How to rent an apartment in Turkey
This page is available in Türkçe.
Author: Lawyer Cihat BALTAŞ / 01.10.2024 / Istanbul
Are foreigners prohibited from renting a flat in Turkey?
The answer we can give to the question as a lawyer; foreign people can rent a flat in Turkey. Foreigners can rent an apartment provided that they are legally present in Turkey. We will explain the legal basis for this information below. We are providing this information to you as a lawyer and we are confident of its accuracy.
What should foreigners pay attention to when they want to rent a flat in Turkey for short term or regular basis, what difficulties may be encountered, we will talk about these in this article.
Renting a Flat to Illegals
Here we need to pay attention to the meaning of the words. It is not forbidden to rent a house to foreigners in Turkey. It is forbidden to rent a house to people who are not legally present in Turkey. The first issue you need to look at as a landlord is whether the foreign person is in Turkey legally or illegally. The person may have entered Turkey illegally, the visa period may have expired, in these cases, you cannot rent a house to these people.
The person has come to Turkey within the visa period, wants to rent a house, has a passport, in short, he is not in Turkey illegally, you can rent your house to these people.
What does it mean that the person is legally present?
Many foreign citizens stay in our country for legal reasons such as temporary protection, residence permit, free visa period. You can rent a house to a foreigner who has one of these legal reasons.
Example of a lease for a residence permit
When renting an apartment in Turkey, a lease agreement is concluded between the landlord and the tenant. You can see an example of this lease contract below. This lease is a notarized contract. Lease agreements do not have to be notarized, but if you are going to apply for a residence permit Turkey, you must notarize the lease agreement.
Can foreigners renting an apartment in Turkey?
Let us give you some quality information;
Foreign people can rent a flat provided that they are legally present in Turkey. In what cases is it prohibited to rent flat? It is prohibited for:
1-Have entered Turkey illegally
2-Do not have a valid travel document
3-Are not legally present in Turkey.
Our legal basis for foreigners renting an apartment in Turkey is stated in article;
102/2 of the FOREIGNERS AND INTERNATIONAL PROTECTION LAW (YABANCILAR VE ULUSLARARASI KORUMA KANUNU madde 102/ 2 ). According to the relevant article, “Foreign persons who do not have a valid travel document, foreign identity card, residence permit or valid road permit” are mentioned and it is stated that renting an apartment to these persons are prohibited.
To explain this law as a lawyer, a person who has one of the following documents can rent a flat in Turkey and ofcourse you need to legally staying in Turkey;
1) Valid travel document (passport), (not to overstay the visa period)
2) Foreigner identity card, (not to overstay the visa period)
3) Residence or work permit
We clearly see in the text of the article that having a residence permit or work permit is not a requirement, the only condition understood from the text of the article is that the person is legally in Turkey when renting a flat.
In this case, people who are legally in Turkey without a residence permit or work permit card can rent an apartment.
In apartment rentals for foreigners, the only thing that should be examined is “whether the tenant entered the country legally with a passport and whether he signed a rental contract within the visa period.”
How to Rent an Apartment in Turkey
The foreigner who wants to rent a flat in Turkey has to make a lease contract with the landlord. For foreigners who do not speak Turkish, it is recommended to make the lease contract at the notary public. However, if you will use the lease contract to obtain a residence permit Turkey, you must make the lease contract from a notary public. Immigration authorities (Göç İdaresi) do not accept lease contracts made outside the notary public.
This information is valid for leases of 1(one) year or more. If you are coming to Turkey for vacation and you are going to stay in a house like a hotel for a short period of time, you do not need a rental contract, you can stay in Turkey by renting from certain websites.
Another problem you may encounter in Turkey is that landlords may not trust foreigners, asking for money in advance, asking for more money than normal prices. Therefore, if you want to rent a flat in Turkey in order to prevent your rights losses in the long term, you should make your transactions through professional lawyers and ensure your transaction security. Many people ask us after they have signed the lease contract, but before starting everything, you should work with a lawyer for the safe progress of the transactions. Some transactions may be late after the signing of the contract
Which website is used to rent an apartment?
People who are resident in Turkey are finding flats by use of the website named “Sahibinden”. One of the problems experienced in flats rentals is the problems experienced in lease contracts. You can get help from BaltasGlobal lawyers in the process of preparing the lease contract.
What documents do foreigners need to rent a flat in Turkey?
The documents required for foreigners to rent a flat are;
1) Valid passport
2) Notary translation of the passport
3) Being legally staying in Turkey.
How much does it cost to make a lease-rent contract at a Turkish notary ?
You need to know the following about the price of making a lease contract in the form of a notarial arrangement in Turkey.
If the foreigner does not speak Turkish, he/she will need to have an interpreter with him/her during the preparation of the lease contract. Therefore, the cost of making a lease contract at a notary in Turkey will be two items;
1-Translator fee: It varies between 1000-1500 Türkish Liras.
2-Notary fee: 4000-4500 Türkish Liras. (Updated on 21.10.2024)
How Can I Sign a Lease Contract at a Notary Public?
You will need your identity information, passport translation and also an interpreter if you do not speak Turkish. The translator must be a sworn state translator. The landlord must also come to the notary for the lease contract to be issued at the notary. The lease contract should not be issued between you and the landlord and notarised. The necessary information is given to the notary, the notary gives the lease contract according to its own format and the lease contract is issued in the form of a notary arrangement.
