A new mechanism for buying real estate in Turkey by foreigners for 2022

Created: 2022-03-09
Last Updated: 2024-04-25
Views: 2485

Content Index

Required documents to own a property in Turkey
Buying a property in Turkey Online
Obtaining Turkish Citizenship by investment
Nationality Law Amendments 2022
Why real estate in Turkey?

From time to time, Turkish government announce some amendments regarding foreign ownership of real estate in Turkey, which makes foreigners wonder about the amendments to the law on foreign ownership of real estate, so before we talk about the new amendments at the laws of foreign ownership of real estate in Turkey, we should address old ownership laws.

About 10 years ago, with the decisions of Turkish state's to open its market to real estate investments, it had to modify the law of foreign ownership of real estate in Turkey, in order to convince investors to buy and own real estate, and the most important step taken by the Turkish government in 2012 was to cancel The reciprocity law, which stipulated that “any foreigner has the right to own real estate in Turkey, except for citizens of a few countries for political reasons, such as Syrians’ ownership in Turkey.” It is allowed to the foreigner to own a property in case of the foreigner country allows to Turkish individuals to own a property at its land, and there are additional conditions were imposed on the ownership of some nationalities in the border and maritime areas, such as Greeks and Russians, and also there are some conditions according the real estate type such as agricultural land, as is the case with the ownership of Egyptians in Turkey.

Required documents to own a property in Turkey

There are some documents must be available to transfer the ownership of a real estate from one person to another or from an institution or company to a foreigner, whether the real estate is a land, an apartment or a shop, In order to ensure the procedures of documenting your ownership of the real estate, and these documents must be submitted to the Department of Tapu that is responsible for registering the contract and transferring ownership. These documents are:

• The title deed (Tapu) that includes the details of the real estate unit.

• An earthquake insurance policy.

• The original passport with a copy of it translated and certified by the Notary.

• A 4 x 6 biometric photo of the property seller, and two photos of the buyer.

• An interpreter in case of one of the parties does not speak Turkish.

Buying a property in Turkey Online

In case that a foreigner wishes to buy real estate and he is outside Turkey, the purchasing process will be through an agency, the foreigner must appoint a lawyer at the Turkish consulate in his country.

This requires submitting an original copy of the proxy at Turkish embassy in the buyer's country, in its official language, with a copy of the proxy translated into Turkish and certified by the consulate.

Obtaining Turkish Citizenship by investment

In February 2010, Law No. 139/2010, has been issued regarding foreign ownership of obtaining citizenship stipulated that the foreigner can buy a real estate in Turkey with one million dollars or its equivalent in Turkish lira, but in 2018, the Turkish government issued a presidential decree reforming law on obtaining Turkish citizenship by President Recep Tayyip Erdogan who announced that a foreigner or investor has the right to obtain Turkish citizenship if he buys a property worth 250 thousand dollars instead of one million US dollars, provided that the property is kept and not disposed for 3 years, and according to the law, the investor has the right obtaining citizenship for himself, his wife, and his children under the age of 18.

At the same time, the state has set some conditions for the investor in the real estate field, according to which he is granted citizenship. In the event of a breach of these conditions, a foreigner is not entitled to grant citizenship to a foreigner, including:

- The property must be worth 250 thousand US dollars or more or its equivalent in Turkish lira.

- Obtaining an evaluation report for the value of the property approved by the Turkish government.

- The value of the property with the title deed should be at the same real purchase price.

- The value of the property should be paid through bank transfers, and transfer receipts that prove bank transfers between the buyer and seller should be submitted in the file for applying for citizenship.

- The property must be owned by a Turkish person or Turkish company.

- Keeping the property for a period of 3 years from the date of purchase, and the investor is not allowed to sell or give up the property and then repurchase it.

- The price of the property is fully paid, and there are no external installments for it.

Nationality Law Amendments 2022

Recently, the Turkish government changed some of the conditions for obtaining Turkish citizenship for foreigners in an attempt to support its national currency, the lira. According to the new regulation, the foreign currency obtained from selling real estate to foreigners will be sold to the central bank through a local bank, and converted into Turkish lira.

During the past four years, some investors were able to manipulate the conditions for obtaining citizenship and circumvent them in twisted and illegal ways to obtain citizenship. Therefore, among the recent amendments made by the state were:

1- It is forbidden to recycle the property or sell it to a Turkish person and then resell it to another investor of the same nationality, as it was previously possible to sell it to a Turkish person and resell it to a person of the first investor’s nationality after obtaining Turkish citizenship, i.e. after 3 years, but now it must Selling to a Turkish person and an investor of another nationality so that the new investor can obtain Turkish citizenship as well.

2- The property can be sold after obtaining Turkish citizenship after 3 years of purchasing to a Turkish person or a foreigner directly, but the foreigner - the new investor - will not be able to submit it to obtain Turkish citizenship even if he is a relative, friend or of another nationality. It is mean that is, a foreigner can invest in the new property, but he will not obtain Turkish citizenship unless it is sold to a Turkish citizen and then to a foreigner, and the foreigner should have a different nationality other than the nationality of the first investor.

