Real Estate Law

For many individuals and companies, property is their most valuable asset, yet its legal position cannot be understood simply by looking at the title deed. An annotation in the land register, a change in the zoning plan or one co-owner refusing to consent to a sale can affect a sale or use for years. Real estate law therefore calls both for careful review before a transaction and, when a dispute arises, for the right action to be brought within the right time limit.

The main sources in this area are the property law provisions of Turkish Civil Code No. 4721 (TMK), Turkish Code of Obligations No. 6098 (TBK), Land Registry Law No. 2644, Condominium Law No. 634, Zoning Law No. 3194 and Expropriation Law No. 2942. Leases, title deed cancellation actions, construction contracts and urban transformation are covered on separate pages.

What the land register shows, and what it does not

Under Turkish law, ownership of immovable property is, as a rule, acquired by registration (TMK Art. 705). In the cases listed in the Code, such as inheritance, court judgment, enforcement and expropriation, ownership passes before registration; however, the owner cannot dispose of the property in the land register until it is registered. The land register is public, and anyone who credibly shows a legitimate interest may inspect the records (TMK Art. 1020).

A third party who acquires a right relying in good faith on the register is protected (TMK Art. 1023). This rule is a strong safeguard for buyers, but it has limits: a person who knew or should have known that a registration was improper cannot benefit from it (TMK Art. 1024). The State is liable for damage arising from the keeping of the land register and has recourse against the officials at fault (TMK Art. 1007).

Some information that directly affects the property does not appear in the land register. The zoning status, whether the building complies with its permit and plans, whether an occupancy permit has been obtained and whether the property has been designated as a risky building must be obtained separately from the municipality and other relevant authorities.

The sale process and formal requirements

Contracts aimed at transferring ownership of immovable property are not valid unless made in official form (TMK Art. 706; TBK Art. 237). The official deed is drawn up at the land registry office (Land Registry Law Art. 26) or, since 1 July 2023, by a notary authorised for this purpose (Notaries Law Arts. 60 and 61/A). "Sale contracts" made informally, in ordinary written form or signed only before an agent do not transfer ownership and are often invalid even between the parties; a separate action may be needed to recover the price paid.

Where the sale is to take place at a later date, the parties sign a promise-to-sell agreement for the property. This agreement must be drawn up by a notary in official form; a text merely certified by a notary does not meet the validity requirement. Annotating the promise to sell in the land register also protects the buyer against persons who later acquire the property. If the promised sale is not completed, the buyer may bring an action for cancellation of title and registration.

On sale, title deed fees are charged to both buyer and seller under Fees Law No. 492. As fee rates and the rules on the value to be declared may change, the amount on the day of the transaction should be checked in the current announcements of the General Directorate of Land Registry and Cadastre (TKGM). Declaring a price below the real value leads both to tax audits and to problems of proof between the parties later on.

What to check before buying

Pre-purchase review (due diligence) means establishing the legal and factual position of the property before the transaction. Its scope depends on the type of property; for a home purchase it may be limited to a few documents, while buying land or a commercial building requires a detailed review of the zoning and permit history. In practice, the following are usually checked:

• Current land register record: owners and shares, attachments, interim injunctions, promise-to-sell and lease annotations, mortgages and easements
• Declarations section: records such as the management plan, risky building designation and family home annotation
• Zoning status, approved architectural plans, building permit and occupancy permit
• Whether construction servitude (kat irtifakı) or condominium ownership (kat mülkiyeti) has been established, and whether the unit matches the plans
• Arrears of maintenance fees and common charges and, if there is a tenant, the lease and its term
• The seller's authority to act; for sales under a power of attorney, its scope and currency

For off-plan home purchases, the rules on pre-paid housing sales under Consumer Protection Law No. 6502 and the contractor's capacity to complete construction also become important. These issues are covered separately on the Construction Law page.

Acquisition of property by foreign nationals

Foreign individuals may acquire property in Türkiye within the framework of Article 35 of the Land Registry Law. Under the Law, the total area of property a foreign individual may acquire across the country may not, as a rule, exceed thirty hectares, and the area foreign nationals may acquire in a district may not exceed ten percent of the area subject to private ownership in that district. Acquisition in military restricted zones and security zones requires permission and in some areas is not possible at all. Acquisitions by Turkish companies with foreign capital are subject to a different permission process.

If the acquisition is also intended to support a citizenship application, the method of payment, the valuation report and the annotations in the land register are particularly important. See the Turkish Citizenship by Investment page and our article on citizenship through real estate investment and problems in practice.

Condominiums and residential complex management

Most disputes in apartment buildings and residential complexes arise under Condominium Law No. 634: unauthorised use of common areas, alterations contrary to the plans, activities contrary to the management plan and non-payment of common charges are the most common. Unit owners contribute to common charges according to the principles set out in the Law and the management plan; some charges are shared equally and some in proportion to land shares. For unit owners who do not pay on time, the Law provides for late payment compensation of five percent per month (Condominium Law Art. 20). The civil court of peace has jurisdiction over these disputes.

