Why you need a lawyer who is not paid by the seller
In Turkey the person showing you the property is usually paid a commission when the sale closes. That is true of estate agents and of many of the Chinese-language 中介 and WeChat-group intermediaries who market Turkish property abroad. Their income depends on the deal happening — not on whether the deal is safe for you.
Our income does not depend on the deal happening. You pay us a fixed fee to investigate, and we are just as useful to you when the answer is "do not buy this" as when it is "this one is clean." That single change — an adviser with no stake in the sale — is the core of buyer-side due diligence.
One simple test. Ask whoever is selling you the property: "Who is your independent lawyer, and are they different from mine?" If the same firm advises the seller, the agent and you, there is no independent check. We only act for buyers.
Does this apply to your purchase?
How remote buyers get caught — and the Chinese-buyer angle
Most of the losses we see share one feature: the buyer never verified the property against the official record before paying. Distance makes this worse. When you are choosing from photos in a WeChat group, a Telegram channel or a video call, you are trusting the seller's description of the title — not the Land Registry's.
Turkish authorities have prosecuted organised fraud around the citizenship-by-investment programme. In September 2025 the Interior Ministry announced it had dismantled an Istanbul-centred network, with operations reported across 19 provinces, 106 suspects arrested, and fraudulent files linked to around 451 foreign investors and their families, whose citizenships were flagged for revocation. Investigators described two recurring methods that matter to any buyer:
- Paper valuation inflation. A property genuinely worth less is written up on a valuation report to reach the citizenship threshold, so the buyer overpays badly for what they actually own.
- The buy-back / lien trick. The buyer transfers the full amount, quietly receives a large part back through a side arrangement (for example a promissory note or cash-back), so the sale is a sham; the property is later returned to the original owner, leaving the citizenship application, and the title, exposed.
A separate pattern targets people who are abroad: forged documents for a property that does not exist, or that the "seller" does not own. And with the citizenship route, the same unit is sometimes recycled — one property used to support more than one application, or resold before it can lawfully be transferred again.
You do not need to be pursuing citizenship to be affected. These techniques inflate prices and cloud titles for ordinary buyers too. Everything below applies whether or not you want a passport.
What we check at the Land Registry (Tapu Sicili)
The tapuTapuTitle deed / land registry recordThe official title deed and the state land-registry record behind it — the only thing that proves who owns real estate in Türkiye.Glossary → is the single source of truth for who owns the property and what is registered against it. We pull the current title record (tapu kaydı) and read it carefully — not the copy the seller hands you, the live record. We confirm:
- Ownership. That the person selling is the registered owner, and that their identity matches their passport or ID. A frequent problem is that the "seller" is not the legal owner.
- Encumbrances. Any mortgage (ipotek), lien or attachment (haciz) and any annotation (şerh) — court orders, sale bans, pre-emption rights, family-home restrictions, easements — recorded in the declarations column.
- Chain of title. The history of transfers, so we can spot a unit that has just changed hands in a suspicious way or been used to support a citizenship file.
- Property nature. Whether the land is what you were told — residential versus agricultural, forest or coastal-zone land can quietly block or complicate a sale to a foreigner.
Foreign nationals can generally acquire property in Türkiye under Article 35 of the Land Registry Law No. 2644, subject to limits — most notably that land within military forbidden or security zones is off-limits (Law No. 2565). Since a 2017 reform this military-zone check is, for most districts, handled automatically through the Land Registry system rather than as a separate application, but restrictions still apply in certain areas, so we confirm the position early rather than after you have paid.
Beyond the title: the building, the permits and the price
A clean title is necessary but not sufficient. We also check the things that decide whether the building is legal, insurable and worth what you are paying:
- DASK earthquake insurance. A valid compulsory earthquake policy (zorunlu deprem sigortası), under the Disaster Insurance Law No. 6305, is required to complete a residential title transfer and to connect utilities, and it must be put in the new owner's name. We make sure it exists and is current.
- Iskan (occupancy permit). Whether the building has its occupancy permit (yapı kullanma izni). Without iskan the property typically stays in construction-servitude status (kat irtifakı) rather than full condominium ownership (kat mülkiyeti), and you can face utility-connection, financing and resale difficulties.
- Zoning / imar status. What the municipal zoning plan actually allows, and whether the structure matches it — so you are not buying an unlicensed or non-conforming build.
