Introduction
“Please get a consultation with a real estate attorney in Turkey during your investment to avoid any legal complexity and secure your investment in line with Turkish Law.”
Nowadays, Turkey became a very important destination for buying an apartment, house, or any type of real estate especially with advantages of exchange rates against Turkish Lira. Because the Turkish real estate market price became very attractive for foreign investors to buy any type of real estate in Turkey. Many foreigners are buying apartments in İstanbul, Trabzon, Bursa, Bodrum, Marmaris, Alanya, or Antalya by their intentions of living at that real estate called “residential intention”. Another word the aim of these foreigners is buying apartments or villas in Turkey to be able to live in Turkey or use that property as summer houses, etc.
Some other categories of foreigners are buying the property in Turkey for business reasons such as doing hotel business in Turkey or constructing a large scale of construction projects, using the land for manufacturing or agriculture, etc. These investors aim to do business in Turkey by buying real estate in Turkey and this category called business intended real estate accession.
The Turkish real estate law has been amended several times during the last decade therefore we highly recommend getting a consultation from a Turkish real estate lawyer before buying a property in Turkey.
Buying a property in Turkey stipulated under Law No. 2644 dated 2012, also known as the Land Register Law which provides for the conditions for purchasing any type of real estate: residential property, commercial property, agricultural land, or any other type of field, apartments, houses, villas, etc.
Finding a property for sale in Turkey
Turkey is a large country with many different cities where properties can be purchased. Foreign citizens can buy residential properties or land where they can build houses, while foreign investors have various choices depending on what their activities will be in Turkey. It must be noted that foreigners who want to buy real estate in Turkey to start construction on it must be controlled from deed registry offices, municipalities and related permissions that need to be received from Turkish real estate offices.
The project will be submitted for approval with one of the Turkish ministries, depending on the purpose of the project in Turkey. Our real estate lawyers in Turkey advise foreign citizens to conduct a smooth real estate due diligence process to make sure the property is free of any debts or other technical problems, no matter if they are interested in buying a property in Istanbul, Ankara, Antalya Bursa, Trabzon, Gaziantep, Marmaris, Bodrum or in another city in Turkey.
How to buy a property in Turkey
Step 1- Find the best real estate for sale in Turkey with your particular intention.
Finding the best property for sale in Turkey is a long journey and sometimes it is a very difficult task for a foreign individual or company. Our law firm has been consulting many foreigners to secure their investment and finding the best real estate agents in Turkey in coordination with our specific agreements with many construction companies, real estate agents as well as project owners in Turkey.
Therefore if you have any intention of buying an apartment, commercial land, or any other type of real estate in Turkey you can communicate with us. During this period we send a questionnaire to our clients and understand the real intention by buying the property in Turkey. In line with our clients’ expectations, we propose many options to our clients with trusted projects to avoid any legal complications before or after the purchase of the real estate.
Step-2 Findin a Turkish real estate lawyer
Even if you have found your dream property in Turkey hire a Turkish lawyer for the check of land registry records, municipality records, and bank credit backgrounds of that property with your Turkish real estate lawyer. There are many “so-called” real estate agents in Turkey they are trying to avoid related legal investigations and due diligence steps to receive payments from foreign clients. It is an essential step for any foreign investors to hire a Turkish real estate law firm or a good real estate lawyer in Turkey to secure their investments. The related due diligence takes a short period and secures your investments to avoid unexpected limitations or complications in Turkish market.
Step -3– Deed registry office procedures
All real estate transfers in Turkey must be done before the deed registry office in Turkey to be able to receive legal ownership. The foreigners sometimes might presume that the ownership of a real estate in Turkey might be received via a standard contract. According to Turkish real estate law, all transactions of a real estate must be done before deed registry office and all documents need to be submitted to authorized deed registry office (Tapu Sicil Müdüdrlüğü) and the official transfer of the owner needs to be done by authorized deed registry officers.
Otherwise, if you make any payment to buy a real estate in Turkey based on a simple contract would not be sufficient in line with Turkish Law. Therefore your Turkish real estate lawyer needs to carry out all legal steps before the official deed registry office in Turkey.
Step-4 Buying an apartment or real estate in Turkey is not a simple decision you should take all related steps in line with Turkish Law.
You should appoint a Turkish real estate lawyer or a Turkish real estate law firm with a power of attorney to follow up on all related stages on your behalf. Sometimes foreigners trust some constructor companies or real estate agents in Turkey and they try to avoid hiring a good Turkish real estate lawyer.
This is the biggest mistake you can do during buying a property in Turkey. Because the volume of the investment is high during buying a real estate in Turkey, you should not take the risk and must hire an English speaking real estate lawyer in Istanbul, Ankara, or Antalya. No matter the location of the lawyer but all related legal measures needs to be controlled by the experienced property law firm in Turkey before any engagement.
Step-5 Make the related payments after consulting your real estate lawyer.
Unfortunately, many foreigners made some payments to the real estate agents or construction companies without getting consultation from a real estate lawyer in Turkey and they have been facing many legal problems during their investments in Turkey. Therefore please do not make any payments to real estate agents or consultancy firms or construction companies before being sure that the real estate exists, not sold to other people or any serious restriction is exist on that property in Turkey. The deed registry office will need from you the following documents:
– the title deed of the property;
– identification documents;
– the property value statement document;
– earthquake insurance policy;
– photos of the seller and buyer;
– payment proof for the title deed fee and other taxes, if necessary.
The documents need to be translated and buyers can also use a power of attorney if they cannot be present themselves during the sale process.
Step-6 Pay related taxes and get your deed registry record on your behalf. The deed registry certificate in Turkey a clear indication of the ownership. Therefore at the end of the due diligence period and deed registry transactions you need to receive deed registry certificate from the Land Registry Office. Please be sure that your name and ID details are correctly written on that deed registry certificate to secure and prove your ownership in line with Turkish real estate law.