Renting Out Property in Turkey: A Guide for Foreign Landlords

A lease (kira sözleşmesi) of a home is governed by a special chapter of rules that sits on top of the general lease provisions. It also covers the items left for the tenant's use with the property, so in a furnished flat the furniture and appliances are part of the same lease.

One exception matters in a holiday region: the housing rules do not apply where property that is by its nature allocated to temporary use is let for six months or less. Short holiday lettings also raise separate permit questions, dealt with on their own page.

A lease does not need to be notarised to be valid. A contract is subject to no form unless the law provides otherwise. Whether notarisation is still worth it turns on enforcement, explained below.

Two rules limit the landlord's room. Apart from the determination of rent, the lease may not be changed to the tenant's detriment. And a linked contract that makes the lease conditional on the tenant taking on, without benefit to them, an obligation unrelated to the use of the property is invalid.

A security deposit (güvence) under a residential lease may not exceed three months' rent. If it is given in money, the tenant pays it into a term savings account that cannot be drawn on without the landlord's consent. The bank may release it only with both parties' consent, once enforcement proceedings have become final, or on a final court judgment.

The deadline that matters to you runs after the tenant has left. If, within three months of the end of the lease, you have not notified the bank in writing that you have brought an action or started enforcement proceedings against the tenant in connection with the lease, the bank must return the deposit at the tenant's request. For an owner abroad, damage found at the end of a tenancy has to become a claim, and the bank has to be told, within that window. An action must be preceded by mediation and an application to the mediator is not itself an action, so leave enough time, or start enforcement proceedings, which need no mediation.

An agreed rent for a renewed period is valid only up to the rate of change in the consumer price index according to the twelve-month averages of the previous rental year, including in leases of more than one year. The twenty-five per cent cap you may have read about was temporary. Under two provisional articles of the Code, the first added by Law No. 7409 of 8 June 2022, it applied to residential renewals from the entry into force of that article until 1 July 2024, and an agreement above it was invalid as to the excess. It does not apply to renewals after that date.

In a five-year review the index is one factor, not a ceiling. For leases of more than five years, or renewed after five years, and at the end of every five years after that, the judge sets the rent for the new year on an equitable basis, regardless of any agreement, taking into account the index, the condition of the property and comparable rents. This is the landlord's route to have a long-standing rent reviewed against comparable rents.

Timing decides from when a new rent applies. The court's figure binds the tenant from the start of the new period only if the action is brought at least thirty days before that period begins, or if you notified the tenant in writing within that time that the rent would be increased and sue by the end of the new period. If the lease contains an increase clause, an action brought by the end of the new period also takes effect from its start. A rent action, too, must be preceded by mediation, so start early; a written notice to the tenant at least thirty days before the new period keeps the option of a rent that applies from its start, provided you sue by the end of that period.

Do not assume a rent can be set in a foreign currency. The Code reserves Law No. 1567 on the Protection of the Value of Turkish Currency, and whether such a rent may be agreed at all turns on that Law, which is not covered here; check it before you sign. Where a foreign-currency rent has been agreed, it may not be changed for five years, subject to that Law and to the rule on excessive hardship.

Not at the end of the term. Unless the tenant gives notice at least fifteen days before a fixed term ends, the lease is extended for one year on the same terms, and the landlord cannot end it because the term has expired. After the ten-year extension period, the landlord may end it without a reason by notice given at least three months before the end of each following extension year. A notice of termination is valid only in writing.

Before then you need a statutory ground, usually exercised by an action. Need: you must use the property as a home or workplace for yourself, your spouse, descendants, ascendants or others you are legally obliged to maintain. Reconstruction: rebuilding or redevelopment requires substantial repair, extension or alteration, and the property cannot be used during the works. In a fixed-term lease the action is brought within one month of the end of the term; written notice to the tenant within that period that you will sue extends it by one rental year.

If you bought the property with a tenant in it, you became a party to the lease. A new owner with the same kind of need may notify the tenant in writing within one month of acquisition and sue after six months, or sue within one month of the end of the term.

Two grounds come from the tenant. If, after the property was handed over, the tenant undertook in writing to vacate on a certain date (an eviction undertaking, tahliye taahhüdü) and has not done so, you may act within one month of that date through the enforcement office (icra dairesi) or by an action. A form signed with the lease, before the keys were handed over, does not meet the statutory condition. And if the tenant or the spouse living with them owns a habitable residence in the same district or municipality, which you did not know when the lease was made, you may sue within one month of the end of the lease.

