The Tapu

Every Transaction of Real-estates will be registered by the Tapu-department the buyer receives a proof of ownership, the so-called Tapu (proof of ownership for foreigners). There are both red and blue Tapu’s. These different colors have is no special meaning.

At the Tapu-department at the local municipal all registrations are filed. Here both the buyer and the seller need to ratify the sale with official identification, recent passport photograph and an extract from the birth certificate. For foreign buyers a sworn translator is obligatory. Succession will, as in the Netherlands, to the successor, when there is no other running will.
Conform the Turkish land register nr. 2644 no natural persons with restriction (prohibited area’s) can acquire landownership in Turkey. Real estate can only be transferred at the land register department. The Turkish Tapu-department is comparable to the Dutch “Kadaster”. The Tapu-department is an official division; this means that only the taxes on the object can be levied, that are registered in the Tapu.

It is not possible to obtain the Tapu with a Lawyer or notary and also not on the streets, however only at the land register with a Tapu-official. The Tapu is the evidence of a registration at the land register and your proof of ownership.
The below mentioned subjects are motioned on the Tapu:

Photograph of the owner
Parcel number
Purchase price in Turkish Lira’s
Description of the transition form the former owner tot the new owner
New owner
Date of the last Tapu delivery
Date of the new Tapu delivery
Signature and hallmark from the director of the land register.

Next to the Tapu you also need an Iskan. This is a settlement document (residence permit). This states that the local municipal allows you to live in the property. If you buy a house without a previous application of an Iskan, you will need to know that:

Cost for the application are between Euro 350 and Euro 450
The municipal is prepared to issue an Iskan, or a given reason why this is not issued as yet.