Real estate agent in Turkey

How familiar your realestate agency, the buyer or seller, your neighbor or your friend may seem, how much you want to have that apartment or sell your property, how good the feeling may be: Buying and selling is done with your MIND.

Buying or selling a property consist two essential legal parts:

1. Concluding a purchase contract and
2. The actual transfer of ownership at the Tapu Office.

Other than that you are used to in your own country, the role of the Turkish notary, at the conclusion of a contract as well in controlling properly the transfer of ownership, is very limited. The buyer must watch for himself that there is a full purchase agreement signed.

For the preparation of a full contract you must have the correct information. This information is only available in the public records of the Tapu office. The public registers of the Tapu office include the necessary legal facts about the property. Such as who owns the property and how is the state of the object you want to purchase. You can check whether there is a mortgage or a seizure registered. Public records are open to everyone.

You already understand that a contract with a broker has no legal value unless the broker is entitled through a notarized power of attorney to actually sell the property.

By concluding a contract, you are not there yet. The conclusion of a contract does not require the seller to deliver the house to you, unless a notarial deed of pledge of delivery is registered at the Tapu office. After closing a purchase you must ensure that the payment and the transfer and registration at the Tapu office runs smoothly.

As long as you have not acquired the right of ownership, I advise you to be careful with payments. If you have to do all payments, you should ask for full security. Should it happen that the transfer does not take place, you must be sure that you receive your deposit back unconditionally. A confession of guilt (the senet) or check only offer security as the amount effectively is covered by a bank.

I wish you a safe (re) sale and a lot of living pleasure in Turkey!

No Average House Sale

Over the past 10 years I have written several articles about buying a property in Turkey. My purpose was and still is to warn the foreign buyer about the pitfalls of the Turkish purchase procedure, which is different in design as in most Western European countries.

This time I am not writing about PURCHASİNG but SELLİNG a home. For the last few years more and more foreigners decided to sell their vacation home on their own unfortunately with all kind of problems. On the basis of the following case I want to explain a sales model further on unforeseen problems.

Case Model
Mr. Wiseguy sells his apartment for an X amount and obtains a deposit of 10,000 euro from the purchaser. The rest will be paid within 3 months at the tapu transfer. In the meantime, the buyer can live in the apartment. Private sales agreement is drawn up and signed. The purchaser removes the old furniture out and even renovates the apartment to his taste. The seller waits in vain for the final payment. However, the payment is not forthcoming. The purchaser does not want to leave the house (yet). After 6 months the seller wonders how he can get back his furniture and his home. And whether if he can retain the deposit of 10,000 euro.

Unfortunately you can, based on a private document, not enforce the sale. A private sales contract is due to Turkish Property Law unenforceable. In other words, you can not oblige the buyer to purchase the home. A private sales contract proves at most the contractual relationship between the buyer and the seller.

You can request through a judicial lawsuit or an extrajudicial complaints script the evacuation through the competent authorities. However, the seller has the right to reclaim his deposit. Made even stronger; he does not need to leave the house as long as he does not have his deposit returned.

You'll wonder how about the period of stay of the buyer in the apartment.  It is disappointing, but Mr. Wiseguy has no right to claim any rent or rights over the stay period.

What did the seller do better in this case? The seller had after exceeding the time limit stated in the contract, legal notice the buyer that he should pay immediately or to vacate the property and in the absence of evacuation claim rent for use of the apartment.

And also disappointing or even more frustrating is that, if the seller did not point out clearly in the contract which immovable goods is been delivered, you will not be able to claim the value of the lost immovable goods when you have eventually your apartment back.

If you do not immediately receive the full purchase price when you sell your property, make sure you seek advice on the proper advantages and disadvantages of private contracts and further possibilities of a sale.

Your Mobile Phone in Turkey

Since June 15, 2012 in Turkey; there is a statutory provision on the registration of mobile devices obtained from abroad.

Use of mobile phones from abroad is only possible if the relevant device is registered with the local tax authorities.
In previous years, the period of registration was 30 days. This period is extended in July 2014 for 60 days. In other words, the mobile device must be registered at the Tax authorities within 2 months after customs entry.

 
An administrative amount of 131,50 TL is been charged for the registration with the tax authorities for march 2015.

If you have a Turkish ID, then the next step is to buy an e-devlet şifresi (a Turkish DigiD) at the local post office for 2 TL and register the IMEI number so that you can use your device within 24 hours. If you do not have a Turkish ID, then you can go to the appropriate subscriber registration center (AVEA Türkcell, Vodafone) to complete your registration.