These rules cannot be changed in the contract to the tenant's detriment. A landlord who recovers the property for need may not, without just cause, let it to anyone other than the former tenant for three years, on pain of compensation of not less than one year's rent.

Each of these actions must be preceded by mediation; eviction through the enforcement office is not. The one-month periods do not run from the application to the mediation office until the final minutes are drawn up, so make the application to the mediator within the period.

There are two routes. The first is a written notice setting a period and stating that the lease will be terminated if the rent is not paid within it; in a residential lease the period is at least thirty days from the day after service. If the rent is still unpaid when the period ends, you may terminate the lease; if the tenant stays, you still need an eviction action, preceded by mediation, or the enforcement route below.

The second is enforcement proceedings (icra takibi) without judgment. On your request, the payment order warns the tenant that removal may be sought from the enforcement court once the period has passed. The tenant has seven days to object. If there is no objection and no payment within the warning period, the enforcement court orders eviction on a request made within the following six months. The order can be executed without waiting for it to become final, once ten days have passed from its notification, although the tenant may rely on article 36 of the same Law, under which an appeal backed by security can lead to a stay of execution.

This is where a notarised lease earns its cost. If the tenant objects by denying the lease or the signature, the enforcement court can remove the objection only where the lease was drawn up or its signatures certified by a notary; otherwise you must bring an ordinary action.

Persistent late payment is a ground of its own. In a lease of one year or more, if the tenant has caused you to give two justified written warnings (haklı ihtar) for unpaid rent within one rental year, you may sue within one month of the end of that year. Mediation comes first, and the month does not run while it is pending, so apply to the mediator within it.

Before any court action arising from a lease, applying to a mediator (arabulucu) is a condition of the action. Eviction through enforcement without judgment is excluded.

Yes, for most homes. Units under the Condominium Law, residential buildings on registered privately owned land, and the commercial units within them are subject to compulsory earthquake insurance (zorunlu deprem sigortası). Buildings used entirely for non-residential purposes are excluded.

The obligation rests on the owner or usufruct holder, not the tenant, and the policy must be renewed every year. Cover is provided exclusively by the Natural Disaster Insurance Institution (Doğal Afet Sigortaları Kurumu, known as DASK) and extends to material damage caused by an earthquake and by fire, explosion, tsunami or landslide resulting from it.

A lapsed policy shows up in two places. The land registry will not carry out registration transactions at the owner's request unless a policy valid on that date is documented, and the policy is checked when water and electricity subscriptions are opened.

Two limits are worth knowing. The maximum cover is fixed each year, so it may not match the full rebuilding cost. And an owner loses the right to compensation if the damage resulted from alterations contrary to the project that weakened the load-bearing system.

In a condominium building (kat mülkiyeti), owners must not disturb one another and must comply with the management plan (yönetim planı). The Condominium Law applies these duties to tenants and other continuous users too, and makes them jointly liable with the owner.

Unless otherwise agreed, caretaker, gardener and security costs are shared equally, and insurance, maintenance of common areas, the manager's fee and shared running costs in proportion to land share (arsa payı). Not using a facility is no excuse. Late payment carries compensation of five per cent a month. A tenant is jointly liable for the owner's share only up to the rent owed, and what the tenant pays is deducted from the rent.

The owners' assembly (kat malikleri kurulu) meets at least once a year, at the time in the management plan or otherwise in January; in multi-building complexes at least once every two years. Its decisions bind all owners. An owner who did not attend may bring an action to annul a decision within one month of learning of it, and in any event within six months of the decision, whether or not the minutes reached you abroad. Mediation comes first here too, and those periods stop running while it is pending, so apply to the mediator within them. Certain uses of a residential unit, such as a restaurant or shop, need a unanimous decision of the assembly.

For noise, everyone must avoid effects on neighbours beyond what is tolerable given the location, the nature of the property and local custom. Within the building, an owner harmed because another owner or that owner's tenant breaches their duties may ask the magistrate court (sulh hukuk mahkemesi) to intervene; the judge decides promptly and sets a short period for compliance. Where an owner's own breaches make the others' position intolerable, the other owners may, by a majority in number and land share, decide to sue for the transfer of that owner's unit to them against payment of its value; the right lapses six months after that decision becomes known, and in any event five years after it arose. Mediation is a condition of an action in condominium and neighbour disputes alike.

I advise foreign owners who let property in Muğla, and I work in English. This page is general information and does not replace advice on your own lease.