TÜRKIYE Law and Practice Contributed by: Serkan Gül, Nazım O Kurt and Türkay Avanaş, Hergüner Bilgen Üçer Attorney Partnership
4. Planning and Zoning 4.1 Legislative and Governmental Controls Applicable to Strategic Planning and Zoning Zoning plans must comply with the applicable legislation and, more specifically, with planning principles, urbanisation principles and public interest, such as regional requirements, trans - portation opportunities, etc. This implies legisla - tive control over zoning plans. Moreover, smaller-scale zoning plans must com - ply with larger-scale zoning plans (hierarchy of zoning plans). Ministries enact larger-scale zon - ing plans (spatial strategic plans, environmental plans) whereas local municipalities enact small - er-scale zoning plans (implementation zoning plans). This implies the central administration’s control over the local authority. 4.2 Legislative and Governmental Controls Applicable to Design, Appearance and Method of Construction Construction permits from the municipality are required for any new construction, refurbishment or major modifications. The construction permit and design documents should be in accord - ance with the legislation and zoning plans. The legislation defines the detailed technical requirements for design documents. Addition - ally, various requirements and restrictions (eg, setback distances, ratio of footprint to parcel area, construction coefficient) are also regulated under zoning plans. Oversight is conducted by the authority issuing the construction permit (eg, the municipality). 4.3 Regulatory Authorities Zoning plans regulate the permitted use and development of individual parcels of real estate. The Ministry of Environment, Urbanism and Cli -
the eventual sale of the secured asset while the protection is in place. Another bankruptcy protection mechanism that used to be available but is no longer permit - ted was the deferral of bankruptcy, which was imposed by a court upon the application of the debtor. The shift to a composition regime from a deferral of bankruptcy regime is a positive devel - opment in that it promotes agreement between debtors and creditors rather than a court impos - ing a solution in its own judgment. 3.10 Taxes on Loans Under Turkish law, there is no “recording tax” to be paid by lenders or borrowers on the utili - sation of mortgage loans or real estate-related mezzanine loans. However, the mortgage fees mentioned in 3.4 Taxes or Fees Relating to the Granting and Enforcement of Security must be paid in order to register the mortgage with the land registry. In addition, other taxes such as the Resource Utilisation Support Fund, Banking and Insurance Transaction Tax (BITT), stamp tax and/or VAT are typically imposed on the utilisation of loans. That said, there are numerous provisions in the leg - islation exempting specific types of loans from the imposition of certain taxes. For example, documents issued for the extension of loans by banks, foreign credit agencies and interna - tional institutions are exempt from stamp tax. Further, following a recent change in the legisla - tion, mortgage loans extended for the purchase of the first residential unit by a consumer are exempted from BITT. Therefore, it is important to assess each transaction from the perspective of tax liabilities.
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