Procedures and costs of transfer of real estate documents in Turkey

Considering the facilities and benefits that the Turkish government offers to foreign investors to buy real estate in this country, we see a significant increase in the amount of investment to buy real estate in this country.

In order to buy a property in Turkey, we must first familiarize ourselves with the steps, documents and costs of transferring a property document in Turkey. Because each country, according to its laws and regulations, has considered special conditions for buying property and transferring it.

The CityRealty real-estate consultants always try to provide you with exceptional investment opportunities so that you can get a high profit through this investment. Buying an apartment in Istanbul and other cities in Turkey is the best opportunity for people who want to live permanently in this country.

In the continuation of this content, we will comprehensively explain the steps and documents required to transfer the property deed in Turkey.

The process of buying property in Turkey

If you want to buy a property in Turkey, in this article we tried to discuss the process of buying a property in Turkey. Also, in the other part of this article, we have discussed the costs of document transfer in Turkey so that we can answer all your questions in this field. The process of buying property in Turkey is as follows:

• Visit the desired property.
• contract
• Document transfer request
• Payment for the purchased property
• Get ownership.

What does the transfer of ownership of a real estate document mean in Turkey?

The transfer of ownership in Turkey means that the legal ownership of an apartment, villa, land, etc. goes to its new owner. In this process, ownership is transferred by means of a document, which must be signed and registered in the Turkish real estate offices. This document proves the ownership of the property by its legal owner, which includes the name and photo of the owner, the type of property, its current location, area and all the detailed information related to the property.

The owners cannot prove their ownership without having this document issued by the Ministry of Interior of Turkey. This is a general rule and when you buy a property in Turkey, you can prove the official identity of this property with the ownership document.

Important points before transferring the title deed in Turkey

Before you start collecting the necessary documents to transfer the document and perform the necessary steps, it is better to pay attention to a series of points and check them.

• When deciding to invest and buy property in Turkey, you may need the help of competent authorities to monitor your transactions. Because in this way you can avoid legal problems. When you want to buy a property, if you don’t have any information about the foreclosure, mortgage and confiscation of the property, it is better to be very careful in this regard. Of course, to get rid of these problems, city real estate is at your service. Our consultants thoroughly examine the desired properties and then recommend them to you for investment.
• You must register the title deed in the real estate registry. Any document that is not registered in this book is invalid.
• Before completing the document transfer process, it is better to confirm the authenticity of the property’s collateral through real estate offices.
• The property evaluation report must be submitted to the Real Estate Registry before the sale date.
• In Turkey, there is a mandatory earthquake insurance for properties, which you must register and pay for this insurance policy through private insurance companies.
• If you want to buy a property that has not yet been completed and a title deed has not been issued, you can sign a preliminary agreement with the notary of this property. The name of this preliminary contract is sales contract.

What should we do before transferring the property deed in Turkey?

1.Before you prepare the necessary documents for the transfer of the document, you must first know who will pay the tax and the document of the desired property. Usually, the payment of these costs is the responsibility of the buyer.

2.In the next step, you should determine how much the costs related to the transfer of the deed, insurance and real estate commission, which are necessary for the deed, are and who will pay them.

3.You must open a bank account and check the maximum amount of money that can be transferred with bank accounts.

4.Now a contract under the title of house reservation contract is closed and you must pay at least 500 dollars or 10% of the value of the property to the seller or the developer of the property under the title of deposit.

5.One of the points that you should pay attention to before signing the contract is that you should determine a part of the contract under the title of termination of the transaction and the resulting losses.

6.The best way for you to be able to carry out all the steps of document transfer in a legal and accurate way is to entrust the administrative work to a reliable consultant who has experience in this field. Cityrealty real-estate can easily solve your problems related to buying property in Turkey according to its experience.

Document transfer procedures in Turkey

As a buyer, you must choose an official agency approved by the Iranian consulate or a person through the Turkish embassy as your official representative. With official documents on your behalf, this agent can easily complete the property purchase transaction. In the next step, you need to get the tax number from the Turkish Tax Office .

The tax number is based on the buyer’s passport number and a copy of his passport, which must be translated and officially approved by Turkish notary offices.

At this stage, the seller of the property must go to the Turkish Real Estate Registry Office to transfer the property to the intended buyer.

