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BUYING PROPERTY IN TURKEY
If you are interested in buying property in Turkey, you can do so. Yes, British citizens can buy property in Turkey, but not without certain restrictions. First of all it must be understood that Turkish laws are quite different from English and Scottish Laws, and thus conveyancing is done in a way which we are not used to in our country. In fact, we can say that the Turkish system is very like the French system where the transfer of title to a property has to be done by entering the transaction in the log book of the deed office of the particular town. The piece of paper that Turkish people call the "deed" is not actually the deed in the British sense; it is the document which shows the owner of the property the date it was issued by the deed officer. Therefore, the title to the property cannot be transferred by just passing this document over to the prospective buyer.
Once a property has been chosen, we will carry out the searches on the Title Deeds for you and ensure that it's clear of debts and that the seller is actually the person detailed on the Title Deed. Thereafter a deposit of 10% of the asking price is placed in a bank account in Turkey (by electronic transfer and paid to the seller on your behalf). There is then a wait of 8 to 10 weeks for the paperwork to be cleared by the officials & army departments in Izmir, Ankara & Mugla. As soon as the Title Deeds Office receives clearance from the army department confirming that the property in question is not within an military area, the remaining balance plus any additional costs are transferred to the same bank account and the Title Deeds can be exchanged.
Unlike the UK, it is not necessary to use a solicitor to conduct the conveyancing for you. Our Associates Agency can do this for you or we can recommend a good English speaking lawyer to you. The Title Deeds formalities can all be carried out in your absence, by leaving a Power of Attorney with the Associate Agency or with your solicitor. Should you decide to use us for this work, we
will take you to a notary to arrange this Power of Attorney (there is an official translator within the notary's office to ensure that you understand the Power of Attorney), open a bank account in your name with you and take you to have the necessary photos required for the paper work taken.
Restrictions:
1. Foreigners cannot buy property in the small administrative units called villages. In Turkish, the word for village is "köy". No matter how attractive the offer may be, you must know that it is impossible - unless of course the law is amended.
2. If you intend to buy a plot of land that? is larger than 30 hectares (about 74 acres) you will have to have the Turkish Cabinet of Ministers' approval.
3. No matter where the land or house may be situated if the buyer is a foreign person, the deed office has to officially ask the prior approval or permission of the highest military command of the area before transferring the title. The reason for this is to ensure that foreign buyers will not acquire a property within militarily sensitive zones. This means that even though you might be willing and prepared to pay the price and buy the place immediately, there is no way that this can be done before getting this permission which may cause up to three months delay.
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