Many people put off buying their second home in Turkey for fear that the buying process will be totally alien to the one back home and thus open to misinterpretation and error. This is however not the truth and the fact is that buying a property in Turkey is not more complicated than buying in any other country. Providing you have a good registered translator and an authorized solicitor acting on your behalf the sale will go through without a hitch and without some of the annoying practices that are associated with the British property market, like gazumping and backing out. Who Can Buy Turkish Property?
Any foreign citizen whose own country has a reciprocal law with Turkey, which allows Turkish citizens to purchase property in their country, can buy property in Turkey. The UK is covered under this agreement. Foreigners are not allowed to purchase land or property in any of Turkey’s military, strategic and security zones or areas designated as having historical and natural worth. You are not allowed to own more than 25,000 sq m or 10% of the total area within the Implementary Development Plan or Local Development Plan of a town. It is possible for a town’s Council of Ministers to set a lower ratio if owning 10% will upset the infrastructure, economy, energy, environment, culture, agriculture or security of a town.Legal Checks
Once you have found a property you wish to buy you need to engage an independent authorised solicitor to check the title deeds known as TAPU in Turkey. This establishes who the legal owners are and your lawyer can check that the person pertaining to sell the land is indeed the one who owns it and also whether there are any other people listed as joint owners because they to will have to be in agreement. He must also check that the property you are buying is located in a zone, which is included in the Implementary Development Plan known as the Uygulama Imar Plani or the Local Development Plan called the Mevzii İmar Plani. If the property does not fall into one of these zones, then you must give up any idea of purchasing it because under new legislation governing Title Deeds such property cannot be sold. If you are buying land with the intention of building a property, your lawyer needs to check that the land is within regulation according to the Imar Plani or the Local Development Plan. Another rule under Turkish property law is that all new buildings, constructed since 1999 must be earthquake-proof and sellers and developers must show your lawyer all licenses and official permits that they hold for the property. Finally the lawyer must determine that the property is free of liens and overdue taxes and that the current owner owes no debts to the utility companies. You should also get your lawyer to check out the agent you are dealing with to ensure that he works for a reputable and registered real estate company. Getting Yourself Organised
Whilst your lawyer is sorting out the legal side of the purchase, you need to open a bank account and register with your local tax office. You should also find a registered translator to translate every document pertaining to your house sale and life in Turkey. Arrange to transfer funds from your UK bank account in to your new Turkish account.The Preliminary Contract
A preliminary contract is not obligatory in Turkey and you should not let your estate agent bully you into making one straight away to ‘ensure the property isn’t sold to a third party.’ Let your lawyer perform his checks and then draw up a preliminary contract or have him draw one up subject to the checks being successful. The agent and seller need to sign the contract as well as yourself and your lawyer. The document should detail the property, its address and TAPU details, technical conditions. It should also list the personal details of the seller(s) in terms of his ID number known as his TC Kimlik No, bank account details, name and address as well as the details of the lawyer and estate agent in terms of the Barr registry number for the lawyer and the trade registry number for the estate agent.
Thereafter details of the sale price and the payment terms e.g. stage payments, initial deposits etc. It should also state that each party will pay their own tax liabilities and outline the fees payable to the real estate agent. A preliminary contract also allows for the paying of a deposit to ensure that the property cannot be sold to anyone else. This deposit should be no more than 10% of the purchase price and you should negotiate to make this deposit as little as possible. If the vendor fulfills all criteria listed in the contract and you back out of the sale, you will lose your deposit and be liable to pay an additional 10% as compensation. If the seller backs out then he must pay you the same. The contract must detail the instances where either party may back out of the sale without penalty as well as detailing the circumstances in which money will be paid back to the buyer should the seller back out. If the property comes with furniture this should be detailed; if there are existing tenants the contract should state what will happen to them once the property is in your ownership.
Understanding What You Sign
Once the preliminary contract is drawn up it must be translated into you native language as well as being written in Turkish. You must use a registered translator and not rely on an oral translation only. Never sign any contract until this has been done for you. A registered translator should stamp and sign each document to prove that their responsibility for translating it accurately. Do not cut corners and rely on a Turkish friend who seems to speak good English, if anything goes wrong you will have no comeback for misinterpretation in a court of law. Using a Notary
You should sign both the translated and Turkish version of the contract in the presence of a notary, who will ‘notarise’ it by checking all of the details with the personal and official documents of those listed in the contract and then stamping it. The notary ensures that the people signing the document are indeed who they say they are, the contract adheres to Turkish legislation and that the terms laid out are legally binding for all parties concerned.The Final Contract
Once all of the checks have been carried out successfully you can get your lawyer to draw up a final contract detailing the sale – using the same details as those listed in the Preliminary contract. Your lawyer and the seller must apply to the TAPU to transfer ownership you’re your name. You will need to provide TAPU with the existing Title Deeds, a passport and/or ID Card for both the buyer and seller, two passport photos of the buyer and seller or agent, a power of attorney document if a lawyer is acting on your behalf. Finally contracts are ‘exchanged’ and signed, again in the presence of a notary and again translated into your native language. Once all of the legal and bureaucratic steps are behind you, you will be able to sit back and enjoy your new home in Turkey.