Finally, after passing these steps, the buyer can receive his property deed.

Costs of transfer of property documents in Turkey for foreigners

In order to be able to buy and sell property in a foreign country. In addition to preparing the necessary documents for the transfer of the document , consider the costs of this transfer as well. The Turkish government has set certain fees according to the rules and regulations of the transfer of the document, without paying these fees, the transfer of the document between the buyer and the seller cannot be done.

In general, 4% of the sale price of the property under the title of official transaction fee must be paid to the Real Estate Records Office and Real Estate Registration Organization.

According to the rules, the amount paid for this cost must be divided between the buyer and the seller. But in reality, sellers usually leave the full responsibility of paying this four percent transaction fee to the buyer.

Note that even in order to buy a second-hand apartment in Istanbul or other cities in Turkey, you must complete all the steps of document transfer and pay the said costs. Because it doesn’t matter if you buy a new or second-hand apartment.

How to apply for a Tapu document in Turkey

In order to make transactions in the civil registration offices of Turkey, we must first book an appointment there. At this stage, we must go to the website of the Turkish Civil Registry or call 181. They send us the day and time of our visit via SMS.

Necessary documents to apply for a tapu document in Turkey

• Certificate of the relevant property document
• Citizenship confirmation certificate
• Tax number
• Original and copy of passport of foreign national along with their certified translation
• Certificate of the real value of the property, which has been approved by the Turkish Cadastre Office.
• Providing DASK earthquake insurance
• One photo of the seller and two photos of the buyer
• When a person is not fluent in Turkish, he should bring an interpreter with him.

Types of property transfer fees in Turkey

The costs related to the transfer of the property deed in Turkey when the property is considered to be newly built are divided in half between the buyer and the seller. 2% is paid by the buyer and 2% by the seller.

1.Property expert fee (Ekspertiz)

A report that is determined to determine the value of a property according to its existing features. This review is done by official experts of the government and its cost is about 1000 to 2000 liras.

How do we know that the price set for the property is fair?

We have no knowledge of the country of Turkey and the people who live there, so we are forced to either buy property in Turkey ourselves or leave it to consultants who work in this field.

But if we buy the property ourselves, how can we know that the price set for the property in question is fair and completely according to the rules and regulations.

Before proceeding with the process of transferring the document, you must go to the municipality of the desired region and ask them for a brokerage. Of course, you may not have the legal authority to do this because the property is not in your name.

So it is better to either send the seller to do this, or bring a photocopy of the document and identification information of the property owner with you to go to the municipality.

2.Delivery cost of abonmanlik unit / delivery

When a person has purchased a property, its water, electricity and gas must be renamed and transferred to the buyer’s name. This practice is called abonmanlik and its cost is about 3500 liras to 5000 liras

When a person has purchased a property that has a swimming pool, gym and other amenities, the building manager keeps an amount of about 3000 liras as a mortgage for the use of the amenities when delivering the desired unit to the buyer.

3.Home insurance in Turkey DASK

DASK earthquake insurance is a mandatory insurance for Turkish properties, the right of which is different depending on each building. But normally, the cost of earthquake insurance starts from 240 liras and goes up to 1000 liras.

4.The cost of the translator in transferring the document

In Turkish transactions, both parties (buyer and seller) must be fluent in Istanbul Turkish, otherwise they are obliged to invite a translator, the cost of which is about 750 to 1000 liras.

5.Attorney’s fee to receive the document from the Turkish Document Office

If the buyer is not able to receive the document from the notary office, he should receive the document through his trusted lawyer. The cost of a lawyer is approximately 2500 liras.

6.Cost of value added tax

If a person buys a property in Turkey and sells it earlier than 5 years and makes a profit, he is obliged to pay VAT.

Value added tax for a building unit with a maximum area of 150 square meters is about 1%, and for residences with a net area of 150 square meters or more, it is about 18%.

Who pays the cost of documenting the house in Turkey?

Regarding the payment of the document transfer fee, 2% of it is paid by the buyer and 2% by the seller, unless the parties reach an agreement and 4% of it is paid by one of them. In the sale of second-hand property, if the seller sells the property below the price, 4% of the document transfer fee will be borne by the buyer.

