Protecting a property investment in Türkiye rests on a single rule from which every other safeguard descends: ownership passes by registration, not by contract. Article 705 of Turkish Civil Code No. 4721 (Türk Medenî Kanunu) provides that ownership of immovable property is acquired by registration in the land registry, and Article 706 that a contract transferring it is valid only in official form. From that rule flow five stages, each with its own risks, tools and deadlines: legal checks before purchase; transfer of title at the land registry directorate; off-plan purchase and delivery; dispute and fraud; and succession.
What most often costs owners their rights is not obscurity in the law but sequence: a sum paid before the registry was checked, a contract signed before the construction permit issued, a period that expired before the right-holder knew it existed. This guide sets out the whole chain as it stands as at September 2026, pointing at each stage to the detailed treatment. Acquisition of Turkish citizenship through investment lies outside its scope.
Stage one: what is checked before any money is paid?
Pre-purchase legal review is the only stage that costs little and prevents much, and the land registry makes it possible. Under Article 1020 of the Civil Code the registry is public: anyone who shows a legitimate interest may inspect or copy the property’s folio and its supporting documents, and no one may plead ignorance of a registered entry. The published guidance of the General Directorate of Land Registry and Cadastre (TKGM) expressly recommends confirming with the competent land registry directorate, before buying, whether the property is burdened by a mortgage (ipotek), an attachment (haciz) or any other bar to sale.
At a minimum the review covers: the current ownership entry and the owner’s identity and capacity; the annotations (şerh) on the folio; the type of ownership, whether condominium ownership (kat mülkiyeti) over a completed building or construction servitude (kat irtifakı) over one not yet completed, a distinction drawn in Articles 1 to 3 of Condominium Law No. 634; and the existence of a construction permit and an occupancy permit (iskân / yapı kullanma izni). Article 30 of Zoning Law No. 3194 requires the occupancy permit before a completed building may be used, and Article 31 provides that the date of the permit is the date the building is deemed completed and that buildings without it are not connected to electricity, water and sewerage. Article 30 adds that the permit does not relieve the owner of liability for non-compliance with the law or the permit: it is a condition of lawful use, not a certificate of sound construction. Which transactions are blocked without it is set out in buying a Turkish apartment without an occupancy permit.
Official enquiry channels precede any visit: parselsorgu.tkgm.gov.tr returns basic parcel data without personal information; the title-deed data enquiry on e-Devlet lets an authenticated user view his or her own entries; appointments are booked through randevu.tkgm.gov.tr or the Alo 181 call centre. Under the official guidance a residence permit is not a condition of a foreign national’s acquisition, and disputes concerning the property itself are heard where it is located. The wider purchase process is described in buying property in Türkiye as a foreigner.
Stage two: how does ownership actually pass?
Transfer of ownership is an official act, not a private agreement. Under Article 26 of Land Registry Law No. 2644 (Tapu Kanunu), the official deed (resmî senet) transferring ownership or creating rights in rem is drawn up by the land registry director or registry officers. Law No. 7181 of 4 July 2019 added that where the parties are at different directorates or at overseas offices, each party’s declaration may be taken separately. Law No. 7413 of 2022 then inserted Article 61/A into Notaries Law No. 1512, allowing the sale to be concluded before a notary as well, through the land registry information system; in practice the official deed at the directorate remains the standard route.
The documents for a purchase application, as published by TKGM, are: the title deed or the property’s identifying data; a passport or national identity card, with certified translation where required; the instrument of representation if buying by power of attorney; the municipality’s current-value (rayiç) certificate; the compulsory earthquake insurance (DASK) policy for buildings; recent photographs; and a sworn interpreter if a party does not speak Turkish. The DASK policy is not a formality: Article 11 of Disaster Insurance Law No. 6305 bars land registry directorates from registering a transaction unless a policy valid on the transaction date is documented, and Article 10 requires the policy to be renewed every year.
A foreign buyer also files the foreign-currency purchase certificate (Döviz Alım Belgesi / DAB) required since 24 January 2022: the foreign currency for the price is sold to a bank before the transfer, and the lira amount is recorded in the deed as the value on which duty is calculated. A valuation report, by contrast, has not been required for foreign nationals’ transactions other than those tied to citizenship acquisition since 9 December 2024, under TKGM Circular 2024/4 as amended, which replaced the earlier regime under Circular 2019/1; outdated information on this point still circulates.