- Off-plan and developer solvency. For projects not yet built, we review the developer's standing, the contract, the delivery and title-transfer mechanics, and what protects your money if the project stalls.
- Valuation sanity where a report exists. Since June 2024 an SPK-licensed valuation report is no longer required for an ordinary foreign purchase; it remains mandatory only where the purchase is for Turkish citizenship or a residence permit. Where a report is in play, we read the licensed appraisal against the tax value, the asking price and the tapu data — so a "paper" price does not become your real loss — and, where no report is required, we still sanity-check the price you are being asked to pay.
The estate agent's lawyer is enough — no need for my own.
An adviser paid a commission when the sale closes has an interest in the sale happening. Buyer-side due diligence means a lawyer whose fixed fee does not depend on you buying, so the advice to walk away is given as readily as the advice to proceed.
A signed sales agreement or a paid deposit means the property is mine.
Turkish title transfers are completed only at the Land Registry Office by official deed (resmî senet), with both sides — or their attorneys under valid powers of attorney — present, under Land Registry Law No. 2644 and the Turkish Civil Code No. 4721. Registration is what actually transfers ownership.
Every foreign buyer must obtain a licensed valuation report.
Not usually. Since June 2024 an SPKSPKThe Capital Markets Board — and the Capital Markets Law No. 6362In Turkish the same three letters are used for the regulator (Sermaye Piyasası Kurulu) and for the statute it administers (Sermaye Piyasası Kanunu No. 6362).Glossary →-licensed valuation report is no longer required for an ordinary property purchase by a foreigner; it remains mandatory only where the purchase is being used for Turkish citizenship or a residence permit.
Checking the seller, the signatures and where your money goes
Fraud usually fails at one of two points: the identity of the person on the other side, or the moment of payment. We close both.
- Seller identity. We verify the seller against the registered owner and confirm the entity or individual is real and entitled to sell.
- Power-of-attorney validity. If the seller is signing through an attorney-in-fact, we check the power of attorney is genuine, in force, and actually authorises this sale. Forged or expired powers of attorney are a classic route to selling a property the "seller" does not control.
- Payment and escrow safety. We structure how and when money moves so that funds are released against registration, not against promises. Pressure to "transfer today to hold the price," or to pay a private account before anything is verified, is treated as a red flag — not a reason to hurry.
Turkish title transfers are completed only at the Land Registry Office by official deed (resmî senet), with both sides — or their attorneys under valid powers of attorney — present, under the Land Registry Law No. 2644 and the Turkish Civil Code (Law No. 4721). Registration, not a signed sales agreement or a paid deposit, is what actually transfers ownership.
The fixed-scope engagement and what you receive
Before we start, we agree the scope and the fee in writing. You know what we will check, what it costs, and when you will hear back — no open-ended billing.
At the end you receive a plain-language report that says, item by item, what we found and whether the property is safe to proceed with, subject to fixing, or best avoided. Where something can be cured before completion — an open mortgage discharged, a missing DASK policy taken out, a şerhŞerhAnnotation on the title deedA note entered on the land-registry record that warns third parties of a right or restriction affecting the property.Glossary → removed — we tell you exactly what must happen and confirm it before your money moves. Our advice is given in English and Turkish. For Chinese clients we correspond in Chinese and can arrange a paid interpreter for meetings; we do not provide native Chinese-language legal representation, and we say so plainly so there is no confusion about who is advising you.
Completing the purchase remotely from abroad
You do not have to be in Turkey to buy safely. Once due diligence is clear, we can complete the whole transaction under a power of attorney (vekaletnameVekâletnamePower of attorneyThe notarised document that authorises a Turkish lawyer to act for you — the reason most matters can be handled without you travelling.Glossary →).
You sign the power of attorney either at a Turkish consulate abroad, or in front of a local notary with an apostilleApostilApostilleA certificate added to a public document in its own country so that it is accepted as genuine in Türkiye, without consular legalisation.Glossary → if your country is a party to the Hague Apostille Convention (chain legalisation where it is not), together with a certified Turkish translation. With that in hand, we attend the Land Registry appointment, confirm the final record one more time, complete the official deed and register the title in your name. You get the new tapu without a single flight — and, crucially, without ever having relied on the seller's word about what you were buying.
