Elaınea

CAN YOU GIVE SOME ADVICE. WE BOUGHT A NEW APPARTMENT WHICH SHOULD HAVE BEEN READY A YEAR AGO. THE APPARTMENT WAS FINALY FINISHED IN MAY THIS YEAR. THE LAWS WERE CHANGED AND OUR TAPU HAS BEEN HELD UP. WE ARE CURRENTLY RENTING OUR APPARTMENT SO THAT THE WATER & ELECTRIC IS IN OUR NAME. CAN YOU TELL ME IF WE CAN GO TO THE LOCAL NOTARY AND HAVE THE BUILDER SIGN OWNERSHIP OF OUR PROPERTY TO US WITHOUT THE TAPU. I AM WORRIED ABOUT HANDING OVER A LARGE SUM OF MONEY WITH NO TAPU.

Hi there

You are one of the other hundreds. I have been advising English people concerning their investments in Turkey. The recent freezing of the law has affected lots of people but it will all be sorted out very soon.
You cannot receive ownership via the notary. It has to be done before the land registry of whereever you are buying - ie Fethiye, Bodrum etc. That sort of document is called Promissory Sale of Property Contract but it only protects the money you are paying and bears too much cost. The point is that you wont be able to register that contract with the land registry which is the only reason why they do that contract however the foreigners need the military permssion to arrive before they can register that sort of contract at the land registry. So it is not really a useful thing to do for you.
I am sure the sellers now are asking a lot of money from you upfront using the laws as an excuse. Whilst it may be understandable from their point of view, you should get a bond (senet) from the SEller in return of the large sum you are asked to pay as a guarantee for your money. So when the laws allow the title transfer (tapu), you can give the senet back to him as you were only holding it as a guarantee until the tapu is ready to deliver. We use this quite often and it seems to serve everybody's interests quite well.

Let me know if I can help you further.

Regards

Av. Gulay Cagli, LL.M
gulay.cagli@gmail.com

I regret to say that obtaining a guarantee promissory note from the seller will not provide enough protection for Elainea.