The registry also fixes the buyer’s position later on: Article 1023 protects a person who acquires a right in rem relying in good faith on the entry, while Article 1024 withholds that protection from anyone who knew, or ought to have known, that the entry had no valid basis. Good faith is not an assertion; it is the result of a review that can be proved.
Who may acquire, and where?
Before procedure comes capacity. Article 35 of Land Registry Law No. 2644 allows nationals of countries designated by presidential decision to acquire immovable property and limited rights in rem within two ceilings: 30 hectares per person nationwide, and 10% of the privately owned surface area of the district (ilçe). A mortgage created in favour of a foreign national is not subject to these limits. A territorial restriction is added by Law No. 2565 on military forbidden zones and security zones, checked inside the registry system against the ministries’ maps and coordinates. Companies incorporated in Türkiye in which foreign investors hold 50% or more are governed by a separate regime in Article 36. The full picture is covered in our real estate practice section.
Whoever buys unbuilt land must submit the development project to the competent ministry within two years; the approved project is noted on the folio and its execution monitored. The sanction for breach of Article 35, or for use of the property contrary to the purpose of acquisition, is liquidation within a period set by the Ministry of Finance not exceeding one year, failing which the State liquidates the property and pays the proceeds to the person entitled.
Buying from abroad: what are the requirements for a power of attorney executed outside Türkiye?
Many buyers cannot attend in person and a power of attorney is the answer, but it is also the point most sensitive to form. Article 89 of Notaries Law No. 1512 requires powers of attorney that call for a land registry transaction to be drawn up in düzenleme form (the notary drafts the instrument), not merely by certification of a signature. Under TKGM Circular 2015/5, a power of attorney executed abroad is accepted in one of three forms: drawn up by a Turkish consul in düzenleme form; drawn up in a Hague Convention State by the locally competent authority, in the local language, with the principal’s photograph and an apostille; or drawn up by a foreign notary in the local language with the principal’s photograph and legalised in chain by the notary’s superior authority and the Turkish consulate.
Türkiye is a party to the Hague Convention of 5 October 1961 Abolishing the Requirement of Legalisation for Foreign Public Documents, in force for it since 29 September 1985, so an apostilled power of attorney needs no further verification. A certified Turkish translation is also required; the instrument must authorise the specific transaction; and it must rest on a passport or national identity card, not a travel document, residence permit or driving licence. A power of attorney drawn up by a foreign notary is not accepted if written in Turkish only, because it must be in the official language of the country of execution, although both texts may appear in the same instrument.
Stage three: where do the risks lie in an off-plan purchase?
The pre-paid housing sale (ön ödemeli konut satışı) is the stage at which the buyer pays before the thing bought exists, which is why it is surrounded by detailed protection in Articles 40 to 45 of Consumer Protection Law No. 6502. The first safeguard precedes the contract itself: no pre-paid housing sale contract may be concluded with a consumer before the construction permit (yapı ruhsatı) has been obtained, and the consumer must receive the pre-contractual information form at least one day before signing.
Form is mandatory too: registration at the land registry, or a promise to sell drawn up before a notary in düzenleme form. The seller may not invoke invalidity against the consumer, and may not ask for any payment or obligating document before a valid contract exists. Article 42 and the Regulation require the seller, in projects of 30 or more units, to arrange building completion insurance before sales begin or one of three alternatives: a bank letter of guarantee; the progress-payment (hakediş) system, under which consumers’ payments are held in a blocked bank account and released only in proportion to construction progress; or security through linked credit (bağlı kredi). Compensation and security under building completion insurance fall outside any bankruptcy or liquidation estate and cannot be attached.
The deadlines are the nerve of this stage: delivery within the period undertaken and in any event within 48 months of the contract date; withdrawal (cayma) within 14 days without reasons or penalty, served through a notary, with payments returned within 14 days of the notice arriving; and rescission (dönme) up to 24 months from the contract date without reasons, against the statutory costs and a graduated deduction of at most 2% in the first three months, 4% to the sixth month, 6% to the twelfth and 8% to the twenty-fourth. Whatever is due back must be returned within 180 days of the rescission notice arriving. The mechanics are set out in late delivery of an off-plan apartment and the buyer’s rights.
There are situations in which the consumer rescinds without paying anything at all: where the seller has not performed its obligations or has not performed them properly; on the consumer’s death or permanent loss of earning capacity; where the seller rejects a proposal to convert the contract into an instalment sale; and where the same home has been sold to more than one consumer. If the project is altered, the consumer must be informed in writing or on a durable medium and may rescind within one month at no cost.
