As a tenant in Türkiye, you are protected by a wide range of rights under the Turkish Code of Obligations, Law No. 6098. This guide brings together the most significant of these protections, from the landlord's basic obligations at the start of a tenancy through to what genuinely happens if the property is sold, corrects a common and consequential misunderstanding about eviction by a new owner, and covers specific scenarios including defective properties, unlicensed buildings, risky structures subject to urban transformation, and long term leases.
Quick Answer: Under the Turkish Code of Obligations, a landlord must deliver the leased property in a condition suitable for its intended use and maintain it that way throughout the lease, generally bears mandatory insurance and property related taxes, and cannot impose penalty clauses for late rent payment. If the property is sold, the new owner automatically becomes the landlord under the existing lease on its existing terms, but a new owner cannot simply terminate the tenancy with a month's notice; they can only do so where they, or specific close family members, have a genuine, immediate need to use the property themselves, and even then only by giving written notice within one month of acquiring the property and subsequently filing a lawsuit no earlier than six months after that acquisition. Separate rules govern rent redetermination after five years, no-cause termination after ten years, and tenant protections in risky, unlicensed, or defective buildings.
The tenant has the right to receive the leased property delivered in a condition suitable for the intended use specified in the contract, and to have it maintained in that condition throughout the lease term, under Article 301 of the Code. The tenant also has the right to require that mandatory insurance, taxes, and similar obligations connected to the property be borne by the landlord, unless otherwise agreed or provided by law, and to require the landlord to bear incidental expenses incurred by the tenant or a third party in connection with using the property.
Where the property has significant defects, the tenant may rely on the general provisions governing debtor default or the landlord's liability for defects that arise after delivery. Where the property was delivered with only minor defects, the tenant may still rely on the landlord's liability for defects that subsequently arise. In either case, the tenant generally has the right to request that the landlord rectify the defect, to request a proportional reduction in rent for the period affected, or to claim compensation for resulting damages, and where the defect is significant enough, the tenant has the right to terminate the contract entirely.
With the landlord's consent, the tenant also has the right to sublease the property or transfer the lease relationship to someone else. Agreements imposing a penalty clause, or providing that future rent instalments become immediately due, in the event of late rent payment are invalid under Turkish law, and except for adjusting the rent amount itself, no changes detrimental to the tenant can generally be made to the lease.
This is an area where a common, and potentially costly, misunderstanding circulates, so it is worth setting out precisely and in the correct order.
Under Article 310 of the Turkish Code of Obligations, where the leased property changes hands for any reason after the lease was concluded, whether through sale, gift, inheritance, exchange, or a forced sale in enforcement proceedings, the new owner automatically becomes a party to the existing lease agreement, stepping into the previous landlord's position. The lease continues in exactly the same form and on exactly the same conditions as previously agreed, including the rent amount, any agreed increase mechanism, and the remaining term; there is no need for a new contract, and the new owner cannot unilaterally change the rent outside the ordinary annual adjustment process simply because ownership has changed.
It is essential to correct a frequently repeated but inaccurate simplification of this area: a new owner does not acquire an automatic right to terminate the tenancy simply by sending the tenant a notice within one month of the transfer. Becoming the landlord under Article 310 does not, by itself, create any right to end the lease early.
What Article 351 of the Code actually provides is a specific, conditional right available only where the new owner has a genuine need to use the property themselves. Specifically, where the new owner, their spouse, their descendants, their ascendants, or another person they are legally obliged to support has a real, sincere, and immediate need to use the property as housing or a workplace, not a temporary or merely anticipated future need, the new owner may pursue termination, but only by following a strict, two stage procedure. First, within one month of the date of acquiring the property, the new owner must notify the tenant of this in writing. Second, having given that notice, the new owner may then file a lawsuit for termination, but only starting six months after the date of acquisition, not immediately after the one month notice. As an alternative, rather than relying on the six month rule, the new owner may instead wait until the current contract term is due to end and file the lawsuit within one month after that expiry.
Both the one month notification deadline and the subsequent filing requirements are treated as preclusive, hak düşürücü, deadlines under Turkish court practice, meaning a case filed without properly satisfying them can be dismissed on procedural grounds without the court ever examining whether the claimed need was genuine. A landlord who buys a property intending to move in personally, or a tenant told by a new owner that they must leave within a month, should both treat this specific, conditional procedure, rather than a simple one month notice, as the actual legal standard that applies.
