BUYING PROCESS IN TURKEY
General Principle of buying in Turkey
The purchase process in Turkey is straightforward, easier than a lot of other European countries. Foreigners may purchase land and property in Turkey in their own names provided that they are not located in a military zone.
In order to acquire the title deeds of a property, an application has to be submitted to the local Land Registry Office in which the property is situated. After carrying out necessary searches and checks for the abovementioned requirements, the transfer of the title is done by the Land Registry Office.
One of these checks is a Military Check. This check can take a few months to clear, but once received the TAPU is very quickly transferred into your name. The whole process is usually completed in around 6 months from start to finish, however timeframes can and sometimes do vary.
You will need your passport and we suggest bringing along 6 passport photographs. You can get these in Turkey but it can be time consuming.
A step-by-step guide is provided below: (don’t worry, we will assist you in each of these steps)
Go to the Tax Office in order to obtain a tax number – You must have this to open a bank account. You will need your passport at the Tax Office.
If you require assistance we will accompany you to a bank, to arrange for an account to be opened.
We are happy to recommend a solicitor if you don’t already have one of your own. Our solicitor has many years of experience dealing with foreign purchasers and speaks very good English. They will be happy to answer all your questions.
You will need to sign a Power of Attorney (POA) to your Solicitor. This allows them to sign for the purchase of your Turkish property. You will have to go to the Notary Office to have the POA recorded.
The contract is then signed by both parties – the seller and you. The agreed non-refundable deposit is paid to the seller. We will ensure this is covered in the contract and will ensure the payment is receipted.
In order for a foreigner to purchase property in Turkey they will need military clearance. This can take a little time (around 3 - 6 months) and is rarely refused.
When you return to the UK it is usual that you transfer the remaining monies as per your contract, thereby completing your purchase. Sometimes it is possible to have the contract worded in such a way as to leave a percentage to be paid once Military Clearance if received, generally it is more usual that you pay the remaining balance as soon as possible and the property is held for you by the solicitor until all approval is received and the property is then transferred into your name.
Before you travel, please make sure you have finance approved, if you need to borrow money in order to purchase, it is usually possible to remortgage your property in the UK. House selling in Turkey is a quick process and sellers won’t generally wait around for you to organize finance, they will want to close the deal quickly so our advice is to have finance organised before travelling.
Costs
We like to be upfront about additional costs you should budget for. Below we have set out a list of additional costs you need to allow for when you purchase a property in Turkey.
Typical additional costs are:
Solicitor fees
Building Insurance & DASK
Commission fixed at 3%
Military Approval
Purchase Tax between 1.5 and 3%
Power Of Attorney fee
Council Tax (paid in 2 installments each year)
We have set the table below up as an example of the additional costs you should budget for:
| Item | Cost in Sterling |
| Agreed Property Price | £50000 |
| Solicitor | £1000 |
| Commission | £1500 |
| Military Approval | £600 |
| Building Insurance & Earthquake Insurance (DASK) | £200 |
| POA’s | £100 |
| Purchase Tax | £1000 |
| Council Tax | £50 |
| Total | £54450.00 |
As can be seen from the information above, you will need to allow approximately 9% on top of the sale price in order to complete the purchase of your property in Turkey.