Confusion over deeds to foreigners costing Turkey
Turkish real estate agents and foreign buyers remain at loggerheads over Parliament’s failure to pass a law regarding the purchase of property by foreigners.
Despite the government’s promise to pass the law as soon as possible, recent political tensions have stalled the necessary amendments to Turkey’s Title Deed Law, halting all sale of property to foreigners for the moment.
With the advent of summer, foreigners, who believe they have purchased property in Turkey, are arriving by charter planes only to find they cannot collect their property because of legislative delays – a situation that is making real estate agents furious over the delay in passing the law.
Foreigners who purchased vacation homes in Turkey last year, hoping to enjoy the warm Turkish weather in their own summer home, are disappointed with the delay and have begun demanding their money back. Real estate agents, meanwhile, are trying to placate angry vacationers by holding dinners and explaining the source of the problem to their customers.
Kuşadası Realtors Association (KUŞEMDER) board member Müslüm Yıldırım held a dinner for a group of people from the Netherlands and Ireland who purchased houses from him and are demanding he turn over the deeds to their property.
Yıldırım said he trys to explain why this is not possible. “Now is the time when foreigners come to Turkey to get the deeds of the house they bought. Charter planes carry both tourists and those who purchased or want to purchase homes here. Nowadays, I spend all my time trying to explain what happened to those who purchased houses. I am trying to convince them that they were not swindled. There are no new buyers,” he said.
Yıldırım noted that sales and prices of summer homes usually boom in early summer, but that this year prices have dropped by between 30 to 40 percent. “Those who cannot get their deeds now want their money back because the prices have dropped,” he added.
Foreign homeowners arrived in Turkey to decorate their homes but had to go back without doing anything, he said of the problematic situation. Speaking after the dinner, Yıldırım said, “Some believe me, but others cannot make any sense of what has happened. No matter what, this is costing the country greatly.”
The beleaguered real estate agent said the confusion has forced potential buyers to opt for property in Greece or Spain instead. “Realtors there place ads in newspapers, saying, ‘We are not like other countries where you cannot get your deed,’” he said.
Yıldırım’s Irish partner Gharles James Giblin said renting out summer homes in Turkey is not a profitable thing to do, but noted that houses are comparably cheap in the country. “A summerhouse you purchase here for 120,000 euros will cost more than 500,000 euros in Portugal. People who buy homes here are happy, but the confusion is hurting business,” he said.
The proposed bill, which foresees amendments to the current Title Deed Law, will ensure that foreign nationals will be able to acquire rights to real property to a maximum of 10 percent of a total plot, within the bounds of any additional development plan imposed by the district. The cabinet, taking into account a district’s importance in terms of infrastructure, economic conditions, energy, environment, culture, agriculture and security, will have the authority to determine a different percentage below the maximum permissible level.
According to the bill, the authority to determine areas where foreign nationals cannot acquire property will also rest with the cabinet. These areas include protected areas such as irrigation, mining, agriculture, energy and cultural sites.
The latest bill has been prepared in accordance with a verdict of the Constitutional Court, which rejected previous legislation amending the Title Deed Law.
While the bill was submitted to Parliament by the government, it has not yet been voted on.
source: Turkish Daily News
Tags: real estate Turkey