Foreign trade companies with legal personality established in foreign countries in accordance with the laws of these countries may acquire real estates and limited real rights in Türkiye only if there are special provisions in the laws.
The laws with special provisions are the Turkish Petroleum Law, the Tourism Encouragement Law and the Industrial Zones Law.
It is not possible for all legal persons (foundations, associations, cooperatives, societies, communities, congregations, etc. with or without legal personality), except for foreign trade companies with legal personality established in foreign countries in accordance with the laws of these countries, to acquire real estates in our country and to establish limited real rights in their favor.
Companies with legal personality established in Türkiye may acquire real estates and limited real rights to carry out the activities specified in their articles of association. In order for a company to be considered as a company with foreign capital, foreign real persons (except Turkish citizens and persons within the scope of Article 28 of the Turkish Citizenship Law No. 5901), legal persons established in accordance with the laws of foreign countries and international organizations must hold 50% or more of the shares or have the authority to appoint or dismiss the majority of the persons with management rights.
Without prejudice to the provisions of the Law No. 2565 on Military Prohibited Zones and Security Zones, an inquiry is made by the governorates regarding the acquisition of real estates in order to determine whether these companies are located in military prohibited zones, military security zones and areas determined within the framework of Article 28 of the same Law (in areas to be determined upon the proposal of the Chief of General Staff due to their proximity to military prohibited zones or other strategic reasons). This inquiry made by the governorates is made directly with the relevant land registry office and the land registry office responds within a maximum of three business days.
In the case of real estate acquisitions within special security zones, permission must be obtained from the governorate where the real estate is located.
Foreign-capital companies are required to submit a “certificate of authorization” showing the company's officials, their representation and binding powers in their real estate acquisition applications. The authorization document must clearly include the authorization to acquire real estates and the identity details of the company officials and must be valid for the year of the transaction.
Foreign-capital companies must include the phrase “Foreign-Capital Company within the scope of Article 36 of the Land Registry Law No. 2644” in their certificates of authorization and apply to the Provincial Planning and Coordination Directorate of the Governorate with the necessary documents in accordance with the Regulation on the Acquisition of Real Estates and Limited Real Rights by Companies and Affiliates within the Scope of Article 36 of the Land Registry Law No. 2644.
Otherwise, the authorization certificate for foreign-capital companies must include the phrase “Foreign-Capital Company outside the scope of Article 36 of the Land Registry Law No. 2644”. Foreign-capital companies with this phrase in the said certificate of authorization shall be considered as domestic capital companies in accordance with Article 36 and the requests in this regard shall be concluded directly by the land registry offices within the framework of general principles.
Foreign-capital companies outside the scope of Article 36 may acquire and use real estates and limited real rights within the framework of the provisions applicable to domestic-capital companies.
Real estates and limited real rights acquired outside the provisions of this article shall be liquidated within the period given by the Ministry of Treasury and Finance. Otherwise, the real estates or limited real rights shall be converted into a price and the price shall be paid to the right holder.
Trade companies with legal personality established in foreign countries according to their own legislation may acquire real estates only if there are special provisions in the laws. Legal persons other than these trade companies cannot acquire real estates and cannot establish limited real rights in their favor.
Real persons of foreign nationality who are citizens of countries designated by the President in terms of international bilateral relations and in cases where the interests of the country so require, may acquire real estates and limited real rights in Türkiye, provided that the legal limitations are complied with. The total area of real estates and limited real rights of an independent and permanent nature acquired by real persons of foreign nationality may not exceed ten percent of the area of the district subject to private property and may not exceed thirty hectares per person throughout the country. The President is authorized to increase the amount that can be acquired per person throughout the country by up to two times.
Trade companies with legal personality established in foreign countries in accordance with the laws of their own countries may acquire real estates and limited real rights only in accordance with the provisions of special laws. Except for these trade companies, others may not acquire real estates or establish limited real rights in their favor. The limitations set forth in this Article shall not apply to the pledge of real estates in favor of these trade companies and foreign real persons.
The President may determine, limit, partially or completely suspend or prohibit the acquisition of real estates and limited real rights by real persons of foreign nationality and trade companies with legal personality established in foreign countries in accordance with the laws of their own countries, in terms of country, person, geographical region, duration, number, ratio, type, quality, area and quantity, when the interests of the country so require.