What if delivery is late or defects appear in the building?
Delay and defect are distinct problems. In delay, the debtor is in default upon the creditor’s notice, or automatically once the day fixed for performance passes where that day was agreed between the parties (Article 117 of Turkish Code of Obligations No. 6098). The creditor then grants an appropriate additional period, unless that would be pointless or the deadline was absolute, after which three options open: performance plus delay damages; abandoning performance and claiming positive damages; or termination with restitution. A penalty for late performance may be claimed alongside the principal obligation unless the creditor has expressly waived it or accepted performance without reservation (Article 179), which is precisely where many buyers lose their claim: by taking the keys without a written reservation. A court reduces an excessive penalty of its own motion (Article 182).
As for defects, a home falls within the definition of “goods” in Law No. 6502, so the defective-goods rules apply. Goods are defective where they lack the qualities they should objectively possess, including those stated in advertisements and promotional websites. A defect appearing within six months of delivery is presumed to have existed at delivery, and the seller must prove otherwise (Article 10). The consumer has four options: rescission, a proportionate price reduction, repair at the seller’s cost, or replacement, and a request for repair or replacement in a home must be met within 60 working days, failing which the other options reopen, with damages under the general rules (Article 11). Seller, producer and importer are jointly and severally liable for repair and replacement. The liability period is 5 years from delivery, and no limitation period applies at all where the defect was concealed by gross fault or fraud (Article 12). How these periods compare with the regime outside consumer law is set out in construction defects and warranty periods in Türkiye.
Stage four: the tools for confronting fraud and dispute
The trouble usually begins before the official contract, at the deposit. Turkish law does not treat it as the price of walking away: a sum handed over on conclusion of a contract is deemed earnest money (bağlanma parası), evidence that the contract was concluded and deductible from the principal debt, not a forfeit for withdrawal (Article 177 of the Code of Obligations). Neither party may withdraw by forfeiting the sum or returning double unless withdrawal money (cayma parası) was expressly agreed under Article 178. And because a sale of immovable property and a promise to sell are valid only in official form (Article 237 of the same Code and Article 89 of the Notaries Law), a “preliminary contract” drafted at an estate agency does not stand in for a promise to sell. The recovery routes are set out in recovering a property deposit (kapora) in Türkiye.
On the criminal side, fraud (dolandırıcılık) carries one to five years’ imprisonment and a judicial fine of up to 5,000 days in its simple form (Article 157 of Penal Code No. 5237) and three to ten years in its aggravated form (Article 158). Among the aggravated forms listed are fraud committed by merchants or company managers, or in the name of a company in the course of its commercial activity, and fraud using information systems or banks as instruments, where the minimum rises to four years and the fine to at least twice the benefit obtained; characterisation of the facts is for the prosecutor and the court. The sentence is increased by half where three or more persons act together, and doubled where the offence is committed within a criminal organisation. Prosecution is ex officio and does not depend on a complaint, unlike fraud committed to collect a debt arising from a legal relationship (Article 159). The limitation period is 8 years for simple fraud and 15 years for the aggravated form (Article 66).
Two civil tracks run alongside. The first is the action for cancellation of the entry and registration of title (tapu iptali ve tescil) under Article 1025 of the Civil Code, open to anyone whose right in rem has been harmed by an entry without valid basis or by an unlawful deletion or alteration, subject to the rights of good-faith third parties and to compensation claims. The second is unjust enrichment, to recover what was paid without valid basis, time-barred two years from knowledge of the right to recover and in any event ten years from the enrichment (Article 82 of the Code of Obligations). The action is backed by an interim injunction (ihtiyati tedbir) under Article 389 of Civil Procedure Law No. 6100 preventing transfer of the disputed property, or by a provisional attachment (ihtiyati haciz) under Article 257 of Enforcement and Bankruptcy Law No. 2004 against security fixed by the court, which the creditor must follow within seven days with an enforcement request or an action, failing which it lapses (Article 264 of the same Law). The recurring patterns and the responses to them are described in types of real estate fraud and remedies in Türkiye.
Where the counterparty is not a fraudster but insolvent, the dispute moves into a collective procedure before the commercial court of first instance: a provisional period of three months, extendable by two, then a definitive period of one year, extendable by six months, during which enforcement is stayed and attachment and injunction orders are not executed. The claim must be registered within 15 days of the commissioner’s announcement. Annotating a promise to sell on the folio makes the personal right enforceable against later acquirers (Article 1009 of the Civil Code), but it creates no mortgage and confers no priority; the buyer’s repayment claim remains an ordinary unsecured debt. The consequences are explained in developer bankruptcy and konkordato: the buyers’ position.
