buying process. Your lawyer can help you to ensure that all legal requirements are met and the necessary paperwork is completed in a correct way which will enable the purchase transaction will be carried out smoothly. On the other hand hiring a lawyer for purchasing a property in Turkey can protect your interests better. A lawyer can conduct due diligence and advise you on any potential risk or issues that may arise during the buying process and help you take steps to minimize those risks.
What is power of attorney in real estate Turkey?
Power of Attorney in real estate Turkey occurs when a foreigner real estate property buyer or seller give authorization to their legal counsel to handle their transactions while purchasing or selling a real estate property. Power of attorney can also bear the authorities related to managing the property alternatively if you are willing to rent out the real estate property you will buy after purchasing the property. Turkish law requires all property transactions to be conducted in Turkish, which can be a significant barrier for non-native speakers. By granting a power of attorney to a trusted lawyer, foreing buyers can ensure that their interests are protected and that all transactions are conducted properly. In a power of attorney for purchasing real estate in Turkey, according to Article 504 of the 6098 numbered Turkish Code of Obligations, there must be a special authorization for real estate buying and selling before the Land Registry. The power of attorney to be issued in Turkey regarding selling or buying a real estate property shall be issued in statutory form power of attorney before a Notary Public. If you are not based in Turkey, you can apply to Turkish Consulate based in your country of residence for issuance of the power of attorney. The application must be made with your national identity card, passport and 2 passport-sized photos. It is mandatory to have the persons photo in the power of attorney for buying and selling real estate.
Can foreigners buy real estate in Turkey?
Yes, foreigners are allowed to buy real estate in Turkey. Details of buying a property in Turkey are regulated under 2644 numbered Turkish Land Registry Code, Article 35 and 36. Pursuant to Article 35 of 2644 numbered Turkish Land Registry Code, foreign real persons, who are citizens of the countries designated by the President of the Turkish Republic, may acquire real estate and limited rights in Turkey, provided that legal restrictions are complied with, in terms of internatinoal bilateral relations and in cases where the countries’ interests so require. On the other hand, there are some legal restrictions on the types of properties that foreigners can buy in Turkey. For example, non-Turkish citizens are not allowed to buy properties in certain areas designated as military zones. And additionally, there are limits on the amount of the land that can be purchased by foreigners in certain regions.
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