In June 2003 Turkey liberalized the legislation relating to foreign ownership of property in a bid to begin aligning its real estate laws and regulations with those of the EU member states. As a result of this liberalization there exists a rule known as the “reciprocity principle” that allows foreign citizens to purchase freehold land and property in Turkey if Turkish citizens are allowed to buy freehold land and property in the country from which the foreign citizen heralds.

Buying a property in Turkey is not as complicated as one might think. The procedure is often far simpler than in most other European countries providing you have the right legal representation.

Foreigners may purchase land and property in Turkey under their own names provided that properties are not located close to a military airport, station or barracks etc. After an agreed sale, in order to acquire the title of a property, an application has to be made to the local Land Registry Office. The title may be transferred once checks have been made to ensure the property meets all the necessary legal requirements (see below).

A lawyer/solictor is not needed in Turkey although it makes sense to consult one for your own piece of mind and cost approximately £500.00.

During the transaction, the seller declares that he has recieved the full purchase price from the buyer. This process can take a few weeks as the Land Registry office needs the official permit papers from the military administration .

Costs
A 1.5% duty both for the purchaser and seller must be paid.
In addition, there is an annual property tax, collected by the local government at the rate of 0.1% for houses and 0.3% for developed lands. New properties are exempt from 25% of the annual property tax for 5 years. All properties are subject to revaluation every year for tax purposes.
The acquired property may be resold and the proceeds of the sale may be transferred out of Turkey.
There is no time restriction for reselling property after having bought, you can have it registered in your name and resell it the next day.
The buyer must pay a 3% agent's commission. These are standard terms offered by all Turkish estate agents in Turkey.

Remember, that to reserve a property you will need a 10% deposit.
Cash is the easiest way to pay the deposit but understandably most people do not want to carry around this amount of money in a foreign country. The easiest way to do it, is to open a bank account in the resort area of your choice (preferably on the day of your arrival) and then if you have taken cash, deposit it in the account.
Alternatively Halo Financial can arrange a favourable exchange rate and transfer the money into your designated account. Transfers normally take 3-5 working days which is why it makes sense to open an account as soon as you arrive. Travellers cheques can be used but can take a while to process and you may end up paying a unnecessarily high commission. It is also possible to use credit cards but once again these too can take a while to process, hefty commision and sometimes the transaction can be stopped by the credit card company because they suspect a fraud is taking place. It is very easy to open a bank account in Turkey and if you need any help all our agents can help you.

Should you sell your property in future, Capital Gains Tax is levied at 25% of the profit between the purchase and sales price