What are the rights of property buyers in Turkey?

What are the legal legislations directed at the foreign investor in Turkey, and what are the rights arising from these legislative texts, and how can they be used and their advantages?

In this article, we present to you all the rights and duties that a foreign investor must know before buying apartments for sale in Istanbul or buying apartments for sale in Turkey in general.

What should you do before buying a property in Turkey?

The legislative authorities in Turkey have enacted conditions for real estate ownership for foreigners that we summarized for you after carefully reading the various legal articles in the following points:

• 30 hectares is the maximum real estate area that a foreign investor can own in Turkey.
• It is forbidden for the real estate area to exceed 10 percent of its total area in a particular city, town, or neighbourhood. In this case, the real estate registration directorates order to stop granting licenses to own the property to foreigners.
• It is forbidden for foreigners to own or buy real estate in Turkey in prohibited places in Turkey, foremost among which are military and security zones that contain important historical monuments.
• Turkish law allows foreigners to buy lands registered with the state as being fit for housing to construct an architectural project on it, provided that its task is submitted to the guardian ministry according to the nature of the property and the goal of building it within a maximum of two years.
• It is violating the purpose of owning or establishing the property that results in the cancellation of the sale.
• The real estate purchase contract in Turkey is invalidated if it is executed in violation of Turkish laws and regulations.
• The electricity, water and gas meter must be registered on the buyer's name after obtaining the title deed.
• Turkish courts are the only authorized to resolve disputes between the owner and the buyer in the process of selling the property.

To initiate the procedures of buying property in Istanbul or buying real estate in Turkey, you need to submit a set of documents as follow:

• The serial number of the property, which is obtained from the Real Estate Registration Directorate in the area in which to buy a property.
• A deed of owning the property that contains detailed information about the apartment or house ... etc.
• The passport of the foreign investor wishing to own property in Turkey, with a copy of it translated into Turkish.
• The real estate appraisal document for the apartment or house, i.e. its actual value, according to experts accredited by the Turkish state.
• Real estate insurance policy against earthquakes.
• A recent personal photo of the seller and buyer with dimensions 6 × 4.
• Two witnesses to the signing of the contract.
• Bring a sworn translator if the foreign investor does not understand the Turkish language.
• Bring the original and the translated copy certified by the Turkish notary in case there is an official power of attorney from one of the contracting parties.

What do you get when buying real estate in Turkey?

As a foreign investor wishing to own property in Turkey or buy apartments for sale in Istanbul, Antalya, Trabzon or another city, you will be recognized with all your rights as follows:

• Real estate residence

Once you buy a property in Turkey, whatever its price, this means that you have the right to obtain real estate residence in Turkey. In this case, you will not need to get a visa or to wait for the acceptance of the visa entry as long as the property is still registered.

Real estate residence also guarantees you the right to move between all Turkish states, domestic airports, and various means of transportation with ease and freedom.

Your wife or husband can obtain the family residence permit, and you can grant it to your children under the age of 18 years.

• Turkish citizenship with conditions

Many investors want to buy apartments for sale in Turkey until they obtain Turkish citizenship by investment. But to get a Turkish passport, you have to buy a property in Turkey worth 250 thousand US dollars.

Real estate investment companies helped greatly in facilitating and expediting the procedures for obtaining Turkish citizenship, which was acquired by about 1,000 investors during the year 2019.

Alhuda Real Estate Investment provides the service of obtaining Turkish citizenship in exchange for buying a property through a team of experts and lawyers who can follow the file of the foreign investor from the buying stage The property and the application to the purpose of carrying a Turkish passport within a maximum of 45 days.

• Real estate appraisal

Turkish law guarantees many rights to the foreign investor that do not make him afraid of manipulating real estate prices in Istanbul or any other city.

And real estate appraisal is an official document issued by specialized companies licensed by the Turkish government and is considered a condition for completing the sale of the property in Turkey.

This process contributed to encouraging real estate investment in Turkey and increasing its demand by foreigners and Arabs who are looking for legal guarantees for their investments.

• Benefit from canceling reciprocity

One of the rights guaranteed to you by Turkish law is that whatever your country of origin deals with Turkey, you will benefit from the privilege of buying a property in Turkey and registering it in your name following the decision issued and applied in 2012. It provides for the abolition of reciprocity for foreign ownership in Turkey.

It should be noted here that the law does not apply an exception to 3 countries, namely Syria, Armenia and North Korea, due to their conflict with Turkish national security, according to successive Turkish governments.

Pay attention to these rights while buying a property in Turkey!

There are many rights, such as what we mentioned previously, that foreign investors in Turkey must know about, and there are also several other details that benefit the investor if he becomes aware of them, and we mention among them:

• If there is any defect or defect in construction during the first five years and you are not directly responsible for it, be aware that construction companies bear it legally.
• Suppose you discover the defect or deficiency and confirm that it is fraud and intentional deception by the construction company after the first five years have passed. In that case, you are legally entitled to hold the construction company accountable.
• You have the right to follow the construction company until it adheres to all of its promises made about the project in commercial advertisements, brochures and leaflets explaining the guarantees and benefits of real estate investment in the project.
• If construction companies made promises to furnish the apartment or villa with certain brands and do not comply with them, you have the right to hold them accountable if they are not available.

If you file a complaint due to intentional failure on the part of the contractor or construction company, you are entitled to:

• Get your money back by canceling the sale contract and returning the property to its owner.
• Preserving the property, provided that the price of the property is reduced according to the existing defect.
• Asking the construction company to pay for all costs of repairing a defect discovered during the purchase of the real estate in Turkey.
• Changing the property and replacing it with another.
• Claiming financial compensation from the construction company to repair the defect discovered in the property.

Benefits and Facilities for investing in Turkey

There is not a difference between a Turkish and foreign investor in turkey. The government provides many facilities for foreign investors to encourage them to buy properties for sales in Turkey such as allocating lands in some sectors, granting tax reductions, and not collecting fees on machinery imported from outside Turkey and other equipment.

The Turkish state also allowed the foreign owner to grant family residency to his family, which is a feature that has been well received by many, whether through real estate residence or through work permission in the event of establishing a company in Turkey.

Among the facilities known to the real estate sector is the provision of exclusive offers and concessions in times of crisis, similar to the Corona pandemic, which has relatively frozen the movement of the sector throughout the world.

The facilities granted to foreign investors who chose Turkey contributed to a remarkable storming of investment in the real estate sector by purchasing apartments for sale in Turkey and also in establishing companies in various fields, chief among them the media, trade, restaurants, agriculture and animal husbandry.