Regardless of whether the parties have separately agreed on this point, in lease agreements running longer than five years, or renewed beyond five years, the rent for the new lease year can be judicially redetermined in a fair manner, taking into account the twelve month average of the Consumer Price Index, the condition of the leased property, and comparable rental prices in the area, rather than being limited strictly to the ordinary annual index based increase that governs earlier years of the tenancy. Once redetermined in this way, the rent for each subsequent lease year continues to be adjusted according to the principles described here.
This mechanism is available to either party, but in practice it is used far more often by landlords seeking to bring a below market rent up to a fairer, comparable level, rather than functioning as a straightforward tenant protection. Tenants in long term arrangements approaching or past this five year point should also review our guide on eviction laws that apply to tenants in Turkey over five years, since the five year mark itself does not create any separate protection against eviction.
Where a building is identified as a risky structure and a decision for urban transformation is made, tenants who are required to vacate can apply for rental assistance to help cover the cost of alternative housing during the transformation process. This assistance is generally administered by the Provincial Directorates of the Ministry of Environment, Urbanisation and Climate Change, and, for tenants specifically, it is typically paid as a one time lump sum rather than as a recurring monthly payment, in contrast to the arrangement that generally applies to owners of the property.
To benefit from this assistance, an application must generally be made to the relevant Directorate or municipality in the province where the risky structure is located, within one year of the eviction date or within three months of the date the structure is actually demolished, whichever timeline applies to the specific circumstances. Because the exact monetary amount and specific procedural details can vary by province and by the particular transformation project involved, and are revised periodically, tenants should confirm the current figures and requirements applicable to their specific building directly with the relevant Directorate rather than relying on a fixed amount cited elsewhere.
Where a rented property suffers from dampness or a similar defect, the tenant can request that the landlord eliminate the defect within a reasonable time. If the landlord does not do so within that time, the tenant can deduct the resulting expenses from the rent, or request a replacement property free of the defect. Where the defect eliminates or significantly impedes the property's intended use and is not rectified within the given period, the tenant can terminate the contract entirely.
Where a defect affects the use of the property without eliminating it entirely, the tenant can request a proportional rent reduction for the period running from when the landlord became aware of the defect until it is actually rectified. Unless the landlord proves otherwise, they are also obliged to compensate the tenant for damages arising from the defective condition of the property.
Under the Turkish Code of Obligations, a written lease agreement is not a mandatory requirement for a valid tenancy to exist. With the agreement of the parties, a lease can be validly established without any written contract at all, though having the agreement in writing provides considerably greater ease of proof if a dispute later arises between the parties.
Because a written contract is not required for the underlying legal relationship to exist, a tenant occupying a property under an oral or otherwise informal arrangement is not thereby stripped of their rights; they cannot be unlawfully evicted, and cannot be prevented from exercising the protections described throughout this guide, simply because no written contract was ever signed. For a broader comparison of how a formal written agreement is typically structured, see our overview of rental contracts in Turkey for landlords and tenants.
A risky structure is the term used for a building identified, based on scientific and technical assessment, as carrying a risk of severe damage or collapse because its structural or economic life has effectively expired. When a building is officially identified as a risky structure, the tenants living there are notified, since this designation generally leads to the termination of existing leases as part of the transformation process.
Article 301 of the Code obliges the landlord to deliver the property in a condition suitable for its intended use and to maintain it in that condition throughout the lease term, an obligation a landlord is, by definition, no longer able to satisfy once a building has been identified as risky. Separately, Article 306 provides that where a defect eliminates or significantly impedes the property's intended use and is not rectified within the given period, the tenant can terminate the contract. Where a risky structure designation can reasonably be treated as eliminating the property's suitability for its intended use in this sense, a tenant can terminate the lease by sending formal written notice to the landlord, rather than being required to simply wait for the demolition and transformation process to run its course.
Lease agreements are regulated in three parts within the Turkish Code of Obligations. The first part sets out general provisions applicable wherever no more specific provision exists. The second part specifically covers residential and roofed commercial leases, çatılı işyeri, and includes protections that go beyond the general provisions. For a focused discussion of this area, see our article on key legal issues in commercial property rentals.
