Real Estate Acquisition
Year by year Turkey enjoys greater popularity among tourists and investors in real estate. The consequence is a strong interest of foreigners in purchasing real estate in Turkey. When purchasing property foreigners have to observe some statutory provisions and restrictions.
Principle of Mutuality
According to the Turkish Cadastre Law No. 2644, Article 35; foreigners are allowed to purchase real estate in Turkey if Turkish people are allowed to do the same in the foreigner’s home country (“Principle of Mutuality”). The purchase of property by a foreigner requires compliance with the following conditions:
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The purchaser must be a foreign natural person or legal entity;
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The principle of mutuality must be adhered to;
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The purchase must be for the aim of living or doing business;
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The aim must be recorded in the development plan;
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The size of the purchased real estate or of a possible real property right may not exceed 2,5 hectare.
To prove if the principle of mutuality is observed the legal and actual situation has to be considered. As Turkish citizen are allowed to purchase real estate in Germany, German citizen are in general authorized to purchase real estate in Turkey considering some further particularities. If the principle of mutuality between Turkey and another country is not observed and a citizen of this country inherits real estate in Turkey the government has to liquidate this real estate according to the Turkish law. The proceeds of this liquidation will be paid out to the foreigner.
Purchase of real estate by legal entities
Trading companies are allowed to purchase real estate in Turkey within the limits of special statutes. The restrictions for foreign natural persons also apply to foreign trading companies. Associations, foundations, cooperatives and funds are not permitted to purchase real estate.
Military areas
According to Turkish Law No. 2565, Article 9 (b) property which is located in a military area or a security zone may not be purchased by foreigners. The registry of deeds proves whether the real estate is located in such an area. This may cause significant delays because no registration in the cadastre may be done while the proving procedure is going on. A transitional provision obligates the Ministry of Defense to inform the ministry, which is responsible for cadastre, about the location of military areas. As this has not happened so far, every purchase still requires a particular check.
Restrictions concerning the purchase of real estate
Real estate purchased by foreigners may not exceed the size of 2.5 hectares per purchaser in the whole of Turkey. The head of division is permitted to increase the number up to 30 hectares. Restricted rights in rem are also taken into consideration for the calculation of the hectares. Parts of real estate may not be divided further and sold in parts. Contracts with such an intention are null and void.
The purchase of real estate via legal succession is possible without any restrictions.
For foreign citizen, who are not resident in Turkey, the purchase of real estate is restricted to the areas inside municipality borders. The purchase of real estate belonging to an urban area or a development area outside the municipality is not allowed.
This restriction is not applied to the purchase of real estate via inheritance but to purchase via transfer in contemplation of death.
Furthermore there exist some generally valid development restrictions on sea coasts (compare Coast law No. 3621), on shores of natural and artificial lakes and on the shores of rivers. According to the natural environment it is not allowed to set up private or commercial buildings, fences or other boundaries in a distance of 50 to 100 m from the coast line. The above mentioned restrictions do not apply to the registration of a mortgage or a lien for the benefit of a foreign natural person or a trading company.
Foreigners may not purchase real estate located in areas which are protected because of their religious and cultural significance or their special ecology.