Foreigners may purchase land and property in Turkey on their own names provided that properties are located in towns (i.e. there must be municipality in the area where the property is and the property must be situated within the boundaries of that municipality or borough), not in villages or rural areas and outside of military zones.

In order to acquire the title of a property, an application has to be submitted to the local Land Registry Office in which the property is situated. After carrying out necessary searches and checks for the abovementioned requirements, the transfer of the title is done by the Land Registry Office. During the transaction, the proofs or the documents concerning the transfer of the full purchase price into Turkey must be presented to the Land Registry Office. Also a 1.5% per cent duty (i.e. tax) both for the purchaser and seller is due and collected during the transaction. There exists an annual property tax, collected by the municipalities (i.e. local governments) at the rate of 0.3 per cent for private buildings. The newly built properties are exempt from the annual property tax for 5 years. All properties are subject to revaluation for every five years for tax purposes. The acquired property may be resold or rented out and the proceeds may be transferred out of Turkey . Different regulations apply when a property is purchased for business related purposes.

(Information courtesy of the Turkish Consulate, London , England .)