Under the Condominium Law, Law No. 634, kat irtifakı (floor easement) is a registered right over a unit in an unfinished building or one without a full occupancy permit; kat mülkiyeti (condominium ownership) is ownership of a unit in a completed, permitted building (Articles 1 and 10). Both can be sold, mortgaged and used for the 400,000 US dollar citizenship route. Once iskan under Article 30 of Zoning Law No. 3194 is issued for the whole building, the land registry converts the title ex officio. Without iskan, permanent utilities are barred (Article 31).
Many foreigners who buy a new flat in Istanbul, Antalya or Mersin receive a title deed that reads kat irtifakı, floor easement, rather than kat mülkiyeti, condominium ownership, and then search "kat irtifakı vs kat mülkiyeti" to find out whether something is wrong. Usually nothing is wrong: floor easement is the normal registration for a unit in a building that is still under construction or has not yet received its occupancy permit. The two titles are nevertheless not equal, and the gap shows up in mortgages, utility connections, earthquake insurance and resale. Two recent changes make the subject more practical than it used to be. Since the 2021 amendment of Article 10 of the Condominium Law, conversion to condominium ownership is carried out ex officio once the municipality uploads the occupancy permit to the electronic system, and since 12 December 2023 the citizenship regulation expressly names floor easement property among the assets that qualify for the 400,000 US dollar route. This article explains what each title means in law, how the land registry records and converts it, and what a buyer should check before paying.
Both titles come from the Condominium Law, Law No. 634, and both attach a defined land share to a defined independent unit. The difference is the stage of the building. Floor easement is a right over a unit that will exist; condominium ownership is ownership of a unit that already exists as a completed and permitted structure.
Floor easement is a servitude attached to a land share and established for a specific flat, shop or office in a building that is under construction or will be built. The holder is registered by name, can sell, mortgage and inherit the right, and the unit number and land share are fixed in the land register. What the holder does not yet have is ownership of a completed independent unit recognised as a separate immovable.
Condominium ownership is full ownership of an independent unit in a completed building, combined with shared ownership of the common areas in proportion to the land share. Each unit is recorded on its own page of the condominium register and becomes a separate immovable property.
A buyer sometimes receives only a fraction of a land parcel with no floor easement at all, known as hisseli tapu, a shared title over undivided land. Such a share is not tied to any particular flat, and the risks are different and usually greater, as explained in our article on joint ownership and hisseli tapu. Always confirm that the record shows a floor easement or condominium ownership for a numbered unit.
Article 1 of Law No. 634 contains both rights. Its first paragraph allows independent ownership rights over sections of a completed building that are suitable for separate use, such as flats, offices, shops and depots. Its second paragraph allows the owner or joint owners of a land plot to establish servitude rights over such sections of a building under construction or to be built, "to serve as the basis for the condominium ownership to be transitioned to after the building is completed". Floor easement is therefore designed as a temporary stage, not a permanent alternative.
Article 2 defines the terms: the independent unit, the annex (such as a storage room allocated to a flat), the common areas, the land share and the floor easement itself. Article 3 describes condominium ownership as a special form of ownership linked to the land share and the common areas, requires land shares to be proportionate to the value of each unit according to its location and size, and allows any owner or easement holder to ask the court to readjust disproportionate shares. The same article states that floor easement is a servitude attached to the land share which is converted ex officio into condominium ownership on the basis of the occupancy permit issued for the entire building, and that the conversion may also be requested by any joint owner.
Article 10 adds the formal rule: condominium ownership and floor easement arise by official deed and registration in the land register. A private sales contract, a reservation form or a developer's receipt creates no right in rem; only the registration does.
Under Article 14, the owner or all joint owners of the land must submit the request together with the architectural project approved by the competent authorities and sent electronically to the land registry, and a management plan. The project must show the units, annexes, common areas, unit numbers and land shares, as required by Article 12. The management plan prepared at this stage continues to apply after conversion, and Article 14 states that no separate plan is required when the building passes to condominium ownership. Where a building is built under a flat for land contract with the units already divided between the landowner and the developer, Article 10 allows the relevant administration to carry out the registration at the developer's request.
Article 14 requires the land share of each unit, the unit numbers and the attached annexes to be entered in the declarations column of the register. In practice, a floor easement record shows the main property still described as a land plot (arsa), the unit number, the land share expressed as a fraction, and the words "kat irtifakı". After conversion, the main property type changes to a building and the unit is listed as condominium ownership. The declarations and annotations columns are where problems appear: zoning breaches, mortgages, attachments and the three year no sale annotation for citizenship are all recorded there, which is why our guide to property annotations is worth reading before any purchase.
The occupancy permit, officially the yapı kullanma izin belgesi and commonly called iskan, is a municipal document, not a title. Article 30 of the Zoning Law, Law No. 3194, makes it mandatory to obtain permission from the authority that issued the construction permit before a completed building, or a completed part of it, may be used. On the owner's application, the authority must establish that the building conforms to the permit and its annexes and that there is no technical objection to its use. The authority must decide within 30 days; the text provides that use is otherwise deemed permitted, but the land registry converts titles on the basis of an issued permit, so a deemed permission is of little help at conversion.
