Notary Public Offices Authorized to Perform Sales Contracts for Real Estate Properties

As of 01.01.2023 and pursuant to 1512 numbered Notary Public Law, Turkish notary public offices have been authorized to perform sales agreements regarding real estate in Turkey. The practice of this new legal development has been postponed to July 2023 by the Official Gazette published on 11.01.2023.

The new practice aims to ease the workload of the Land Registry Office, therefore eliminating the stagnant wait processes. Secondly, it offers an additional source of income to Public Notaries.

Notary Public Offices will be integrated into the TAKBIS (Land Registry and Cadastre Information System) system and shall add and/or request documentation via this online system. Once the requirements and processes have been fulfilled by the Notary Public Office, the Land Registry officials will register the sales.

Notary Public officials must perform all procedures in relation to real estate sales. The officials must determine the right holders, must check that there are no legal barriers or obstacles to performing the contract of sales, also must consider all restrictions on the properties subject to the sales contract.

Additional to the regular title fees and working capital fees, Notary Public Offices shall be paid an additional fee for the performance of the sales procedure. This fee shall be determined annually by the Tax Procedure Law and for the year 2023, this fee has been determined to vary from 500 Turkish Lira to 4000 Turkish Lira, depending on the value of the subject property. This additional fee shall only be paid if the parties of the sales agreement decide to perform the sales transaction via Notary Public Office.

This article was written by,

 Hazal Joyce Marlborough Özden

Lawyer & Real Estate Agent at Oasis Estate