Property debt inquiry for transfer of deed in Turkey

Before buying a property, you should inquire about the debts of the property in question from the municipality. In this case, if there are debts from water, electricity and gas receipts, the seller is obliged to settle all of them.

The seller goes to the municipality with the letter he received from the office, and if the building is not built according to the permit, the seller pays the fine.

How to calculate house deed costs in Turkey

The calculation of the costs of real estate documentation is done by the buyer and the seller based on the amount determined. For example, if the price announced to the Turkish Document Office is 100,000 liras, the buyer and seller must pay 2,000 liras. This fee, which is charged by the documents office, is separate from the commission fee.

The Turkish Document Office does not charge document transfer fees from newly built units in reconstruction projects. Also, when calculating the cost of transferring the document, the Turkish Finance Department must deduct the amount of value added tax from the amount declared between the buyer and the seller, and 4% of the property value must be paid as the cost of transferring the document.

How to pay the transfer fee of the property document in Turkey

After visiting the document registration office, the list of banks that are connected with the document registration office will be sent to you via SMS. In the content of this SMS, there is a 12 or 13 digit code that you must save and then go to your bank branch and pay the document transfer fee or you can pay this fee through your banking application.

The time required to transfer a real estate document in Turkey

In general, according to the steps and documents required to transfer the document in Turkey, it can be said that the process of this transfer takes from three to five days. In this way, the buyer’s request to register the ownership of the property, its acceptance by legal centers and the purchase process of ownership transfer takes less than one working day.

But according to the laws and conditions of Turkey, this process may be delayed a little. If you want the document transfer process to be done in the shortest possible time and completely according to the rules and regulations, it is better to get help from a consultant in this field. Cityrealty real-estate can give you the best help due to its brilliant records in the field of buying and selling real estate in Turkey.

Petition of regret for the transfer fee of property deed in Turkey

According to the existing laws in Turkey, it is possible to increase the fee declared to the registry offices by sending a complaint to the Turkish Revenue Department, and in the case of a complaint, we will pay the difference in the cost of the transfer of the property document (the parties in total 4%) It is payable with legal interest. On the other hand, in case of regret, there is no need to pay the tax penalty, which is calculated at 25% of the amount.

In which banks can I pay the costs of the house deed in Turkey?

To pay for the transfer of the property document, you can visit the Turkish Revenue Department website and pay the fee using credit cards of all banks except for Ziraat Bank, Vakif Katilim Bank and PTT, or if you want, through the branches. Pay the fee by bank transfer, you can pay the amount through the branches of the following banks:

• Ziraat Bank
• Ziraat katilim Bank
• Halk Bank
• Vakiflar Bank
• Vakif Katilim Bank
• Emlak Katilim Bank
• PTT

For more information on how to open a bank account in Turkey , you can refer to our article under this title.

How should we send the money to the seller’s account to transfer the property document in Turkey?

One of the most important problems that arise in the field of buying property in a foreign country is money transfer issues for buying property. If you can do this through the bank, you are at ease. Because in this way, the money is deposited in the bank, and when the transfer of the document is done, the relevant money is transferred from the buyer’s account to the seller’s account, and the agreement related to the payment in the bank is signed by the seller.

Be careful that it is better not to use cash to transfer property in Turkey and in other countries. Because there is a possibility that it is fake. If you want to transfer money through a bank, be sure to ask the bank if the account has a high limit for transferring money or not.

Obtaining a property document in Turkey

By following the steps mentioned in the above sections, you can easily receive the Turkish ownership document. CityRealty real estate will be your guide in this direction. You can refer to our articles to answer your other questions or contact our experts if you want to buy a property in Turkey.

Frequently Asked Questions

1.What are the necessary actions after transferring the document?

After transferring the document, one should go to the relevant offices to pay the bill, and then go to the Turkish Population Office to register the place of residence, and in the last step, one should submit the declaration of ownership of the property to the Turkish Municipal Office.

2.What is the QR code on the Tapu document?

This code shows all the information and specifications of the property and is a way to prevent fraud and providing fake documents.

3.How much of the purchased property should be paid as a deposit?

One of the most important points in buying real estate is the amount of the deposit. At this stage, it is better to pay 10% or 15% of the amount as a deposit, and the rest of the cost should be paid on the day of transfer of the document.