Property law: problems with greedy sellers (1)

Your letter is rather a short one, and you may face some further problems such as the seller-property manager increasing the management fees at a rate that is determined at the sole discretion of the manager and you will be asked to pay it. The quality of the property management service the owners receive may not be equal to the standard that the owners would expect for the total amount that they paid. Another problem that may occur may be beyond the management fee: The owners may be asked to pay the expenses for which they will never be given any breakdown so they will never know what is spent for them, etc., etc. -- these are the problems faced by other people who were disappointed with the services of former seller-new property manager.

Usually, there is an agreement between the management company and the owners. If there is such agreement, the first thing you should do is stop paying in cash to the management. You should ask for the invoices for each disbursement made on your behalf. The reason that the management is asking you to pay in cash is that they don't want to pay tax. It is not you who is going to pay the tax; it is the management who is responsible for tax, so don't worry about it, and insist on paying to a bank account.

I understand that, in your case, the seller is also managing the property. I don't know if you have a contract with the seller to manage your property. Even if you have any kind of management agreement with the management, you can always terminate this agreement if you are not satisfied with their service. If there is no such agreement signed between you (the owners) and the property manager, you are free to jump out of this relationship and can either run the site yourself or agree with a professional property management company.

In case you decide to terminate the current agreement with the seller and manage the property yourself, you need to employ people for gardening and other such services. It would be complicated to employ staff in the name of a real person whom nobody would like to get into such a business relationship with. Since there are more than enough owners to form a company or a cooperative, you can establish one and recruit a manager who would run the residential area. A basic accountant will be more than satisfactory for your books. If I may simply give you some advice -- just find a good management company, make a good agreement and relax. If you are not satisfied, you can find another one rather than trying to do the management job yourself.

Above all, forget about these problems and thank God if you can solve the problem cited in the following line from your e-mail. "It was completed last June, and I still have to get a copy of my tapu, which I believe has a figure less than what I paid for on 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 the readers are disclosed only upon written approval of the sender.