The Buying Process

Buying property in Turkey is much simpler than in the UK.  I did a lot of research before going to Turkey so had a good idea of the processes and costs involved.  All that happened was as I had expected.

In less than a day we did all we had to whilst still in Turkey.

Cevdet (the builder) took us to:

• the tax office to get the required tax reference number;
  
• a bank and we opened an account;
  
• the notary and arranged the necessary translator.   We had to give Cevdet power of attorney, from my researches I knew that this was usual practice.  Basically, it meant that I could transfer the necessary funds at the relevant time to our Turkish bank account and Cevdet was then able to withdraw the money; 
• the lawyer's office. The lawyer spoke perfect English so, apart from anything else, we were able to ask Cevdet (whose English wasn't terribly good at the time) several questions that we'd previously been unable to explain.  We'd already decided on our lawyer by emailing several local to Dalaman for quotes. The quotes varied considerably, ultimately we did choose the cheapest one who also happened to be the most local, and proved to be excellent. 

The lawyer emailed me a draft (plus translation) of the contract. When we were happy with the contract I had to print, sign, and send it via courier, back to the lawyer.

A military search also has to be done, but Cevdet sorted all that out as well.

I recommend keeping records of all your payments so that you know when, where, and how much you pay for the various legal requirements of the purchase.

We went back to Turkey to take possesson of the apartment in May 2007.  Cevdet then applied for the Tapu  (similar to house deeds) for us.  This took about three months to come through.  Even though we didn't make the final payment until the Tapu came through (usual practice) we were still able to furnish and use the apartment as we wished.

If you have any questions please feel free to email us at sky@dalaman.com