Article 30 also states that the permission does not release the owner from liability for breaches of the law, the permit or its annexes. An occupancy permit is evidence that the building passed inspection on the day it was issued; later alterations, such as an enclosed balcony or a converted roof space, are not covered by it.
Article 31 sets two rules that matter to every buyer. First, the completion date of a building is the date the occupancy permit is granted. Second, buildings without an occupancy permit may not benefit from electricity, water and sewerage services until the permit is obtained, although independent units that have obtained a permit may be connected. Because Article 30 allows permission for parts of a building that are complete, a partial permit for some blocks or floors is possible.
Since the amendment made by Law No. 7327 in 2021, Article 10 of Law No. 634 provides that change of type procedures for all buildings with an occupancy permit are carried out ex officio. The administration that issues the permit uploads it to the Spatial Address Registration System; the cadastre directorate prepares a registration notification from the permit and the application project; and the land registry records the change of type without asking for any other document. If the property carries a floor easement, it is then converted ex officio into condominium ownership on the basis of the original floor easement deed and the documents listed in Article 12. These procedures are exempt from the revolving fund service fee.
Article 3 also allows the landowner or any one of the floor easement holders to request conversion. This is useful where the permit has been issued but the electronic process has stalled, for example because of a mismatch between the permit and the project. Article 12 lists the documents for establishing condominium ownership: the approved architectural project together with the occupancy permit, and the management plan.
Under Article 13, the ownership column is annotated to show that the property has been converted, each independent unit receives its own page in the condominium register, and each unit becomes a separate immovable. Rights already recorded, such as mortgages and annotations, are carried over to the unit pages. In multi block developments the result depends on how the floor easement was established and on the permits issued for each block, so the position of a particular block should be checked with the land registry rather than assumed.
| Question | Floor Easement (Kat İrtifakı) Compared With Condominium Ownership (Kat Mülkiyeti) |
|---|---|
| Legal basis | Both: Law No. 634, Article 1. Floor easement under the second paragraph, condominium ownership under the first. |
| Stage of the building | Floor easement: under construction or completed without a full occupancy permit. Condominium: completed, with an occupancy permit for the whole building. |
| Main property type on the record | Floor easement: usually still a land plot. Condominium: changed to a building after the change of type under Article 10. |
| Can it be sold, mortgaged, inherited? | Yes in both cases, by official transaction at the land registry. |
| Citizenship by investment | Both expressly qualify under Article 20(2)(b) of the citizenship regulation, subject to the 400,000 US dollar threshold and the three year annotation. |
| Utilities | Without an occupancy permit, permanent electricity, water and sewerage connections are barred (Law No. 3194, Article 31). With the permit, connections are available. |
| Management rules | Floor easement: condominium management rules apply once the building is complete and two thirds of units are in use (Article 17). Condominium: full application of Law No. 634 and the management plan. |
| Conversion | Floor easement converts ex officio when the occupancy permit for the entire building is uploaded (Articles 3 and 10). |
Nothing in Law No. 634 prevents a mortgage over a floor easement unit, and mortgages registered at that stage remain on the record after conversion. Whether a bank will lend is a separate commercial decision. Lenders rely on an expert valuation and look at whether the building is finished, whether an occupancy permit exists and whether the project matches what was built; practice differs from bank to bank and between residents and non residents. A buyer relying on a loan should obtain the bank's written confirmation before paying a deposit. Foreign buyers should expect each bank to set its own documentary requirements, and should weigh the loan terms against the option of waiting until the occupancy permit is issued.
Article 12 of the Turkish Citizenship Law, Law No. 5901, allows exceptional acquisition of citizenship by presidential decision, and Article 20(2)(b) of the regulation implementing that law sets the property route. Since the amendment published on 12 December 2023, it requires property worth at least 400,000 US dollars that is held under condominium ownership or floor easement, or is a land plot with a building on it, purchased with a three year no sale annotation. It also accepts a notarised promise to sell for such a property where the full price has been paid in advance and an undertaking not to transfer for three years is annotated. Bare land without a building no longer qualifies. Floor easement is therefore not an obstacle, but the valuation, the payment trail and the annotation must all satisfy the authorities, as explained on our citizenship by investment page.
Article 31(1)(b) of the Law on Foreigners and International Protection, Law No. 6458, allows a short term residence permit for foreigners who own immovable property in Türkiye, and since 2024 Article 31(6) lets the Ministry determine the nature and value of the qualifying property. Applicants should check the current ministry criteria, including the residential use recorded on the title, before relying on an unfinished building.
