Property in Turkey

It is hard not to get tempted by a holiday home in sunny Turkey close to the sea. But before you decide to go all in and buy your own holiday home there are a few but very important and essential criteria that the holiday home in question must fulfill. Type of ownership Also in Turkey there are different types of ownership. Make sure that your property is a owner-occupied property and not part of any company, joint venture or time-share. Are a foreigner allowed to own? Not all properties in Turkey can be sold to foreigners due to restrictions on location and type. Make sure that your property can be sold to you as a foreigner. Debt Make sure that no debt or any kind of ipotek are transferred to your name via the purchasing contract or transfer of title deed. Ferdi iskan (habitation certificate) Make sure that the ferdi iskan of the property is either already in place or can be easily issued.  Ferdi iskan is connected to another permission named ön iskan.  In ...

Even the process is more or less the same, purchasing a property in Turkey is of course different then doing so in your home country. One of the biggest differences are actually the language since Turkish can be a bit hard to understand for most. Still a lot of Turkish words are surviving without translation when the topic is property in Turkey which can make if hard to understand exactly what is going on and what the exact meaning is. This is why we have made this vocabulary for property in Turkey that covers the Turkish words that are often used without being translated. Kapıcı // Caretaker Görevli // Also caretaker but a bit more polite Yönetici // Administrator Ferdi iskan // Habitation certificate and permission to use the apartment Ön iskan // Approval of the building permission and that all authorities involved have approved the building. Sigorta // Insurance Belediye // Municipality Tapu // Title deed

When purchasing a property the most important document is without any doubt the title deed, since it proofs the ownership of the property. In this blog post we will take your through the current procedures for obtaining the title deed as well as explaining what kind of information you find on the printed version of the deed. We also want to point out very clearly that the printed version of the deed does not hold any other value than the paper it has been printed on. You can see it as a kind of diploma and should you loose the printed version there will be no consequences. Even if someone that you do not trust gets hold of the printed version of your title deed, it can not be abused. The ownership is registered at the land registry office and it is the information in their computer systems that are valid. Until recently the process of obtaining a title deed was somehow complicated and time consuming. Luckily things have improved for the better and today the process go...

Discussions about flight tickets and how to get the best and cheapest deals is always a hot topic for home owners in Turkey. Based on our own experience we made this guide which we hope will prove both useful and informative. Where to fly to... This is quite simple since there are just two options. Most well-known is Antalya Airport (Airport code AYT) located 120 km west of Alanya with newcomer Gazipasa airport (Airport code GZP and often called Alanya Gazipasa Airport, Antalya Gazipasa or even Antalya Alanya airport so be careful not to mix up between these two airports) located 40 km east of Alanya. Neither of the two airports has public transportation in direction Alanya. Instead several airlines offer free or inexpensive shuttle services to and from the airport direction Alanya. Driving a rental car to Alanya will take you around one hour and 45 minutes from Antalya airport and 30 minutes from Gazipasa airport. Conditions of the road is good but you need to remembe...

The obvious answer to the question is "everyone that lives here does"... For most people Christmas is more of an event than a religious thing meaning that it is  - but of course in its own way - celebrated by everyone even in a Muslim country like Turkey. Also no shop in Turkey is blind to the commercial aspect of Christmas so currently all shopping is accompanied by Christmas decorations and jingle bells. Some even claim that Santa actually comes from Turkey and not the North pole, Finland, Greenland or anywhere else. With that said celebrating Christmas in Alanya is of course very different than celebrating it at home. The special Christmas mood that you find in your home country can not be replicated anywhere, no matter how hard you try. People who choose to travel to Alanya during the holidays do so because they want to get away from all the Christmas activities at home, so they surely do not mind. And all of us living permanently here in Alanya do not...

The last couple of years Turkey has started to invest heavily in new infrastructure.  Most notably are the new tunnel and bridge across Bosphurus in Istanbul and the construction of a new mega airport that will replace the existing and already pretty big Atatürk Airport. Also in Alanya there are some new projects underway and one of the most exiting - but not so much talked about - is the new ring road. The current ring road is known as the 35 meter road, presumably because it is 35 m wide. This road starts at the entrance of Alanya at the Dinek/ Luna Park area and ends just before the Dim River in Tosmur. The new road is known as the 50 m road and construction is on-going as you read this. Interestingly enough there is not much public information available about the road, but here is what we know so far.

Investing in a holiday home in a Turkey is simultaneously both an terrifying and amazing experience. Terrifying since you do not now local customs, rules and regulations and therefore are operating in unknown territory. Amazing since you are about to purchase the holiday home of your dreams, a place where you and your family will spend many happy hours. But before finalizing the deal and signing the contract there are several areas which are worth paying attention to. Spending some time investigating before taking the final decision can save you both time, a lot of trouble and of course your hard earned money. By this we do not mean finding yourself an respectable and licensed estate agent who speak your language and can offer you a secure financial deal. This is of course still an absolute “must”. But after finding your dream property and having received and reviewed the first initial information it is always a good idea to take a closer look at some key informati...