Which forum, and which deadline?
| Type of dispute | Competent forum | Deadline or statutory period |
|---|---|---|
| Withdrawal from a pre-paid housing sale | Notice through a notary | 14 days from the contract; refund within 14 days of the notice arriving |
| Rescission of a pre-paid housing sale | Notice through a notary, then the consumer court if disputed | Up to 24 months from the contract; refund within 180 days of the notice arriving |
| Late delivery of an off-plan home | Consumer arbitration committee below TRY 186,000 (2026), otherwise the consumer court | Delivery within the agreed period and in any event within 48 months of the contract date |
| Defects in a home sold to a consumer | Consumer arbitration committee or consumer court, by value | 5 years from delivery; no limitation where the defect was concealed by gross fault or fraud |
| Building defects outside consumer law | Competent civil court | 5 years from transfer of ownership, 20 years where the seller was grossly at fault |
| Defects under a works contract (eser) | Competent civil court | 5 years from delivery for buildings, 20 years where the contractor was grossly at fault; duty to inspect and notify promptly |
| Cancellation of entry and registration of title (entry without basis) | Court of the place where the property is located | Excluded from compulsory mediation as a dispute over the property itself (ayn) |
| Recovery of sums paid without basis (unjust enrichment) | Competent civil court | 2 years from knowledge of the right to recover, 10 years from the enrichment |
| Property fraud (criminal track) | Public prosecutor or police; embassies and consulates for offences abroad | Limitation: 8 years for simple fraud, 15 for aggravated fraud |
| Developer insolvency (konkordato) | Commercial court of first instance | Registration of the claim within 15 days of the commissioner’s announcement |
| Succession disputes | Court of the deceased’s last domicile in Türkiye, otherwise the court of the place where estate assets are located | Inheritance and transfer tax return: 4, 6 or 8 months depending on where the death occurred and where the taxpayer is |
Procedural rules govern the whole table. Consumer claims are exempt from the fees under Fees Law No. 492, may be brought where the consumer is domiciled, and are heard under the simplified procedure. Mediation is a condition of suit before the consumer court, except for disputes within the arbitration committees’ jurisdiction, challenges to their decisions, and disputes arising from the property itself (ayn) such as the cancellation-of-entry action (Article 73/A). The sanction for missing the first session is not applied against the consumer, and the Ministry of Justice budget bears the consumer’s mediation fee in the cases listed by law, up to two hours’ fee. Applying to the mediation office suspends limitation and forfeiture periods until the final minutes are drawn up, and the mediator completes the task within three weeks, extendable by one. The route is walked through in suing a developer in the Turkish consumer courts.
Where the dispute has a foreign element, Article 45 of Law No. 5718 on Private International Law lets the consumer choose between the Turkish courts of his or her own domicile or habitual residence and those of the other party’s place of business or domicile, and Article 26 preserves the minimum mandatory protection of the law of the consumer’s habitual residence even where another law was chosen. In technical disputes, of which building defects are the model, the court takes evidence from a court-appointed expert witness (bilirkişi) under Article 266 of the Civil Procedure Law, but not on questions resolvable by general knowledge or by the legal knowledge the judicial profession requires.
Stage five: what happens to the property after the owner’s death?
The last stage is the one most often left unplanned. The decisive rule is that immovable property located in Türkiye is governed by Turkish law in matters of succession, whatever the deceased’s nationality, under Article 20 of Law No. 5718: succession is governed by the deceased’s national law, but Turkish law applies to immovable property located in Türkiye. The consequence is that the Turkish rules on reserved shares (saklı pay) apply to the property whatever the law of the domicile or nationality.
Those shares, under Article 506 of the Civil Code, are: half the statutory share for descendants; a quarter for each parent; and, for the surviving spouse, the whole statutory share when inheriting alongside descendants or the parents’ line, and three-quarters otherwise. Siblings’ reserved share was abolished in 2007. The testator may dispose only of the excess. A will may take one of three forms: official, before a competent officer with two witnesses; handwritten by the testator from beginning to end, dated by day, month and year and signed; or oral, in extraordinary circumstances only. As to form, a will is accepted if it satisfies the law of the place where it was made, the law governing its substance, or the deceased’s national law; Türkiye is a party to the Hague Convention of 1961 on the Conflicts of Laws relating to the Form of Testamentary Dispositions, in force for it since 22 October 1983, which governs form but not substance.
