The first law that allowed foreign natural persons to acquire real estate in Turkey was passed as part of the general Tapu Act of December 22, 1934 under paragraph 35.
According to Article 35 of Property Act No. 2644 of December 22, 1934 with subsequent amendments and additions, “foreign individuals and trading companies forming a legal entity and established in Turkey in compliance with the laws had the right to acquire real property located within the boundaries of the Republic of Turkey” based on the principle of reciprocity.
This meant that the right to buy Turkish real estate was granted to the citizens of those states whose laws allowed the citizens of Turkey to buy property in their country.
Later on some paragraphs of this act were corrected and revised. Turkey was constantly simplifying the rules and regulations of the act, opening the country for international investment and inflows of foreign capital.
The last changes were made to the Act on May 18, 2012, and now it is this corrected and revised Act that defines the procedure for the acquisition of real estate in Turkey by foreign nationals.
The most important change to the Act was, certainly, the fact that the principle of reciprocity was canceled and the list of countries whose citizens can buy property in Turkey has grown considerably. Under the new Act, citizens of more than 170 countries have the right to buy real estate in Turkey.
The list of countries whose nationals can buy property in Turkey (in alphabetical order):
| 1 Australia 2 Austria 3 Azerbaijan 4 Albania – only residential and commercial real estate 5 Algeria – after obtaining a permission from the Ministry of Internal Affairs of Turkey 6 Angola 7 Andorra – after obtaining a permission from the Ministry of Internal Affairs of Turkey 8 Antigua And Barbuda 9 Argentina 10 Afghanistan 11 Bahama Islands – after obtaining a permission from the Ministry of Internal Affairs of Turkey 12 Bangladesh 13 Barbados 14 Bahrain – after obtaining permission from the Ministry of Internal Affairs of Turkey 15 Belize 16 Belorussia 17 Belgium 18 Benin 19 Côte d’Ivoire 20 Bulgaria 21 Bolivia 22 Bosnia And Herzegowina 23 Botswana 24 Brazil 25 Brunei 26 Burkina Faso 27 Burundi 28 Vanuatu 29 United Kingdom 30 Hungary 31 Venezuela 32 Vietnam 33 Gabon 34 Guyana 35 Gambia 36 Ghana 37 Guatemala – after obtaining permission from the Ministry of Internal Affairs of Turkey 38 Guinea 39 Guinea-Bissau 40 Germany 41 Honduras 42 Grenada 43 Greece – the purchase of real estate in areas bordering on Turkey is not allowed 44 Georgia 45 Denmark – restriction on the number of purchased properties: no more than 1 46 Djibouti 47 Dominica 48 Dominican Republic 49 Egypt 50 Zambia 51 Zimbabwe – after obtaining a permission from the Ministry of Internal Affairs of Turkey 52 Israel – restriction on the number of purchased properties: no more than 1 53 India – after obtaining a permission from the Ministry of Internal Affairs of Turkey 54 Indonesia 55 Jordan – restriction on the number of purchased properties: not more than 1 commercial real property and not more than 2 residential real properties 56 Iraq 57 Iran 58 Ireland | 59 Iceland 60 Spain 61 Italy 62 Cape Verde 63 Kazakhstan 64 Cambodia 65 Cameroon 66 Comoro Islands 67 Canada 68 Qatar 69 Kenya 70 Kiribati 71 China – restriction on the number of purchased properties: not more than 1 residential real property 72 Colombia 73 Congo 74 South Korea 75 Kosovo 76 Costa Rica 77 Kuwait 78 Kyrgyzstan 79 Laos 80 Latvia 81 Lesotho 82 Liberia 83 Lebanon 84 Libya 85 Lithuania 86 Liechtenstein 87 Luxembourg 88 Mauritius 89 Mauritania 90 Madagascar 91 Macedonia 92 Malawi 93 Malaysia 94 Mali 95 Malta – restriction on the number of purchased properties: not more than 1 residential real property 96 Morocco 97 Marshall Islands 98 Mexico – after obtaining a permission from the Ministry of Internal Affairs of Turkey 99 Micronesia 100 Mozambique 101 Moldavia 102 Monaco 103 Mongolia 104 Myanmar 105 Namibia 106 Nauru 107 Niger 108 The Netherlands 109 Nicaragua 110 New Zealand 111 Norway 112 The United Arab Emirates 113 Oman 114 Pakistan – after obtaining permission from the Ministry of Internal Affairs of Turkey 115 Palau | 116 Palestine – after obtaining permission from the Ministry of Internal Affairs of Turkey 117 Panama 118 Papua 119 Paraguay 120 Peru 121 Poland 122 Portugal 123 Russia 124 Rwanda 125 Romania 126 El Salvador 127 Samoa 128 San Marino 129 Sao Tome And Principe 130 Saudi Arabia 131 Swaziland 132 Seychelles – after obtaining permission from the Ministry of Internal Affairs of Turkey 133 Senegal 134 Saint Vincent And The Grenadines 135 Serbia 136 Singapore 137 Slovakia 138 Slovenia 139 Solomon Islands 140 Somalia 141 Sudan 142 Suriname 143 The USA 144 Sierra Leone 145 Tajikistan 146 Thailand 147 Tanzania 148 Timor – restriction on the number of purchased properties: not more than 1 residential real property 149 Togo – after obtaining permission from the Ministry of Internal Affairs of Turkey 150 Tonga 151 Trinidad And Tobago 152 Tuvalu 153 Tunisia – after obtaining permission from the Ministry of Internal Affairs of Turkey 154 The Turkish Republic of Northern Cyprus – equal rights with Turkish citizens 155 Turkmenistan 156 Uganda 157 Uzbekistan 158 Ukraine 159 Uruguay 160 Fiji – restriction on the number of purchased properties: not more than 1 residential real property 161 Philippines 162 Finland 163 France 164 Croatia 165 The Central African Republic 166 Chad 167 Montenegro 168 Czechia 169 Chile 170 Switzerland 171 Sweden 172 Sri Lanka 173 Ecuador 174 Equatorial Guinea 175 Estonia 176 Ethiopia 177 The Republic of South Africa 178 Jamaica 179 Japan |
According to order 1751 of the Office of Tapu and Cadastre of Turkey No. 2013/2014 (1751) of 8 October 2013, the procedure for registering real estate in Turkey for foreign nationals, subject to certain conditions, is simplified.
You can familiarize yourselves with this order in the Turkish language here
Its gist is that if up to this time at the Office of Tapu and Cadastre of a respective region or province the permission for this cadastral plot and quarter of land has already been obtained for any foreign citizen, who on these grounds has obtained Tapu, any repeated verification for the same cadastral plot of land and property is not required!
This order applies to all responses from the War Office in Izmir that were received after May 5, 2011. If respective permissions were received prior to this date, the registration takes place according to the standard procedure with a request to the War Office in Izmir.
This simplification of the procedure of real estate registration in Turkey for foreign nationals will dramatically reduce the time of the registration of Tapu for them if a property they buy meets these conditions!
Now the terms
of the registration of real estate in Turkey for foreigners may be reduced from
1.5-2 months to 2-5 days!
