Hi Kate, I went to the notary to start the deeds process at the end of January (26th) and they came back at the end of April. Some people have taken as long as 15 weeks I have heard. What does your friend's agent say about it?

Hi

Yes, it is taking at least 4 months for the applications to come back from the military dept. As most vendors are not willing to wait this long to close the sale, you can do this at the Public Notary office then transfer the deeds to your name once your application is returned.
99% of applications come back accepted. Your agent should be able to tell you himself if the area you are buying is ok. You can also tell youself if there are other foreign-owners in the same complex or area.

Ally

I bought my apartment in Marmaris April 2003, and I received my Tapu at the end of June. Whch was around 10 - 12 weeks. Again things do vary, and it can take a little longer or a bit quicker.

Anyone that has bought more recently will be able to give you a better idea.

I know that since I bought last year, a lot more Europeans are buying, which seems to have increased the price of property and is delaying paperwork, as the work load is higher.

Jo

İt is true - there are so many purchases of property in Turkey by foreigners that the checks they do at İzmir are taking longer now. İ have never known anyone to not be cleared.

Kate544 wrote:

I have recently agreed to buy a property in Turkey but have been advised that it could take some time before I get permission from the Turkish Authorities to go ahead
I have been advised that the minimum time is 3 months but that it can often take longer dependant on the workloads at the time
I have a friend who has been waiting since the end of January 2004
Does anyone have any comments

It is possible [I have done this and so have a few others] to get the turkish solicitor to draw up a trust document which immediately transfers the Tapu from the seller into a joint trust with you and the turkish estate agent. Because he/she is a turkish national the tapu is transfered immediately and then goes into a process for transfer to you. The pluses are you have access and immediate use of the property..the minuses are you pay two property taxes [as the transfer takes place twice (around £250 each time)] For us it was a small price to pay to get use of the property for the holiday season.
Pat

Just a word of caution on using these short cuts to get your deeds a bit quicker, often it involves you allowing a ' third party ' Turkish National to have your property registered in their name on the understanding that they will make a future transfer back to you. There have been cases shown on TV where the third party has refused and the person who made the payment for the property is not considered the legal owner.

I don't go with the comment that Vendors will not wait, they are aware that foreigners pay well above the rates they would get elsewhere and they also know the procedure.

My tip is simple, Pay the lowest possible deposit, and I mean hundreds, not thousands, then go to the Notary, and then wait until the checks have been made until everything comes back clear.

I dont agree that foreigners ALWAYS pay above the odds. I dont add thousands onto my properties just because a foreigner is buying it. In 2 years, I have not come across one turkish vendor who will wait 4 months to receive his money from a foreigner. In that time he could have it sold to a turkish person. Transferring the sale of the property through the Public Notary ensures that 1. You have full ownership rights to the house and can use it 2. the vendor gets his money. So everyone is happy.
I would never suggest that deeds to a property be transferred into my name until the foreign buyers application returns from the military. Too many scarey stories about cases like that. Also it means that the buyer is also paying before their application returns. So all in all, transferring the sale through the Notary is the safer option.

Also Rimms I dont know of anyone who takes less than 10% deposit. So you would have to pay at least £2,000.

Speaking for myself, I bought mine at 'Turkish price' and then went through an agent to do the paperwork.
The military checks were going beyond the 3 month agreement I'd made to complete so with the agent we used a notary. There were no 3rd parties as such, just the agent holding the property for me until the permissions came through. It was stated quite clearly on the documentation that said property was mine so I didn't feel any reason to worry.
Some of the properties we've to list Rimms are for sale by owner and the truth of it is Brits who are selling on this way are the ones that are hiking the prices. That isn't to say there isn't the odd unscrupulous agent who adds a couple of zeros to the Turkish asking price.

Ally

I did not use the word ALWAYS in my post, but if you sell property and are saying that Brits & Turks buy at exactly the same price, you will be telling me next that we pay the same price for spice in the market or fruit from the road side vendors.

The post was about taking short cuts to get your deeds earlier, so unlike the post from Terry which had a time bound agreement, what was your point ? and how do you sell houses when you say you don't know vendors who will not wait for the legal & military checks that we foreigners need to have carried out.

And as far as deposit, I understand that once you have completed the business with the Notary, the sale is bound on both sides and subject to enforceable penalties, so the 10% is only an agreement, of course the cynical may point out that the larger the deposit paid will ensure the agent gets some cash up front.
Once again you may not know any vendors who will accept less than 10% but I can assure you other agents do !

I have no problem with anybody getting the best possible value for the property they are trying to sell. I do have a problem with agents who make up ' laws ' that do not really exist and leading people into taking what are Unnecessary risks.