Under Article 343 of the Code, except for the determination of the rent amount itself, no changes detrimental to the tenant can be made to the lease. This is a one sided mandatory provision that protects only the tenant, meaning the parties remain free to agree on changes that favour the tenant, but not changes that disadvantage them. Article 346 similarly provides that a tenant cannot be obliged to make any payment beyond the rent itself and any agreed ancillary expenses; in particular, an agreement imposing a penalty clause, or providing that future rent instalments become immediately due, for late payment of rent is invalid, since this too is a one sided mandatory provision protecting only the tenant.
An occupancy permit, iskan, confirms that a completed building was constructed in accordance with its approved architectural project. A building lacking this permit can still be lawfully rented, since, as described in section 6 above, a written contract is not a requirement for a valid tenancy, and a lease can exist even for an unlicensed structure. In practice, the main difficulty tenants encounter in this situation tends to arise at the point of setting up electricity, water, or other utility subscriptions, since some providers require proof of a valid occupancy permit before establishing a new account in the tenant's name.
At the end of a lease that has run for more than ten years, counted from the end of the original fixed term, the landlord may terminate the tenancy without providing any reason at all, provided they notify the tenant at least three months before the end of the relevant extension year. In an indefinite term lease, the tenant remains free to terminate the agreement at any time, while the landlord can only terminate by giving notice under the general provisions once ten years have passed from the start of the lease.
This ten year, no cause termination right is genuinely one of the more significant milestones in a long term Turkish tenancy, considerably more consequential for a tenant's long term security than the five year rent redetermination mechanism described in section 3 above, and tenants planning around a long term rental should factor this specific point into their expectations.
Where a tenant has provided a deposit as security, they are entitled to receive it back at the end of the lease, provided the property is returned in the condition it was rented, subject to ordinary wear and tear. You can learn more in our guide to the rental deposit refund system in Turkey, and for a broader overview of how the underlying lease itself should be structured, see our guide on rental contracts generally.
No. Under Article 310, the new owner automatically becomes the landlord under the existing lease, on the same terms, without any need for a new contract.
No. A new owner can only pursue termination where they, or specific close family members, have a genuine and immediate need to use the property, and even then must give written notice within one month of acquisition and can only file a lawsuit starting six months after that acquisition date, not immediately.
A real, sincere, and immediate housing or workplace need for the new owner, their spouse, their descendants, their ascendants, or a person they are legally obliged to support; a temporary need or one that has not yet materialised does not qualify.
This deadline is treated as preclusive, so a case filed without having properly given timely written notice can be dismissed on procedural grounds without the court examining whether the claimed need was genuine.
Not automatically, but after five years either party can request that a court judicially redetermine the rent based on comparable market rents, and this route is used far more often by landlords than by tenants.
After ten years, counted from the end of the original fixed term, the landlord gains the right to terminate the lease without giving any reason, provided at least three months' notice is given before the end of the relevant extension year.
No. A valid tenancy can exist without any written contract, though a written agreement makes it considerably easier to prove the terms if a dispute later arises.
Yes, an unlicensed building can still be validly rented, though setting up utility subscriptions can sometimes be more difficult without a valid occupancy permit on file.
Request that the landlord fix it within a reasonable time; if they do not, you can deduct the cost from your rent, request a defect free replacement property, request a proportional rent reduction, or terminate the lease if the defect significantly impedes the property's use.
Generally yes, by sending formal written notice to the landlord, since a risky structure designation can be treated as a defect eliminating the property's suitability for its intended use.
Yes, tenants required to vacate a risky structure can generally apply for rental assistance, typically paid as a one time lump sum, within the applicable deadline following eviction or demolition.
No. Agreements imposing a penalty clause, or making future rent instalments immediately due, for late payment are invalid under the Turkish Code of Obligations.
Turkish tenant protections extend well beyond the basic right to occupy a property, covering everything from the landlord's maintenance obligations to what genuinely happens when a property is sold, a scenario where the actual legal standard, a conditional need based termination right subject to strict procedural deadlines, is considerably more protective of tenants than a simple one month notice would suggest. Understanding the specific rules that apply to your situation, whether you are navigating a change of ownership, a defective property, an unlicensed building, or a long term lease approaching its five or ten year mark, is essential to knowing exactly where you stand.
For expert legal guidance and assistance with tenant rights and lease agreements in Türkiye, trust Bayraktar Attorneys. Our experienced team is well versed in the intricacies of real estate law and can help protect your rights as a tenant. Whether you need legal advice on lease negotiations, assistance with dispute resolution, or guidance on eviction matters, we are here to provide tailored legal solutions. Schedule a consultation with our dedicated team today.
