I fancy Christmas; it's a fantastic time of year. It looks better in some cities than others. I can imagine the streets in London, how they looked shiny and peaceful. I hope that you had a beautiful Christmas. I hope you looked around İstanbul and enjoyed an İstanbul Christmas. Maybe you saw that enjoying Christmas in an İstanbul church has become a tourist attraction for plenty of Turkish people even though they are not Christians. I would love to write a full Christmas article, but I have to go back to last Monday's question and give some more information.
If I may summarize the question about the undelivered title deeds problem: "You published a really interesting column about people who don't receive their title deeds. In the article, you say of this particular couple's promise-to-sell contract that: 'It does not fulfill the requirements of Turkish law as a promise-to-sell agreement through which you can make a claim allowing you to register the title without the intervention of the seller if he refuses to make the transfer.' Is there a type of agreement where this IS possible -- i.e., where in the event that the deeds are not duly delivered by the seller, the buyer is able to register the deed anyway?"
IMPORTANT: Before I start, I have to repeat a FACT that is of utmost importance for foreign buyers in Turkey. According to Turkish Civil Code Article 705, the transfer of property can be done only by transferring the title of immovable property to a buyer in the Land Registry Office before an authorized officer under official records. There is no other way to transfer the title of immovable property. A sales agreement does not constitute a valid document for the title transfer of immovable property.
Although this is an absolute fact known to everybody in the real estate sector, foreign buyers are advised to make a sales agreement and the buyers in some cases face problems of undelivered title deeds. Making a promise-to-sell agreement may be a good solution for avoiding the undelivered tapu problem, but it may not work in many cases. I will explain why.
How do you make a promise-to-sell agreement?
A promise-to-sell agreement is valid only if it has been made before a notary public under Turkish law. In addition, it would be only really effective when it is registered with the Turkish Land Registry Office as an annotation. The registration of the annotation is not automatic, and the beneficiary of the promise-to-sell agreement should apply to the Land Registry to register the promise-to-sell agreement. This will prevent the seller from transferring the title for the property to third parties.
But would it really be a good solution for a foreign investor?
In order to find the answer to this question, you should first understand how a promise-to-sell agreement works.
A promise-to-sell agreement is commonly used among locals for two main reasons. It is made to secure the transfer of the title for a property that does not exist when the agreement is concluded (such as an off-plan development) or for an existing property whose title is not suitable for transfer for some reason.
Oops. No more space for today's article. I will finish this series on Wednesday.
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.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.
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