This post seems to be getting a little out of hand.
The original post asked for comments concerning the length of time in getting approval from the military authorities.
Quite simply the time quoted is normal.

The fact of the matter is the more foreigners who buy the longer it takes the admin to process the documentation. So in reality you can be looking at extended periods due to the high volumes currently buying.
Ally suggested a way around the time frame where the vendor is unprepared to wait for the length of time it takes for permissions.
This can make buying at Turkish prices difficult as Turks can complete with other Turks in a matter of days, ergo there is little incentive to sell to foreigners when they have to wait for their monies.
You know yourself the process in the UK can be a nightmare and if a property was to take this long to complete it would have increased in value in the interim allowing for gazumping because of better offers.
To counter this in Turkey the buyer pays a deposit agreed with the vendor and in this I agree with you Rimms that the amount is negotiable as is the asking price. Do you not find though that the Brits in general accept what's told them and aren't particularly at ease bartering?

It may be that this issue becomes moot once the permissions have been scrapped. That's in the offing but so far haven't heard of any updates.

Rimms

As we do not sell to turkish people, we do not add extra onto the price for foreign buyers. This is our company policy but not the general rule for all agencies. I was speaking on a totally personal basis.
As a "foreigner in turkey" myself, why would I want to rip off fellow countrymen?
Regarding vendors not being prepared to wait 4 months on receiving the remaining 90% of their money, that is what we have experienced in the 2 years we have been in business and it seems that that is the general way of things in Kusadasi. How it is in other parts of Turkey, I wouldnt know.

I must say that my experience of buying the price does jump up once they know foreigners are involved - not necessarily the agents, but the vendors aswell.

I went wih my husband(he is turkish) in March to buy in Marmaris - We put in an offer(asking price) on 3 places - twice when we agreed on pricinpal over the phone - the vendors then came into meet us - at this point they increased their price(after they seen me!!) I must say the estate agents involved Turyap were faultless and were as shocked as we were at their antics.
The third property was again through Turyap, and the vendors backed out after another(rogue) agent we visited told the vendors that they had an english couple who would pay 5k more - not realising we were the same peeps.

As this trip was unsuccessful - My husband went out on his own last month - The first property he got - no messing around - And i am totatally convinced this is due to the fact that i wasn't there!!

And reading the previous posts - I must agree with Ally, the turks are not prepared to wait 4 months to et the dosh

Anyway - We have now got our place in the sun and are happy as larry

Hi Leighanne

I find that this happens a lot with us no matter what we want to buy; If my husband goes alone its one price but once they see me its another. In cases like this, my husband always makes a point of only speaking to me in turkish.
Like your husband, when we bought our house here in Turkey, he was here on his own and I stayed back in Belfast with our children.
It really angers me that 99% of the time its one price for the locals and another for the tourists. That is why I send my husband to speak with our vendors so that he gets the lowest price possible for their houses.

Where have you bought your house?

Hi Ally

Sorry - did reply b4 - but post dissappeared in the server transfer

We bought in Marmaris - 2 bed GF flat - paid 72 miliyar. Needs a bit of work doin - but we are happy with what we got.....Saying that i have only seen pics - wont see fo real til october!!

We have already decided that i will stay away whilst making all our major purchases - to keep prices down. Its awful that you have do that - Buts ill get over it.......i can stay propping up the bar browsing through the kitchen/furniture brochures while he does all the running around!!

we bought an apartment in altinkum in september 2004 and we are still waiting for our deeds to come back, has anyone had to wait for nine months or more as we are starting to get concerned about the delay.

Grob131 This does seem a long time and I havent heard any take this long but 6 months at the moment is average. There could be a few reasons for this 1. If you have bought on a new development the developer may wait until he has sold majority before he starts the Tapu applcations as a batch- your agent should have insisted this doesent happen but they dont all do it. 2. The military could of sent the paper work back for some reason: plan not to right scale or application not correct etc. But your agent should be keeping you informed of any delays, best have a chat with them first and find out what they know.

Further Having read through this forum I as an agent never allow any of my sellers to up the price on a foriegner and have refused properties on those grounds, all of my sellers accept a deposit and are prepared to wait for the completion -we do point out that without foriegn buyers they would have to wait a lot longer for a Turkish buyer. We produce a contract which goes through an English speaking lawyer and it allows for protection clauses to protect the buyer in event other than the military refusing permission, this is something everybody should think about if you have to wait 6 months for your property.

Best of luck with it.

grob131
Have you contacted your agent?
What do they say?

hello Grob,I can certainly sympathise with you,as we committed in early October and were only informed the Tapu came through 2 weeks ago,we are going over tonight hopefully to collect deeds this week.Like you we had a stressful wait.
C.P.