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After a long wait and much speculation, the Turkish Government has passed the new laws for foreign purchase of property.

For the private person wanting to buy a home in Turkey, not much has changed.  The new law restricts the amount of land a foreign national can buy, installing a limit of 25,000m². 

The important thing is that the ‘hold’ on the processing of title deeds for foreign purchases which has been in place since July 26, 2005 has now been lifted, meaning that non-Turkish persons can again purchase property.

The new law is also retroactive, covering any application to the Title Deed Offices from July 26 2005 onward.

The following is a summary of a report published by the Turkish Embassy in London on the new law and it's effect on foreign purchases of property. 

You can find it at http://www.turkisheconomy.org.uk/buying_property.html# under the heading THE NEW TITLE DEEDS LAW.

• The law was enacted and published in the Official Gazette on January 7th, 2006

• Foreigners from countries with 'reciprocal' property purchase laws may buy in Turkey, in zones covered by an Implementry Development Plan (a), or a Local Development Plan (b).  [(a) ‘Uygulama Imar Plani’ in Turkish; a municipal plan controlling development and construction within an urban zone and includes all implementation details marked on a map scaled 1/1000.
  (b) ‘Mevzii Imar Plani’ in Turkish; an official plan envisaging all development implementation details for an approved zone that is outside municipal borders and where all necessary social and infrastructure facilities are provided].

• Individuals may purchase a maximum of 25,000m², land or property.  This limit may be increased to 300,000m² by application to and approval by the Council of Ministers. 

• The total amount of land within a province which may be owned by foreign persons shall not be more than 0.5% of the total area of that province.

• The laws relating to forbidden zones - military or security zones - have not been changed; effectively, you will still need to have to have prospective purchases cleared by a military check to ensure it is not in one of these forbidden Zones.

• The new laws have been 'backdated', meaning that any application to the Land Registry (Tapu) Office on or after July 26, 2005 will now be processed, in accordance to the new laws.