Real Estate Lawyer
Real Estate Law
Title deed annulment and re-registration, expropriation, construction-for-land-share contracts, and lease disputes all demand expert handling because of the high economic value of real property. A legal review before any title transfer largely eliminates the risk of future litigation.
Real estate is the most valuable asset most individuals and businesses own, and the disputes attached to it are high-value and technical. In rapidly urbanizing districts such as Beylikdüzü, Esenyurt, and Büyükçekmece, zoning, construction-for-land-share, and title deed disputes are especially common. Our office serves across every field of real property law: from actions for the annulment of title deeds and re-registration to rent determination and eviction proceedings, and from construction-for-land-share contracts to challenges against expropriation compensation; through pre-purchase title and zoning due diligence, we report the risks before you commit.
Actions for annulment of title deed and re-registration
Where the land registry record does not reflect the true state of rights — transfers made with a forged power of attorney, a sale by a person lacking capacity, collusive transactions, or breach of a care-until-death agreement, among others — an action for the annulment of the title deed and re-registration is brought on the basis of the Turkish Civil Code's provisions on wrongful registration (TMK Arts. 1024-1025). The action is heard by the court of the place where the property is located, and in most files the first step is having a provisional injunction annotation entered in the land registry when filing suit, to prevent transfers to third parties. The protection of good-faith third parties' reliance on the registry (TMK Art. 1023) is the toughest front in these cases: with each change of hands, the burden of proof grows heavier. This is why a right holder who learns of a wrongful transfer must act without delay — it directly affects the success of the case.
Lease agreements, rent increases, and the rent determination action
In residential and roofed workplace leases, the annual rent increase cannot, under Article 344 of the Turkish Code of Obligations (TBK), exceed the twelve-month average of the consumer price index (CPI) for the previous lease year; if a higher rate was agreed, it is valid only up to that ceiling. In leases that have completed five years, either party may bring a rent determination action asking the court to set the new rent according to comparable market rates, independently of the CPI ceiling (TBK Art. 344/3); the equitable reduction applied by the courts is a characteristic feature of these cases. For the determination decision to take effect from the start of the new lease period, the statutory notice and filing timing (notice or suit at least 30 days before the new period) must be observed. For rents left unraised for a long time, the determination action is a rebalancing tool that produces results far faster than eviction for the property owner.
Eviction routes: undertaking, owner's need, two justified notices, and default
A tenant can be evicted only on the grounds enumerated in the law, and each route has its own timing regime. The route based on a written eviction undertaking (TBK Art. 352/1) rests on an undertaking given after the lease agreement and containing the vacating date; enforcement proceedings or suit must be commenced within 1 month of the undertaking date. In eviction based on housing need (TBK Art. 350), the genuine and sincere need of the landlord, their spouse, descendants, ascendants, or dependents is required; premises vacated by this route cannot, without just cause, be leased to anyone other than the former tenant for 3 years (TBK Art. 355). Against a tenant who has given cause for two justified notices for non-payment of rent within one lease year, an eviction action can be filed within 1 month of the end of that lease year (TBK Art. 352/2). In default on rent, the contract can be terminated at the end of a written notice period of at least 30 days (TBK Art. 315).
Urban transformation: the Law No. 6306 process
Given the age of the building stock in Esenyurt, Beylikdüzü, and Büyükçekmece, Law No. 6306 on the Transformation of Areas Under Disaster Risk is one of the most frequently applied pieces of legislation in our region. The process begins with a risky-structure assessment report issued by a licensed institution; the report is served on the owners, who may object within 15 days of service. The objection is examined by a technical committee; if rejected, the administrative courts remain open. Once the risky-structure finding becomes final, the vacating and demolition process runs; rights holders may receive rent assistance and the other supports provided under the law. After the 2023 amendment, reconstruction decisions can be taken by a simple majority of owners in proportion to their shares; since severe consequences follow — such as the sale of the share of a co-owner who does not join the decision — conducting the meeting and decision processes in due form is critically important. The review of the transformation contract to be signed with the contractor is the riskiest stage of the process.
Construction-for-land-share contracts and contractor disputes
A construction-for-land-share contract is a mixed contract in which the landowner undertakes to transfer land shares and the contractor undertakes to build and deliver independent units; because it involves a transfer of land shares, it must be executed in official form before a notary. Most disputes in practice cluster around exceeding the delivery deadline, incomplete and defective workmanship, construction contrary to the project, and the contractor's premature transfer of shares to third parties. In case of delay, the landowner may claim the delay compensation agreed in the contract or the market rent loss; in cases of severe delay and fundamental defects, rescission of the contract comes into play. When concluding the contract, writing the delivery date, penalty terms, technical specifications, and the share transfer schedule clearly — and expressly placing the occupancy permit (iskân) obligation on the contractor — prevents most future disputes from the start.