3- When buying a property for the purpose of obtain Turkish citizenship for an amount of 250 thousand dollars, it is not allowed to you to resell the property after obtaining Turkish citizenship after 3 years to the same person who sold you the same property, that is, the property cannot be resold to the original owner, whether this owner is a person or a company.

4- When applying for Turkish citizenship or after obtaining it, when you discover a deficiency or forgery in identification papers or any required files that can withdraw Turkish citizenship from you even after you obtain it.

5- In the case of the sale or the preliminary sale agreement, the pledge shall be made according to the following: “I pledge that I will not sell these real estate that I have purchased to obtain Turkish citizenship within the scope of Article 20 of the Regulation for the Implementation of the Turkish Citizenship Law for a period of 3 years and if it is found that the information and documents that will be provided upon implementation Incomplete, incorrect or misleading based on Article 31 of the Turkish Citizenship Law No. 5901 on Acquisition of Turkish Citizenship, and if it occurs as a result of false declaration to the person concerned or concealment of important matters that form the basis of obtaining citizenship, it will be canceled by the authority that made the decision.” The phrase "I know that actions will be taken by the relevant authorities".

6- Real estate that has been transferred to a Turkish citizen or company of Turkish origin after January 12, 2017 and is subject to the law of obtaining Turkish citizenship by sale or preliminary sale contract, must not have any record in the name of the investor who wants to obtain citizenship for his wife/husband, child or applicant Another (the investor) of the same nationality, however in this case only another investor with a different nationality can subject this property to obtaining Turkish citizenship.

7- The real estate subject to sale or the preliminary sale agreement must not be registered in the name of the legal entity where the applicant (the investor) who will acquire the real estate by himself or his wife or children is a partner, manager, or on behalf of the company subject to Article 36 of the Land Registry Law (with a capital foreign/international) where the real person of the same nationality is a partner and through this regulation it is planned to prevent the purchase of a property from a legal entity by another legal entity of the same nationality.

Why real estate in Turkey?

In your opinion, what are the reasons that motivate and encourage foreigners to buy real estate in Turkey and not in other countries of the world?

In fact, we have a set of different and important reasons that caught the attention of foreigners, despite their different nationalities, to own real estate in Turkey specifically, and given the importance of this aspect, we will highlight it in detail through the following paragraph:

First: Appropriate real estate prices:

We can describe that real estate prices in Turkey are low or moderate, and this feature is clearly evident when you compare it with real estate prices that you will find in some European countries or American countries, and what you do not know is that real estate prices in some Arab countries are higher than prices in Turkey.

One piece of information that you must know is that the cheap prices of real estate in Turkey were accompanied by high quality, unparalleled luxury and designs borrowed from European civilizations.

Second: Obtaining Turkish citizenship:

One of the most prominent advantages of buying real estate in Turkey is the possibility of obtaining Turkish citizenship in exchange for the price of the property being 400 thousand US dollars, in addition to the need not to sell the property before three years have passed.

Third: A promising investment future:

Did you know that making a real estate investment decision in Turkey is one of the most correct decisions you ever take ,All indicators and data confirm that Turkey is the right and appropriate place to start this investment project, thanks to the booming Turkish economy, which is growing remarkably thanks to the young population on the one hand, and on the other hand, thanks to the strategic plans set by the Turkish government.

Fourth: Government support:

It cannot be overlooked about the great support provided by the Turkish government to everyone who wants to own real estate in Turkey, among the most prominent of what it provided:

- The real estate appraisal document that controls real estate prices.

- Tax cuts that allowed the foreigner to get greater profits.

- Cancellation of value-added tax for a foreigner who owns for the first time.

- Ease of procedures for owning and buying real estate in Turkey.

Among the most important reasons that make buying real estate in Turkey a suitable opportunity for real estate investment is that it is expected to record an increase in its prices during the coming period, as a natural result of many reasons, most notably:

- Great demand for real estate purchase.

- The high population density in the country.

- High costs of building materials.

- Continuation of the Turkish citizenship program in exchange for real estate investment.

- The high quality and unparalleled luxury that characterizes real estate in Turkey.

In the context of this conversation, it must be noted that the new amendments and updates approved by the Turkish government to buy real estate in Turkey did not affect the decisions of investors to own property. Rather, according to the official authorities and statistics issued by the relevant departments, the foreign demand for the real estate market in Turkey is increasing greatly.

At Ramzy Real Estate Company, we are glad to accompany you on the journey of buying property in Turkey and to provide you with a range of services to make the process smooth and easy , as we are always keen to present a variety of options for residential and investment properties in addition to helping you obtain Turkish citizenship for those looking for it.
Our services:
- Legal advice .
- Property Management.
- After-sales services .
- Legal services and obtaining Turkish citizenship.
- Buying and selling real estate in Turkey.
- For more details, you can contact us via the communication platforms or via the WhatsApp attached on the site.