Marketing strategies pursued by overseas markets forced local professionals to try and make a common standard application form for services in an attempt to improve processing speed while including all required elements. However, many of these agents and developers underestimated (intentionally or unintentionally -- I don't know if it is even important to know that any longer) local laws and requirements, but in particular real estate law.
It was often the case that a client who was in the process of buying a lovely holiday house on the south coast of Turkey had only received a deed for land on which the development was going to be built. The client may have also seen 3-D pictures of a nice and promising science-fiction development. Almost all such properties did not exist and the marketing plan was based on the off-plan understanding.
Some developers, trying to make money out of thin air, were keen on selling whole projects even before the groundbreaking took place. This would give them the funds to start -- and sometimes even complete -- the development with only the down payments. I don't want to go deeper into how likely you will be to have a nice house built by down payments alone.
The developers asked the buyers to place a down payment in exchange for a signature on the sales agreement. Many buyers did not question whether the sales agreement was valid at all and some trusted their lawyers, who guaranteed that the sales agreement would secure their rights in acquiring the property at the end of the purchase process.
What happened then? People signed sales agreements and learned that the property they had purchased under a sales agreement was sold to several people or the contractor or developer gave the bank all the property as collateral for a loan. The sales agreement had nothing to do with land registry records and therefore the property was free to be collateral or was left registered in the name of the developer and never transferred to the name of the actual buyer.
Is a plain property sales agreement valid under Turkish law?
Rule one: No, a plain sales agreement is not valid under Turkish law. It should be prepared in such a way that it meets requirements set out in the law. But even this does not transfer ownership, though it does stand as a security measure.
Rule two: The only way to become an owner of a property is to have it registered at the Land Registry Directorate. A sales agreement itself never confers the ownership of a property onto a buyer.
The ownership of a property can only be registered at the Land Registry Directorate, the only authority where the title of a property can duly be transferred. It is a basic rule that a property should be registered with the Land Registry Directorate in order to conduct any kind of transaction related to it.
NOTE: Berk Çektir is a licensed attorney at law and available to answer questions on the legal aspects of living in Turkey. Send enquiries to b.cektir@todayszaman.com The names of readers are disclosed only upon written approval of the sender.DISCLAIMER: The information provided here is intended to give basic legal information. You should get legal assistance from a licensed attorney at law while conducting legal transactions and not just rely on the information in this corner.
