The Buying Process

Purchasing a property is challenging, but in Turkey it is actually much easier than in many European countries. We will be there throughout the whole process: before, during and after the purchase.

In order to acquire the title of a property, an application has to be submitted to the Land Registry Office local to the area in which the property is situated. After carrying out necessary searches and checks, the transfer of the title is completed by the Land Registry Office.

In Turkey it is a legal requirement that both the seller and the buyer must be present at the entry into the property register. A purchase tax of 3% is collected from the purchaser during the transaction.

An annual property tax is collected by local government at the rate of 0.3% for land and 0.1% for a house in the Fethiye area. In the big cities these figures are doubled. All properties are subject to revaluation every year for tax purposes. On newly built properties, within three months of completion the buyer must complete an affidavit and submit it to the local government for these tax purposes. Buy Abroad Ltd is happy to guide customers through this process for the first time.

The purchase of a property is completed in four stages:

Stage 1: We 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 represent 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 30 minutes, after which the passport(s) will be returned to the purchaser.

Stage 3: We will then accompany you to a local solicitor who will check that the information on the contract corresponds with the information on the deed.

Stage 4: Once the application has been approved by the Land Registry Office (it takes 2-3 months for the security and property location checks to be completed and approved) the deed of the property will be signed over to you, assuming all outstanding payments have been received. It is at this point of deed transfer that the purchase tax will be paid.