Real persons of foreign nationality and trade companies with legal personality established in foreign countries in accordance with the laws of their own countries are obliged to submit the project to be developed on the unstructured real estates they purchase to the approval of the relevant Ministry within two years. The project approved by the relevant Ministry by determining the starting and completion period is sent to the land registry office where the real estate is located to be recorded in the declarations section of the land register. The relevant Ministry shall monitor whether the approved project is performed within the time period.
The maps and coordinates of military prohibited zones, military security zones and strategic zones shall be submitted by the Ministry of National Defense within one year at the latest as of the effective date of this Law and the maps and coordinates of the amendment decisions pertaining to these zones shall be submitted by the Ministry of National Defense within one month as of the date of the amendments, and the maps and coordinates of the special security zones and amendment decisions shall be submitted by the Ministry of Interior to the Ministry to which the General Directorate of Land Registry and Cadastre is affiliated within the same period. One year after the effective date of this Law, title deed transactions shall be executed according to the documents and information sent pursuant to this paragraph.
Real estates and limited real rights acquired in violation of the provisions of this article, those determined by the relevant Ministry and administrations to be used in violation of the purpose of acquisition, those for which no application is made to the relevant Ministry within the time period or projects of which are not performed within the time period, and those acquired by inheritance other than the limitations within the scope of the first paragraph of this article, shall be liquidated and converted into price and the price shall be paid to the right holder, unless they are liquidated by the owner within a period not exceeding one year to be given by the Ministry of Finance.”
Companies with legal personality established in Türkiye in which real persons of foreign nationality, legal persons established in accordance with the laws of foreign countries and international organizations, except for the persons within the scope of Article 28 of the Turkish Citizenship Law No. 5901 dated 29/5/2009, hold fifty percent or more of the shares or have the authority to appoint or dismiss the majority of the persons with management rights, may acquire and use real estates or limited real rights in order to carry out the fields of activity specified in their articles of association.
In the event that the companies mentioned in the first paragraph are directly or indirectly shareholders of another company established in Türkiye, the same principles apply if the ultimate shareholding ratio of the foreign investor in the partner company is fifty percent or more, if foreign investors directly or indirectly acquire fifty percent or more of the shares of domestic capital companies that own real estate, and if the shareholding ratio of foreign investors in existing foreign capital companies that own real estate reaches fifty percent or more as a result of share transfer.
Without prejudice to the provisions of the Law no. 2565 on Military Prohibited Zones and Security Zones dated 18/12/1981 and numbered 2565, the acquisition of real estates by these companies in military prohibited zones, military security zones and the zones determined within the framework of Article 28 of the same Law shall be subject to the permission of the Chief of General Staff or the commands to be authorized by it, and the acquisition of real estates in special security zones shall be subject to the permission of the governorate where the real estate is located. The assessments to be made within the scope of this paragraph shall be based on the suitability of the acquisition for national security.
Foreign-capital companies excluded from the scope of the paragraphs above may acquire and use real estates and limited real rights within the framework of the provisions applicable to domestic-capital companies.
The provisions of this article shall not apply to the acquisition of real estates and limited real rights in the establishment of real estate pledges, in property acquisitions within the scope of conversion of real estate pledges into cash, in the transfer of real estates and limited real rights arising from company mergers and divisions, in special investment zones such as organized industrial zones, industrial zones, technology development zones and free zones, and to the real estates acquired by banks due to transactions considered as loans within the framework of the Banking Law dated 19/10/2005 and numbered 5411 or for the collection of their receivables, provided that the obligation to dispose of them within a certain period of time according to the relevant legislation continues.
The use of the real estates acquired under this article shall be monitored by the governorates at regular intervals within the framework of land registry records.
Real estates and limited real rights which are determined to have been acquired or used in violation of the provisions of this article shall be liquidated and converted into price and the price shall be paid to the right holder, unless the owner liquidates them within the period to be given by the Ministry of Finance.
The procedures and principles regarding the implementation of this article shall be regulated by a regulation issued by the Ministry of Economy after receiving the opinions of the relevant institutions and organizations.
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