Buying a property in Turkey is a lot easier than in many other European countries. Foreigners may purchase land and property in Turkey in their own names provided that properties are located in towns (i.e. there must be municipality in the area where the property is located and the property must be situated within the boundaries of that municipality or borough), not in villages or rural areas and outside of military zones. In order to acquire the title 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 above mentioned requirements, the transfer of the title is completed by the Land Registry Office. In Turkey, it is legally compulsary for both sides (the seller and the buyer) to be present at the signing of the property register. During the transaction, the proofs or the documents concerning the transfer of the full purchase price into Turkey must be presented to the Land Registry Office. A purchase tax of 3% is collected from the purchaser during the transaction. An annual property tax is collected by the municipalities (i.e. local governments) at the rate of 0.3% for land and 0.1% for a house in the Fethiye area. All properties are subject to revaluation every year for tax purposes.
On newly built properties, within 3 months of the construction being completed, the buyer must complete an affidavit and submit it to the municipality for these tax purposes. XXXXXXX is happy to guide customers through this process for the first time. The acquired property may be resold or rented out and the proceeds may be transferred out of Turkey.
Please note: Different regulations apply when a property is purchased for a business related purpose.
PURCHASE PROCEDURE IN TURKEY
The purchase of a property from XXXXXXX is completed in four stages.
STAGE 1: Agent will draw up a contract with the buyer detailing the agreed terms and conditions of the purchase. A legal translator will be present at all stages to translate the buyer.
STAGE 2: The legal translator then takes the buyer's passport(s) to the Notary for translation. This is necessary for the security and property location checks mentioned above. The translation takes a maximum of half an hour, after which the passport(s) will be returned to the buyer(s).
STAGE 3: Agent and the buyer will then take the contract to a local solicitor. The solicitor will check a copy of the property deed to ensure that the information on the contract corresponds with the information on the deed. Then all parties will sign the contract which is witnessed by the solicitor, the legal translator and one other witness.
STAGE 4: Once the application has been approved by the Land Registry Office (typically it takes 2-3 months for the security and property location checks to be made and approved), XXXXXX will sign over the deed of the property to the buyer (assuming all outstanding payments have been received.) It is at this point of the deed transfer that the purchase tax will be paid by the buyer to the Land Registry Office.
