Real Estate Law

Real estate law covers ownership of immovable property, land registry (tapu) transactions, leases, condominium ownership and property litigation. The main legislation includes the Turkish Civil Code No. 4721, the Code of Obligations No. 6098, the Land Registry Law No. 2644 and the Condominium Law No. 634.

Foreign individuals may acquire real estate in Türkiye within the limits set out in Article 35 of the Land Registry Law (such as a maximum of 30 hectares per person nationwide and 10% of the area of a district) and subject to restrictions on military and security zones. Sales are completed in official form at the land registry office; before signing, the title deed should be checked for annotations, mortgages and attachments, and the zoning and occupancy status of the building should be verified.

A careful pre-purchase review is especially important where the purchase is also intended to support an application for a residence permit or for citizenship by investment.