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.