Co-ownership: partition and pre-emption

Property owned by several people is very common, particularly where it was inherited. If the co-owners cannot agree, each of them may request partition (TMK Art. 698; Art. 642 for joint ownership). The court first considers whether the property can be divided in kind; if division is not possible or would significantly reduce its value, it orders a sale (TMK Art. 699). Under Article 18/B added to Mediation in Civil Disputes Law No. 6325, since 1 September 2023 applying to a mediator before filing such an action has been a mandatory pre-condition.

Law No. 7589, published in the Official Gazette of 31 July 2026, also changed the sale procedure in the Enforcement and Bankruptcy Law. According to published commentary, for property in which all co-owners acquired their shares by inheritance and there are no owners other than the heirs, the first auction will be held only among the heir owners, and if there is no buyer, the second auction will be open to everyone. The text of the Law should be relied on for the details of application and the transitional provisions.

If a co-owner sells their share to a third party, the other co-owners may exercise their right of pre-emption (TMK Art. 732). The sale is notified to the other co-owners through a notary by the buyer or seller; the pre-emption action must be filed within three months of this notification and in any case within one year of the sale (TMK Art. 733). The one-year outer limit was reduced from two years by Law No. 7571, published in the Official Gazette of 25 December 2025; the two-year period applies to sales before that date. The same amendment also excluded pre-emption for sales under the State Tender Law. Following the amendment by Law No. 7571, the co-owner bringing the action must deposit in cash, within a final period set by the judge, the market value of the share sold as determined by the judge and the title deed costs borne by the buyer; this rule also applies to actions filed before the amendment (TMK Art. 734).

Preventing interference, use compensation and adverse possession

An owner may bring a recovery action against a person who unlawfully holds their property, and may also request that any unlawful interference be stopped (TMK Art. 683). Compensation claimed for income lost during unlawful use is called ecrimisil in practice and, as a rule, is accepted as claimable for the five-year period preceding the action. Where one co-owner uses the common property alone, additional conditions apply to the other co-owners' claims for use compensation.

A person who has possessed property not registered in the land register as owner, without dispute and without interruption for twenty years, may request registration (extraordinary adverse possession, TMK Art. 713). The same possibility exists for property whose registered owner cannot be identified or who died or was declared missing twenty years ago.

Expropriation and de facto expropriation

The administration may expropriate privately owned property in the public interest under Expropriation Law No. 2942. If no agreement is reached, the administration brings an action for determination of compensation and registration (Art. 10). The time limit for the owner to bring an annulment action in the administrative courts against the expropriation, or a correction action in the civil courts against material errors, is thirty days from notification (Art. 14). Where the administration takes possession of property without a proper expropriation, or reserves property for public services in a zoning plan and then takes no action for a long time, compensation may be claimed within the framework of provisional Article 6 of the Law and case law.

Common problems

Many disputes arise from small details missed at the time of the transaction. Typical examples include discovering later that the unit in the land register is not the one actually being used, problems with loans or utility connections in a building without an occupancy permit, a new owner of a tenanted property not knowing that they take over the lease, and a principal later disputing a sale made under a power of attorney. For inherited property, one co-owner being abroad or unreachable can block decisions on sale and use for a long time.

Our work in this area

We carry out pre-purchase reviews for residential, land and commercial property acquisitions and draft or review promise-to-sell agreements, preliminary protocols and transfer agreements. We handle mediation and litigation in condominium, partition, pre-emption, interference, use compensation and expropriation disputes. We follow pre-transaction checks and the land registry process for foreign clients' property acquisitions.

Related pages: Lease Law, Title Deed Cancellation and Registration Actions, Urban Transformation and Zoning Law and, from a sector perspective, Real Estate.

Areas covered under this heading

Main topics

• Property sales and promise-to-sell agreements (TMK Art. 706, TBK Art. 237)
• Pre-purchase review of title, zoning and building permits
• Acquisition of property by foreign nationals (Land Registry Law Art. 35)
• Condominium and residential complex disputes (Law No. 634)
• Partition actions (TMK Arts. 698–699, 642)
• Pre-emption actions (TMK Arts. 732–734)
• Actions to prevent interference and claims for use compensation (ecrimisil) (TMK Art. 683)
• Expropriation and de facto expropriation (Law No. 2942)

Frequently asked questions

Legislation and sources

• Turkish Civil Code No. 4721 (in Turkish)
• Turkish Code of Obligations No. 6098 (in Turkish)
• Land Registry Law No. 2644 (in Turkish)
• Condominium Law No. 634 (in Turkish)
• Expropriation Law No. 2942 (in Turkish)
• General Directorate of Land Registry and Cadastre

The information on this page is general and does not constitute legal advice. As legislation may change, the current rules must be assessed separately for your particular situation.