Property sales to foreigners have come to a halt, due to inaction in amending relevant laws after a damning Constitutional Court ruling last year. The government had three months to alter legislation, but could not act in time. Experts say not only real estate but construction and even tourism will be hit, noting that foreign currency inflow may decrease
Following a ruling by the Constitutional Court to ban the sale of immovable property to foreigners residing in Turkey, property sales to foreigners came to a halt as of yesterday since the government has not made the necessary amendments to the relevant law.
We prepared the necessary regulations last month and sent them to the Prime Ministry; however, it was late,” said Zeki Adlı, deputy director of the Turkish Land Registry Directorate. “Thus, property sales to foreigners will stop across the country until new regulations are enforced.”
Finance Minister Kemal Unakıtan told reporters that a new regulation to lift the ban is underway. Unakıtan said he has already signed it together with other ministers.
Missed deadline: The decree of annulment regarding two regulations of the Deeds Law, which regulates property sales to foreigners, was first published in the Official Gazette on Jan. 16.
The Constitutional Court rejected revisions to Turkey's Land Registry Law last year after a legal appeal was brought forward by the main opposition Republican People's Party (CHP).
The act increases the legal limit – which is 2.5 hectares – 12-fold, thus the law is immoderate enough to liquidate the effectiveness of the limitation,” according to the legal basis of the law.
The government missed a three-month deadline to alter the legislation after the court's ruling was published. The Turkish Land Registry Directorate prepared a new bill and sent it to the government, but the bill could not be enacted before the deadline.
The bill entitled the cabinet to be the authority for property sales between 2.5 and 30 hectares. Now this authority has been annulled. We sent the new regulation to the Prime Ministry on March 3," said Adlı.
Unfortunately, it could not be enacted and the issue was out of their control, Adlı said, "A political enactment will reach a final decision about the property limits set to be sold to the foreigners in every city.”
January data indicates that a total of 60,351 immovable properties on an area of 37,125,330 square meters were sold to 70,336 foreign nationals in Turkey. British citizens topped the list, owning 4,867,676 square meters of land, daily Milliyet reported yesterday.
Foreign companies founded in Turkey and people with dual citizenship will be exempt from the act. The new regulations will assess the building plan, instead of the city area, on the basis of which a certain limit will be determined, the Anatolia News Agency said yesterday.
Johan Vos, partner in Antalya, said he wasn't surprised. "Every year something seems to disturb our business… every year there's something,” We had the same problem two years ago… and only the strong real estate businesses survived.”.turkishdailynews..17.april 2008