Procedurally, the heirs need a certificate of inheritance (mirasçılık belgesi), and here is a rule that catches many out: a notary may not issue it where the applicants are foreign nationals, under Article 71/B of Notaries Law No. 1512, so jurisdiction lies with the civil court of peace under Article 598 of the Civil Code. Article 37 of the Land Registry Law points the same way: a foreign national’s inheritance is registered on a certificate issued by a Turkish court, or a foreign certificate confirmed by a Turkish court. Where the heirs hold a foreign judgment concerning the estate, giving it administrative effect in Türkiye, such as an entry in the land registry, requires recognition (tanıma) before a Turkish court under Article 58 of Law No. 5718, with two observations: reciprocity is not required for recognition, only for enforcement; and one condition of acceptance is that the judgment does not concern a matter within the exclusive jurisdiction of the Turkish courts. The procedure is described in enforcement and recognition of foreign judgments in Türkiye.
A final limit remains. Property passing by inheritance beyond the Article 35 ceilings, or to a person who does not satisfy the conditions for acquisition, must be transferred within a period set by the Ministry of Finance not exceeding one year, failing which the State liquidates it and pays the proceeds to the person entitled. The inheritance right is protected, but it may be converted into cash against the heir’s wishes.
What are the tax costs attached to all of this?
Tax figures change every year, so they are always read with their date. For 2026 the main items are as follows. Title-deed duty on a sale for consideration is 20 per thousand, collected from the transferor and the transferee separately under Tariff No. (4) annexed to Fees Law No. 492, on the declared price, which may not be below the property-tax value. The other items differ: partition of estate property among heirs 22.77 per thousand; execution of wills 11.38 per thousand; gifts inter vivos 68.31 per thousand. No sale duty is applied to registration of a transfer by inheritance.
Inheritance and transfer tax applies to assets located in Türkiye whatever the heir’s nationality (Article 1 of Inheritance and Transfer Tax Law No. 7338). For 2026, TRY 2,907,136 of each descendant’s share and of the spouse’s share is exempt, the spouse’s exempt amount rising to TRY 5,817,845 where there are no descendants, and TRY 66,935 is exempt in gratuitous transfers. The inheritance brackets run from 1% on the first TRY 3,000,000 to 10% on the portion above TRY 55,000,000. Returns are filed within 4 months of a death in Türkiye where the taxpayers are in Türkiye and 6 months where they are abroad; for a death outside Türkiye the periods are 4, 6 or 8 months depending on where the taxpayer is (Article 9).
Annual property tax under Law No. 1319 is 1 per thousand for dwellings, 2 for other buildings, 1 for land and 3 for building plots (arsa), all doubled within metropolitan municipality boundaries and adjacent areas. 2026 is a general revaluation year, and the increase has been capped by statute: the 2026 tax value may not exceed three times the 2025 value, under Provisional Article 23 of Law No. 1319 as amended by Law No. 7566 of 2025. The valuable housing tax for 2026 applies to dwellings whose tax value exceeds TRY 17,711,000, at 3, 6 and 10 per thousand by bracket. Add to these the annual renewal of the DASK policy.
Bringing the chain together
The five stages are links in a single chain: a check skipped at stage one surfaces at stage four; the form tolerated at the deposit determines whether there is an enforceable right at all; the will that is put off becomes a dispute among heirs before a Turkish court applying a law they may not have expected. What all five stages share is a single element: the deadline. Turkish law grants the buyer and owner wide rights, but it makes every one of them conditional on a clock: 14 days, 60 working days, 15 days, 180 days, two years, five years, and time that has run is not recovered.
A property file is therefore better treated as an ongoing matter than a completed transaction: an entry to re-check, a policy to renew, a return to file on time, documents to keep. For a review of your own position, see our real estate practice.
Related Practice Areas and Court Guides
- Real Estate & Property Law: property purchases by foreign nationals, title-deed review and lease disputes.
- Buying Property in Türkiye as a Foreigner: who may acquire under Article 35, taxes and the transfer process.
- Buying a Turkish Apartment Without an Occupancy Permit: which transactions Articles 30–31 of the Zoning Law block.
- Legal Matters in Istanbul for Foreign Clients and Companies: representation before the real estate and commercial courts in Istanbul.