As noted in section 4, Article 31 of Law No. 3194 bars permanent electricity, water and sewerage services for buildings without an occupancy permit. A buyer who plans to move in or rent out the flat immediately should therefore treat the permit, not the title type, as the deciding document.
Under the Disaster Insurance Law, Law No. 6305, Article 10, independent units within the scope of Law No. 634 and residential buildings on registered private land must carry compulsory earthquake insurance, renewed every year. Article 11 prevents the land registry from registering transactions on such units unless a valid policy is shown, so a policy is needed for the transfer itself. Article 10(4) entitles the insurer to refuse buildings constructed contrary to the legislation and the project. Our explainer on DASK compulsory earthquake insurance covers cover limits and claims.
Article 17 lets floor easement holders appoint a manager to complete the building and, importantly, applies the condominium management rules once the building has actually been completed and two thirds of the units are in use, even before conversion. Article 28 makes the management plan a contract binding all owners and their successors, amendable only by four fifths of all owners. Article 20 obliges each owner to contribute to staff costs equally and to insurance, maintenance and repair costs in proportion to the land share, and imposes default compensation of five percent per month on unpaid shares. A buyer inherits the plan and should read it, especially the clauses on use (short term letting, commercial use) and the allocation of costs.
A floor easement title in a finished building is often a sign that the occupancy permit is missing. The common reasons are deviations from the approved project, unpaid obligations of the developer, or a building that is simply not finished. The consequences for a buyer can include:
Unlawful construction can also be a criminal matter under Article 184 of the Turkish Penal Code, Law No. 5237, discussed in our article on the zoning pollution offence. If the developer of an off plan unit has missed the delivery date or is not obtaining the permit, the remedies are set out in our guide to off plan delivery delays.
Provisional Article 16 of Law No. 3194, added in 2018, created the building amnesty known as imar barışı. It allowed a Building Registration Certificate for unlicensed structures, or structures built contrary to their permit, completed before 31 December 2017, with applications due by 31 October 2018 and the fee by 31 December 2018, subject to extensions the government was authorised to grant. The application window has closed. For a buyer today the question is what an existing certificate means. Under the fifth paragraph, a building with a certificate may pass to change of type and condominium ownership without an occupancy permit, but only with the consent of all owners, the cession of areas designated for public services in the zoning plan and payment of double the registration fee. The certificate remains valid only until the structure is rebuilt or an urban transformation takes place, and the provision does not apply in specified Bosphorus, historic peninsula and Gallipoli areas. A certificate is not the same as a building that complies with zoning and earthquake rules.
The transfer itself takes place at the land registry, as described in our guide to the title deed transfer process. Where the file shows deviations or a stalled conversion, our real estate and construction law team can review the permit history and correspond with the municipality and the developer.
Yes. A floor easement is a registered right that can be sold to a foreigner at the land registry, subject to the general rules on foreign ownership and the checks described in section 11.
Yes. It is created by official deed and registration under Article 10 of Law No. 634 and gives a registered right over a numbered unit and land share, not a mere contract with the developer.
Floor easement relates to a unit in a building that is unfinished or lacks a full occupancy permit; condominium ownership relates to a completed, permitted building in which each unit is a separate immovable.
Not necessarily. The permit may have been issued while the conversion is still pending, so check the municipality's records rather than the title label alone.
Once the occupancy permit for the entire building is uploaded to the electronic system, the land registry converts it ex officio under Article 10; any joint owner may also request conversion under Article 3.
The ex officio change of type and conversion under Article 10 are exempt from the revolving fund service fee; other costs, such as permit related obligations, are a separate matter.
Yes. Article 20(2)(b) of the citizenship regulation expressly includes floor easement property worth at least 400,000 US dollars with a three year no sale annotation.
The law allows it, but each bank decides on the basis of valuation, completion and permit status, so get written approval before committing.
Permanent connections are barred for buildings without an occupancy permit under Article 31 of Law No. 3194, though units covered by a partial permit may be connected.
Yes, once the building is complete and two thirds of the units are in use, condominium management rules apply under Article 17, including the duty to pay common expenses.
Units within Law No. 634 are subject to compulsory earthquake insurance, and the land registry will not register a transfer without a valid policy under Article 11 of Law No. 6305.
Owners can demand performance from the developer under the contract and Article 17, and should take advice early because fines and demolition orders can reach the owners too.
Not fully. It can allow conversion to condominium ownership only with the consent of all owners and other conditions, and it lapses when the building is rebuilt or transformed.
Kat irtifakı and kat mülkiyeti are both registered rights under Law No. 634, and both can be sold, mortgaged and used for citizenship. The real dividing line is the occupancy permit under Article 30 of Law No. 3194: with it, conversion is now largely automatic and utilities, insurance and finance follow; without it, the buyer carries the developer's unfinished obligations and the risk of fines or demolition for any deviation.
If you are about to buy a flat with a floor easement title, or your building has been finished for years without conversion, send us the title record and the permit documents, and our legal team will tell you what is missing and how to fix it.