Can Foreign Persons Without a Residence Permit Rent a Flat in Turkey?
Yes, foreigners who do not have a residence permit can also rent a residence in accordance with Article 102/2 of the FOREIGNERS AND INTERNATIONAL PROTECTION LAW.
Because people who will get a residence permit for the first time rent a house and apply for a residence permit to the relevant immigration administration together with the necessary rental contracts. If it were forbidden for those who did not have a residence permit to rent a house, it would be impossible for those who would obtain a residence permit for the first time to rent a house.
Please careful about this !!!!!!!
Important Note: People who do not have a residence permit in Turkey can rent a house, but since these people do not have an address record, they will not be able to open Natural Gas, Electricity and Water subscriptions for their name. They need to take help about these or they need to find proper flats these flats.
As BaltasGlobal, we find flats for you according to your preferences and provide rental services. During the rental process, we review the rental contracts for you and carry out your residence permit application, address registration and invoice transactions for you.
Do you have any questions? Please feel free to contact us from the contact section. Your questions are answered confidentially and quickly.
Points to be considered in the lease contract
If the foreign person will apply for a residence permit together with the house he / she has rented after renting a house, the lease contract must be made in the form of a notary public.
The lease contract issued at the notary will be in Turkish and if the foreign person does not speak Turkish, a goverment translator(yeminli tercüman) will be needed.
What is required to make a lease contract from a notary?
It is necessary to go to the notary with the landlord to make a lease contract at the notary. If the foreign person does not speak Turkish, in this case, a sworn translator must be present in the lease contract arrangement procedures. In addition, you need to give information about the house to the notary and the notary clerk does all other transactions automatically. There is no need for any photograph. The cost of the lease contract at the notary (01.10.2024) varies between 5000-5500 Türkish Liras at the time of this writing.
Important information that foreigners should know about the process of renting a flat in Turkey
Real estate agent fee: In general, if a real estate agent mediates the process of renting the house, a real estate agent fee not exceeding one month’s rent is paid.
Deposit amount: In Turkey, a deposit of 2 rental fees is usually paid for foreigners renting a house. If the house is left well when you vacate the house, you get your deposit back.
Rent amount: Landlords in Turkey usually ask for certain assurances when renting to foreigners and ask for the rent in advance for 6 months. Namely; 6 months rent is requested at the beginning of the lease and at the end of the 6-month period, the other 6 months rent is requested in advance. This is not always the case, it varies according to the wishes of the owner of flat.
Eviction undertaking: Due to the recent problems between tenants and landlords, landlords request an eviction undertaking. The eviction undertaking is a paper that allows the court processes to be processed faster when the landlord wants to evict you from your home.
Suitability of the address: The first thing to consider when renting a house is that if we want to get a residence permit and if we will use the house we will rent for a residence permit, the area of the house we rent must be open to residence permit. CLICK HERE for the regions closed to residence permit.
The second issue to be considered about the suitability of the address is that the address we will rent is suitable for address registration. For example: The addresses of some apartments in Istanbul may be different from the addresses written on the title deed and the addresses that actually live or the addresses written on the invoice. When this difference occurs, there may be problems in address registrations. Before renting a house in Turkey, it is necessary to do research about this house and prevent the loss of time and money in possible residence permit applications.
Setting a budget: Keep in mind that some housing complexes in Turkey have dues. In some cases, dues can be around 500 USD. Before renting the house, dues and extra costs should be discussed with the landlord.
Some important details in the rental agreement: One of the most important issues to be considered in the rental agreement is the way the rent is paid. It should be checked whether the rent will be paid monthly or whether the rent will be paid in advance.
Another important issue is that it is strongly discouraged to make rent payments in cash. It is recommended that you make your rent payments regularly from the bank to prove that you make your rent payment regularly. It is recommended that you ask the landlord to write an iban number in the lease agreement when the lease agreement is made, and it will be in your favor in case of a possible lawsuit to state in the contract that you will make your rent payments to this iban number.
Tenants’ Court Proceedings in Turkey
There are strong legal regulations protecting tenants in Turkey. If we compare tenants and landlords in Turkey, we can say that tenants are in a strong position before the law.
Article 350, 351, 352 of the Turkish Code of Obligations – Türk Borçlar Kanunu deals with the issue of rent. To summarize the laws, landlords do not have the right to evict tenants early. It takes 10 + 1 year for a landlord to evict a tenant. The tenant can terminate the lease agreement at any time by giving notice up to 15 days before the end of the lease agreement (Article 347 of the Turkish Code of Obligations – Türk Borçlar Kanunu)
In Turkey, there are certain conditions for landlords to ask you to leave your home after you have rented it. Landlords cannot evict you whenever they want and a lawsuit must be filed to evict you from your home. These court processes take at least 1 year to conclude and to summarize, landlords cannot evict you from your home before at least 1 year. If you follow your court processes with a lawyer, you can follow the process healthier and faster.
What documents do foreigners need to rent a flat in Turkey?
The documents required for foreigners to rent a house are a valid passport, a notary translation of the passport and being legally staying in Turkey.
