TÜRKİYE Law and Practice Contributed by: Serkan Gül, Nazım O Kurt and Türkay Avanaş, Hergüner Bilgen Üçer Attorney Partnership
fruct under Turkish law is a personal right rather than a property right because this right cannot be alienated or devised and does not include the right to make fundamental changes to the estab - lished use of the property. Granting a usufruct right to a third party leaves the property owner with the sole right of disposal. 2.2 Laws Applicable to Transfer of Title Transfer of title is governed by: • the Civil Code, in so far as it defines the extent of the interest that is transferred; • the Code on Land Registration, which regu - lates the procedures to be followed for the transfer and introduces restrictions against, and specific clearance requirements for, for - eign ownership of real estate; and • the Turkish Code of Obligations, which sup - plies the rules and background principles governing sales agreements. There are no specific laws that govern transfers of real estate by type of use. Residential property and commercial property alike are transferred under the same rubric. However, specific proce - dures have been put in place that determine the alienation of property rights held by the govern - ment, such as by way of usufruct. 2.3 Effecting Lawful and Proper Transfer of Title Real estate transfers become effective at the time they are registered at the Land Registry Office, which provides a definitive record of real estate ownership rooted in the Ottoman land registry system. Land records are kept in dupli - cate in the central database in Ankara and at the local land registry office. These records are open to the public and are reliably accurate.
Transfers of title must be recorded in order to gain effect. Similarly, all interests in real property, including mortgages, usufruct rights, rights of purchase, and repurchase, must be registered to ensure validity. Given the definitive authority carried by title records, which are open to the public for inspection, title insurance is not at all prevalent with virtually no risk to insure against. 2.4 Real Estate Due Diligence When purchasing real estate, buyers gener - ally engage lawyers for due diligence purposes. Lawyers inspect the land registry records and the usage restrictions included in the zoning plans for the particular locality through the rel - evant municipalities. As the land registry records are authoritative, a thorough inspection of these public records generally suffices to provide assurance to purchasers in terms of the property rights of the seller and any encumbrances over the target property. In addition, a review of the municipality files reveals any non-compliances with the zoning plans and the relevant construc - tion and occupancy permits determined by the relevant municipality. Specifically for real estate used for tourism activities, agreements and deeds establishing the relevant investor’s right to enjoy shores and forests are reviewed as well. Additionally, techni - cal consultants are appointed for environmental
and technical due diligence matters. 2.5 Typical Representations and Warranties
The types of representations and warranties giv - en in real estate sales differ significantly depend - ing on how the sale is structured. Asset sales typically entail very limited representations and warranties, given that comprehensive and defini - tive information about the encumbrances on land, including granted easements, established
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