We prepare the exact power-of-attorney wording you need and tell you precisely what to apostille, so nothing is rejected at the counter and you sign only what is necessary for this purchase.
Governs acquisition of property in Türkiye by foreign nationals, subject to limits, and requires title transfers to be completed at the Land Registry Office by official deed.
Ownership passes on registration in the Land Registry — not on a signed sales agreement or a paid deposit.
Makes compulsory earthquake insurance (DASK) a precondition for completing a residential title transfer and connecting utilities, and it must be in the new owner's name.
How the due diligence works, step by step
Send us the property and the seller
You give us the tapu details (or the listing), the seller's or developer's information, and any contract or payment request you have already received. Nothing is signed and no money moves yet.
We agree a fixed scope and fee
We confirm in writing what we will check and what it costs, so there are no surprises and no commission from the other side.
We pull and read the live tapu record
We obtain the current Land Registry record and check ownership, encumbrances (ipotekİpotekMortgage over real estateA security right registered on a property so that a debt can be recovered from it if it is not paid.Glossary →, haciz, şerh), chain of title and the true nature of the land.
We verify building, permits and price
DASK, iskan, imar zoning, off-plan and developer standing where relevant, and — where a valuation report exists — the appraisal sanity-checked against tax value and asking price.
We check the seller, the power of attorney and the payment plan
We confirm the seller's identity, the validity of any power of attorney, and structure payment so funds release against registration — not against promises.
You receive a clear go / no-go report
A plain report telling you to proceed, to proceed once specific issues are cured, or to walk away — with the reasons.
We complete, in person or remotely
If you proceed, we finalise the transfer at the Land Registry — either with you present or entirely under your apostilled power of attorney — and register the title in your name.
What to gather before anything is signed
None of this requires you to commit to the purchase. It is simply what makes an independent check possible while you can still walk away.
Frequently asked questions
Isn't the estate agent's lawyer enough?
No. An adviser paid a commission when the sale closes has an interest in the sale happening. Buyer-side due diligence means a lawyer whose fixed fee does not depend on you buying, so the advice to walk away is given as readily as the advice to proceed. We act only for buyers.
Can you check the property before I send any money?
Yes — that is the point. We pull the live Land Registry record and verify the seller, the encumbrances, the permits and the price before you pay a deposit or sign a sales contract. If the answer is that you should not buy, you have lost only our fixed fee, not the purchase price.
I found the property in a WeChat group / through a 中介 abroad. Is that a problem?
Not by itself, but it raises the stakes. When you are buying at a distance from photos and messages, you are trusting the seller's description of the title rather than the official record. We independently verify everything against the Tapu Sicili so your decision rests on the register, not on marketing.
What exactly do you check on the tapu?
The registered owner and their identity, all encumbrances — mortgage (ipotek), lien or attachment (haciz) and annotations (şerh) such as court orders, sale bans and pre-emption rights — the chain of title, and whether the land is really residential rather than agricultural, forest or coastal. We also confirm that the property is not within a military forbidden or security zone that would block a foreign purchase.
Does this apply if I am not seeking Turkish citizenship?
Yes. The techniques behind the 2025 citizenship-fraud cases — inflated paper valuations, buy-back arrangements that make the sale a sham, and reselling the same unit — distort prices and cloud titles for ordinary buyers too. The checks are the same whether or not you want a passport.
Do I need a valuation report to buy?
Not usually. Since June 2024 an SPK-licensed valuation report is no longer required for an ordinary property purchase by a foreigner; it remains mandatory only where the purchase is being used for Turkish citizenship or a residence permit. Where a report exists, we read it against the tax value and the asking price so an inflated "paper" figure does not become your loss.
Can you complete the whole purchase if I never come to Turkey?
Yes. Once due diligence is clear, we complete the transfer under a power of attorney (vekaletname) that you sign at a Turkish consulate, or before a local notary with an apostille and a certified Turkish translation. We attend the Land Registry appointment and register the title in your name.
What language do you work in?
We advise in English and Turkish. For Chinese clients we correspond in Chinese and can arrange a paid interpreter for meetings. We are transparent that we do not provide native Chinese-language legal representation, so you always know who is advising you and on what basis.
How long does it take and how much is it?
Verification usually takes about three to seven business days once we have the tapu details and documents. The fee is fixed and agreed in writing before we start, so you know the cost of protecting yourself before you commit.
