Parliament to discuss draft bill on real estate sales to foreigners
Posted by meb at April 26th, 2008
An amendment to the bill on land registries, which was recently cancelled by the Constitutional Court upon an appeal filed by the Republican People’s Party (CHP), has been referred to Parliament.
With the new amendment, the benchmark for real estate ownership limits for foreign persons and institutions has been changed from total provincial area to a city center base.
Speaking to Today’s Zaman, CHP deputies noted that they have reviewed the amendments. Nationalist Movement Party (MHP) Erzurum deputy Zeki Ertugay said on the matter: “We are opposed to relaxing the rules on the sale of real estate to foreigners. There are certain rules that restrict possession of land by foreigners in all countries. We cannot simply accept relaxation of the rules.”
10 percent limit
The new changes drastically reduce the total amount of land that can be sold to real foreign persons in comparison to the rejected bill. Real foreign persons will be entitled to purchase property within the limits of areas allocated for development as long as the total land purchased by foreign persons in the city does not exceed 10 percent of the total land in a given province’s city center. The bill cancelled by the Constitutional Court allowed for such purchases up to 0.5 percent of a province’s territory.
A commission that will be made subordinate to the Ministry of Public Works and Housing, which supervises the land registry, will be established to review requests for changes to these restrictions, although the upper limit of 10 percent of a given city center cannot be exceeded. The commission will subsequently refer the proposals to the Cabinet.
Changes in the areas allocated for development must be forwarded by governorates to the commission by the end of the next January.
Strategic areas
Under the new amendment, the locations of military zones, military security zones and strategic areas shall be referred by the Defense Ministry to the Ministry of Public Works and Housing without delay.
Relevant institutions and agencies will be obliged to forward information about areas that are appropriate for allocation to real and legal foreign persons within three months of the law coming into force. Within the same period, the governorates shall submit the areas of the total land within the development plans of the town and other local administrative units to the commission.
Under the bill, based on the proposals by the relevant institutions and agencies, a ministerial committee will be responsible for determining the areas that should to be protected because of their cultural or religious value, and strategic importance in terms of irrigation, energy, agriculture or mining. This committee will also determine areas that need to be protected for ecological reasons.
source: Today’s Zaman
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