Size of a Turkish squaremeter

 

This time, we will examine something that should seem quite simple: the size of a square meter.

First, let's see what Wikipedia has to say on the subject:

The square meter is a unit of area. It is defined as the area of a square whose sides measure exactly one meter.

For those particularly interested in the subject, it is worth noting that one square meter equals 0.000001 square kilometers or 10,000 square centimeters.

One question Wikipedia does not answer is the size of a Turkish square meter.

Experience has taught us that one European square meter and one Turkish square meter are not equal. This is most obvious when we receive the floor plans for the units we promote. These are often quite exaggerated, and we often see 2-bedroom apartments listed as 150 square meters. However, visiting the apartment in question often reveals a different story. In other words, the 150-square-meter apartment turns out to be just 100 square meters.

The main reasons for this are:

- In Turkey, informing about square meters is not subject to any legal standard. Each constructor and developer measures based on their own system. Providing wrong information is, of course, not legal, but often, fire stairs, hall areas, elevator areas, and inside service shafts are included in the total square meter figures.

- Estate agents are also not subject to a certain standard when informing clients about apartment sizes. Technically, public records are available, but in real life, they are difficult and very bureaucratic to access. Many buildings are also constructed slightly differently than what the public records and planning permissions show, so these figures are often not accurate.

This means that the figures given for each apartment are approximate and often tend to be a bit exaggerated.

In the end:

- Never trust the figures given by estate agents, private sellers, or constructors entirely. If the property is already constructed, this is less problematic since you, as a buyer, can view and visit the unit in question and see for yourself how big—or how small—the apartment really is.

- If the unit in question is an off-plan apartment and not yet built, you, as a buyer, should always ask for the floor plans and inside measurements—wall to wall—of the apartment. This way, you can fairly easily calculate the correct figures yourself.

Get the size of the apartment written into the buying agreement and make sure to specify that if the apartment turns out to be smaller than agreed, you will be entitled to compensation.

- In general, when looking for a new holiday home, do not be blinded by huge figures and apartments that, on paper, seem extremely large.

- At www.2base.com, we always try to give exact and correct figures. When promoting off-plan projects, we use the figures provided by the constructor. As explained above, these should sometimes be considered more as guidelines than facts.

In general, we try to use a gross figure that consists of the amount of livable square meters plus balconies. Furthermore, we make our own floor plans for each of the properties that we sell.

If you have any questions related to the square meter figures on our website, please do not hesitate to contact us.

Good advice when issuing a power of attorney

Good advice when issuing a power of attorney

This is usually worth considering when buying or selling real estate or when you are in need of an accountant or a lawyer.

Quite often, it can be useful and time-saving to issue a power of attorney to a third party, who can then act on your behalf.

The process itself is simple and fast, and alone in and around Alanya there are almost ten different notary offices to choose from.

These are the most important issues to remember when issuing a power of attorney:

• Only issue powers of attorney to persons that you trust and that you know who they are.

• Make sure that the power of attorney is specific and for your exact purpose only. When selling your property via power of attorney, the exact registration and location must be specified. When selling a car, the licence plate and registration must be specified and so on.

• If it serves a purpose, consider making a time-limited power of attorney.

• Use a professional translator whom you understand and who will translate the entire and complete power of attorney.

• Ask questions when in doubt. Do not just trust what you are being told.

• Get a copy of the complete power of attorney; it is usually a couple of pages.

• Use an online tool to translate the power of attorney, just to double check that everything you have been told is correct.

• Finally, remember that any power of attorney that you have issued easily can be withdrawn again.

When to withdraw your power of attorneys ?

 

When to withdraw your power of attorneys ?

To issue a power of attorney to a 3rd party is a quite usual thing in Turkey. This is used when buying or selling cars, real estate or dealing with lawyers and accountants.

In the Alanya area alone, there are almost ten public notaries, so to issue a power of attorney is an easy and well-known process.

But what about withdrawing a power of attorney when it is no longer needed? How do you do that, and is it necessary at all?

So let's take the easy part first...

This is how you do it: 

To withdraw a power of attorney, you need to visit a notaries office. It does not have to be the notary where the power of attorney was issued.

You should bring your ID and a copy of the power of attorney that you want to cancel, or know the date it was issued and the reference number.

Unfortunately, withdrawing a power of attorney is not free and will cost you almost the same as the price of issuing a new one.

Is it necessary to withdraw your power of attorneys?

As always, the short answer in Turkey is: Yes, no, maybe....

First of all, it is uncommon that power of attorneys are withdrawn in Turkey. This probably has a lot to do with the cost of withdrawing, but also that if the initial power of attorney is issued correctly, there is no need to withdraw it once it is not needed any longer.

Example: withdrawal is not needed

You issue a power of attorney to a car dealership to sell your car. In the power of attorney, the car is identified with the registration number and your personal ID. 

So the car dealer can only sell that specific car when it is in your name, and once the car is sold, there is no need to withdraw the power of attorney.

Example: withdrawal is not needed

Same example can be given with the sale of a property. In this case the property is identified with the land registry number, so the estate agent can only sell that specific property when it is registered in your name.

And most importantly, the estate agent can not sell any other of your properties.

But if you have given any kind of non-limited power of attorney to a 3rd party, then we recommend withdrawing it immediately.

Example: withdrawal needed

If you have given a power of attorney to sell your property and it is not limited to that specific property that you are selling, you should immediately withdraw the power of attorney.

Not only will the attornee (the person to whom you give the power of attorney) be able to sell ANY of your current or future properties in Turkey. But the power of attorney can also be used to commit fraud in your name without you knowing about it.

This example goes for everything that is related to the sale of your value, no matter if it is property, a car or something else.

Unless it is specifically mentioned in the power of attorney what can be sold, it should be withdrawn immediately and without hesitation.

Example: withdrawal to be considered

If the power of attorney generally speaking is made correct and can not be abused, there can still be a few reasons to withdraw it.

This would mainly be if you for some reason do not trust the attornee anymore, or just want to have the peace of mind of knowing that no one can act on your behalf what so ever.

To sum up, it is crucial that the power of attorney is done correctly and with the limitations that make it impossible to abuse.

Once that is done, there is no need to be overly concerned, and in most cases, it is not necessary to withdraw a power of attorney even after it has been used and no longer serves its purpose.

Should you have any questions or maybe a power of attorney that you want to be checked? Then just contact us; we are always ready to help and assist.

Thank you for reading!

Did you read our new e-magazine ?

With the end of 2024, we have prepared a new issue of our magazine. 

In this issue of our magazine, you will see new flavors, trips that we can recommend, articles that you will enjoy reading and new houses that we offer for sale. 

This magazine took a little longer than the previous issues. It contains more pages and more news. 

We hope that 2025 will be much better for everyone. 

We think you will like our new magazine and wish everyone a good read.