Expropriation and de facto expropriation
The administration may take private real property only through the procedure in the Expropriation Law No. 2942. In the process, the administration first attempts the purchase procedure; if no agreement is reached, it files an action for the determination of compensation and registration before the civil court of first instance (Art. 10), and the compensation is determined by an expert panel according to the nature of the property (the plot/land distinction, comparable sales, the income method). The owner has the right to file an action for annulment before the administrative courts within 30 days of notification of the expropriation decision (Art. 14); if this period is missed, the dispute proceeds only over the amount. Where the property is physically occupied, or legally encumbered through a zoning plan, without any expropriation procedure at all (de facto expropriation / unlawful taking), the owner may sue for compensation and damages. Selecting the right comparables for the compensation increase is the technical battle that determines the outcome in these cases.
Ecrimisil and dissolution of co-ownership
From a person using real property without legal basis, compensation for unauthorized use (ecrimisil) can be claimed where the conditions of bad-faith occupation are met; under settled practice, it can be claimed retroactively for at most 5 years, and in disputes between co-owners, the precondition of exclusion from enjoyment (having communicated the wish to use the property to the other side) must, as a rule, first be satisfied. Where co-ownership — whether in shares or in community — has become unsustainable, each co-owner may ask the civil court of peace for the dissolution of co-ownership (partition/sale); the court first examines whether partition in kind is possible, and if not, the property is sold at public auction and the proceeds distributed in proportion to the shares. At the sale stage, the right to object to the appraisal of the property's true value must be exercised diligently; a low valuation harms all co-owners.
The course of real property litigation in Büyükçekmece and Esenyurt
Real property disputes in the region are heard predominantly by the civil courts at the Büyükçekmece Courthouse; lease and eviction disputes fall within the jurisdiction of the civil court of peace, while title deed annulment and re-registration and expropriation compensation cases fall to the civil court of first instance. The common feature of these cases is that the site inspection and expert examination (survey, construction, and valuation experts) form the backbone of the trial; having the zoning status letter, the comparable sales list, and the project documents fully prepared in the file by the inspection day shortens the process by reducing the need for supplementary reports. Because of the dense residential-complex development in Esenyurt and Beylikdüzü, condominium and site management disputes and maintenance fee collections are also part of the regional courts' typical workload. A short legal check before transactions at the land registry offices can prevent the litigation stage from ever being reached.
The most common mistakes in real property transactions
The mistakes we encounter most often are these: understating the sale price at the land registry (which produces tax loss penalties and proof problems in future litigation); failing to check, before purchase, the property's zoning status, the attachment and mortgage annotations on it, and the distinction between construction servitude and full condominium title; having the tenant sign the eviction undertaking on the same day as the lease (such undertakings can be held invalid); making the contract with the contractor in simple written form instead of before a notary; and disregarding the 3-year re-letting ban after an eviction based on need. Each of these could be prevented by a few hours of legal review at the time of the transaction, yet at the litigation stage they turn into disputes lasting years with uncertain outcomes. With an asset as valuable as real property, the 'sign first, ask later' approach is the most expensive mistake.
Example scenario — an eviction undertaking whose deadline has passed
(The following example is fictional, constructed to illustrate a common case type; it does not refer to any actual client or case.) A property owner wants to start eviction proceedings 6 months after the date written in the tenant's signed eviction undertaking. However, for enforcement proceedings or a lawsuit based on the undertaking, the law prescribes a 1-month period from the undertaking date; since that period was missed, the undertaking has become unusable for that term. The file is reassessed: if the rent payments are irregular, the default and two-justified-notices routes are considered; if the owner's son is getting married, eviction based on need is planned. This scenario shows that the eviction routes are alternatives to one another, and how the strategy is rebuilt when a deadline is missed.
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Services We Provide in This Area
- Actions for annulment of title deed and re-registration
- Lease agreements, rent determination, and rent adaptation actions
- Eviction actions (owner's need, reconstruction, two justified notices)
- Construction-for-land-share contracts and contractor disputes
- Expropriation and de facto expropriation (unlawful taking) actions
- Actions for the dissolution of co-ownership (partition/sale)
- Condominium and site management disputes
- Claims for compensation for unauthorized use (ecrimisil)
- Pre-purchase legal due diligence on real property
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