Rental Legalaties İn Turkey

I am looking for some help in finding out if there is a law that says an owner on a complex, is not allowed to rent their apartment out, for holidays.

As. the baskan on our complex is now saying we are not allowed to have guests, even though many of my neighbours rent out long term, and we only rent for a one or two weeks at a time during the summer months, to friends and family.

I have taken advise from the Jandarma, Muhtarlik, accountants and all have told me there is no problem, I have even had the complex laws translated into English, so that I could check to see if I was doing anything wrong.

Please could you give me some help on this matter.

Joanne

Dear Sir/Madam,

So far as I concern your message, I should unfortunately inform you that the language you used in your question is very "complex." Please give us some clear explanation as to "what sort of property you have, how many shareholders are exist, is there a manager on the property you have." Besides, are you the owner or the hirer? What do you mean in mentioning "complex"? Is that a timeshare or some sort of establishment?

All the best.

Sorry for being vague.

The apartment is owned by us. There is a total of 40 apartments on the complex. With a mixture of Turkish and European owners, about 75% are used for the purpose of holiday homes. While the other properties have people living on the site all year.

We have voted a "baskan" manager to run the site, and there is a meeting once a year.

I have read all the site rules, and there is nothing saying that we cannot rent. All it says is we inform the authorities of the tenants names.

I hope this makes it clearer.

Dear Sir/Madam,

As I understand from the indications you gave, you just would like to rent your apartments for the time that you don't use; however, the administrator whom is selected by the votes of the owners tries to prevent it. If the problem is that I explained simply, there should be no problem in renting of your aparments. According to the Law on Freehold Flat, in keeping with the articles of this Law, the owners have all the rights and authorities granted by Civil Law on the independent parts that are owned.
What are those rights and authorities? The answer is, sticking with the subject matter, that you absolutely can rent, sell or make the part use. The independent part means the apartment and other places you own as the case may be. However, AS A GENERAL RULE, the owners or the HIRERS (this expression is what exactly used by the Law), while using the independent parts, the additional parts or the common areas, shall observe the honesty and rightfulness rules; shall not disturb each other and moreover, not override each other's rights. Additionally, the owners shall comply with the "plan for administration." The owners and the hirers are jointly and severally bound by those provisions.
The reason why the administrator (as you call 'baskan') objects to such rental could be:

1. He/She may be afraid that the General Rules aforementioned can be breached (by the person/s who are supposed be hirers).

2. In the "plan for administration", the owners (namely you all) might have decided that the apartments can not be rented to other persons or not be made available to use thereof. Besides, some sort of certain conditions as to rental might have been regulated in the plan. Talking on this possibility, nobody can make a decision breaching his constitutional rights, even at the expense of himself. However, if the prevention or the condition as the case may be is "reasonable", that should rule. How the condition or the prevention can be determined as "reasonable" is a matter of proof and may change case by case.

3. As you may know, there is a Flat Holders' Board who are supposed be consisted of the owners and are meet periodically. In a decision, the Board might have unanimously prevented the rental of the flats to other persons. Reserving the explanation for the possibility number 2, if you were being at the relevant Board meeting and have signed the bottom of the decision, you are bound by it unless otherwise there is a court decision recognizing that decision null and void. On the other hand, if you were not being in the relevant meeting and the decision was held in the absence of you, then you may raise an objection in the court. Lastly, if the decision was held in the absence of you but declareted legally to you, again you need to read the explanation for the possibility number 2.

I hope this made the matter clear.

All the best.

Av. Ahmet Sirvan KILIC
Istanbul Bar

ahmetsirvan@yahoo.com

Thank you for taking the time to answer my question. And it has put my mind at rest.

Many thanks, this web site has been of great help to me, and many others.

Joanne