Article by: mike.dunkerley@thegpg.com (Mike Dunkerley) Published: 29/06/2009

Process for re registration of Turkish Property deeds – TAPU.

This is my experience of the process. It is not well understood even by Turkish people wanting to comply with the new law. There will also be differences in detail depending on if you are registering an apartment, a semi detached property on shared land or a stand-alone building on its own plot of land, or variants thereof. A word of advice. Paperwork is everything and photo copies are needed at every stage. It is necessary to photo copy every document – passports (4 times), habitation certificate (Yapi Kulanma Izin Belgesi), TAPU, earthquake insurance, tax number certificates, etc. at least twice to smooth the process. You will also need at least two passport photos for each person named on the TAPU. Check your original TAPU and habitation certificates to make sure they accurately identify your property – this is important in apartment blocks and semi detached properties, etc. just to make sure the right sub address is used. If at all possible have a Turkish speaker with you because very few of the officials speak English. It is worth it even if you have to pay.

I have a semi detached villa in Didim / Altinkum and so this process was done in conjunction with my neighbour because being on one plot we are technically one building. Also the new TAPU for each of us will split the plot of land into two plots and two buildings. The splitting of the land and the building will involve two separate processes and sets of documents. At some stages in the process we all had to be present. For people who do not have to split land or property these stages are omitted and one or two days knocked of the time it takes.

In June 2009 I went to the Map Office, located under the TAPU office, to make an appointment for them to visit the property and measure it up. A date was set 4 weeks hence in July. Although the Didim Council (Didim Belediyesi) has this information from 4 years ago, when the property was inspected for the habitation certificate, it seems not to be shared with the Map Office which is a central government department. Also this process seems to be one of re registering so all the original steps need to be repeated to ensure the new property data base is accurate.

In the meantime, on advice, I took my habitation certificate back to the Council Offices and got it stamped (10 lira). I don’t know if this was entirely necessary but my certificate was a photo copy and this stamp is probably to authenticate the photo copy. It seemed to be appreciated later in the process.

On the designated day (Thursday), I went to the Map Office to collect the official/surveyor concerned to take him to my house. (This collection is standard procedure). However, before anything could happen I had to pay a fee of 172 lira. This involved the official writing out a chit which I had to take to a designated bank and pay, returning to the Map Office with a signed receipt of the transaction. Once at my house the official took the necessary measurements and I then drove him back to his office. I was informed that the documents would ready upstairs in the TAPU office on the following Monday.

Monday - The documents are sent up to the TAPU Office at 10-30 am so there is no point in arriving earlier. I was given the file containing the documents (about 4 forms and 4 location and site maps) and directed to the Tax Office (about a 5 minute walk away) to collect a further form.

In the Tax Office an official extracted certain documents from the file, asked for a photo copy of the passports of everyone concerned in the process, existing TAPUs and habitation certificates and asked me to return in the afternoon. On my return I was handed another 5 internal documents and directed to an office upstairs to have them stamped. Then I was directed back downstairs to a desk with a computer terminal from which a reference number was extracted and added to the documentation. Then it was back to the original official/desk who asked me to photo copy two further internal tax office forms (there is a copy machine outside round the corner). Then I was given a single document on which were the necessary Tax Office stamps, numbers, etc to add to the file. By this time it was too late for the TAPU office so that had to wait for the next day - Tuesday.

Tuesday - I presented my file back at the TAPU office. It was checked by an official. Passport photocopies and the two passport photos were handed over, as were photocopies of our tax cards. I was told to come back the following day - Wednesday.

Wednesday - Returning at 1.30pm I and my neighbours were told that a fee of 125 lira (for each property) was payable and we were sent round to the bank with a paying-in chit. Returning to the TAPU office with proof of payment we then had to engage the services of an official interpreter (100 lira) to explain the document we jointly had to sign which seemed to relate to splitting into two plots the single plot of land our semi detached villas are built on. A passport photo of each person was attached to this document. Originally this step was not anticipated. We had assumed that it would be bundled in with the issuing of the new TAPU but bureaucracy does not work that way especially when each step can attract a fee. We were each given a temporary TAPU and told to return the following day - Thursday.

Thursday - Returning to the TAPU office we were given a further internal document which we had to take to another official in an office where our application was looked up on the computer, details were checked to the temporary TAPUs and several boxes on the form were ticked. We then took the documents to the TAPU office manager where it was signed off and another set of passport photos added to the file for later use. We were again asked to return the following day. I am speculating here but having to keep returning daily after each step could be linked to the computer system should the system only update once a day – say overnight – so the next set of documents in the process can only be ready in 24 hour cycles.

Continued in Part 2... coming soon.

External Article Link: http://www.property-partnership.com/overseas-property-guides/overseas-property-guide.cfm?id=231

Article Link: http://www.property-partnership.com/overseas-property-guides/overseas-property-guide.cfm?id=231

Please contact the author at mike.dunkerley@thegpg.com for more information.