Law on Leasing Residential Properties for Tourism Purposes and Amendments to Certain Laws (“Law”) was published in the Official Gazette dated 02.11.2023 and it was stated that the regulations regarding the leasing of houses for tourism purposes would enter into force on 01.01.2024. Based on the Law, the Regulation on the Leasing of Residential Properties for Tourism Purposes (“Regulation”) was published in the Official Gazette dated 28.12.2023. In this context, some important regulations are set forth below.

1. Scope of the Regulation

  • Regulation covers the rental of residential properties to domestic or foreign persons for tourism purposes for a period of one hundred days or less than one hundred days at a time, the procedures to be applied in applications for license, the qualifications of the residential properties, the provisions that the license holders must comply with, and their rights and obligations.

2. Application for Authorization License

  • The Regulation stipulates that applications for authorization licenses to be obtained in accordance with the Law shall be made through e-Government, and physical applications not made through e-Government shall be returned to the applicant without being evaluated.
  • It is stated that the application will be made by the right holder instead of the owner of the residential properties on which there is a right of construction or usufruct right, a single application will be made for the residential properties located in the same building and for which a license is requested in the name of the same person, and the applicant is obliged to provide information in the application if there are residential properties in the same building for which they have previously obtained a license.
  • As per the Regulation, the documents to be submitted for the license application are different for real and legal persons. The Regulation also specifies the additional documents to be submitted in case of shared ownership or joint ownership of residential properties and if the residential property is located in a building with more than one independent section.
  • Finally, it is stated that additional information and documents will also be requested for applications for high quality housing*, and separate certificates may be issued to the management company and one or more marketing companies in the same high quality housing.

*Residence buildings containing more than one independent section where reception, security and daily cleaning services are available; health services, dry cleaning, laundry, transportation, catering and shopping services, and services such as gyms and swimming pools are provided.

3. Qualities to Be Sought in Residential Properties

  • As per the Regulation, the residential properties for which a license application is filed must meet the following qualifications:
    1. a) Should have the arrangement for at least one bed, toilet-bathroom, living area and kitchen.
    2. b) Should have cold and hot water in the residential property, a qualified mattress in the bedrooms, one pillow per person, pillowcase, sheet, pique or quilt according to climatic conditions, face and bath towels per person in the bathroom.
    3. c) Should have chemical fire extinguishers and smoke detectors against fire in all sections with fixed separation except bathroom-toilet, sketch showing the location of the escape staircase behind the door.
    4. d) The furnishing, decoration, equipment and devices used in the property should be in accordance with the standards, clean and well maintained and in working condition.
    5. e) The capacity of the residential properties should be calculated so that each bedroom is for two persons, and a maximum capacity of two persons is added excluding the number of bedrooms. Even if the number of rooms meeting these conditions is higher, the number of people who can stay in the same property may be maximum twelve people, excluding children under the age of three. No users over the specified housing capacity may be admitted. In the event that the residential property is rented in violation of these conditions, an administrative fine shall be imposed on the license holder in accordance with subparagraph (ç) of the second paragraph of Article 4 of the Law.
  • After the authorization license is issued, it is stated that the copy of the authorization license shall be visibly published in all kinds of media where the promotion and marketing of the housing is carried out and the following information must be included in these promotions:

1) Location of the residential property, person capacity, on which floor the residential property is located, whether there is a balcony/terrace, number of bedrooms, living room/living area and bathroom/toilet, information on double or single beds in the rooms, furnishing materials, cooking, food preparation, cold storage, hot/cold beverage preparation, service materials, washing machine, dishwasher, television, information such as heating-cooling systems with equipment such as hair dryers, sports units in private or common use, spa, swimming pool, whether there is a car parking facility, accessibility arrangements in access to and within the residence, whether pets are accepted, whether there is wired / wireless internet facility and information on other services offered.

2) Information on the rules taken by the site or apartment management.

3) Information on the time of delivery of the residential property, the time of vacating the residential property at the end of the occupancy period and whether cleaning services are provided.

4. Obligations of the Authorization License Holder

  • Article 10 of the Regulation also includes the obligations of the authorization license holder and these are as follows:
    1. a) To deliver the rented residential property to the user in a condition that meets the above-mentioned qualifications.
    2. b) As a minimum, to clean and maintain the residential property regularly upon change of each user, to fight pests regularly and to keep the relevant records.
    3. c) To inform the users of the rules taken by the site or building management in writing or online.
    4. d) To fulfil the obligations under the Law on Identity Notification dated 26/6/1973 and numbered 1774 and the Law on the Protection of Personal Data dated 24/3/2016 and numbered 6698 and the legislation enacted based on these Laws.
    5. e) To hang the plaque to be prepared by the Ministry at the entrance of the residential property.
  • It is stated that the rooms of the residential property with an authorization license cannot be rented to different persons by subjecting them to separate contracts, and that the owner of the license of the residential property rented this way will be subject to the administrative sanction provisions of the Law. In addition, it is stated that accurate information should be included in the promotion of housing in terms of consumer rights; promotions that may be misleading or damage the country’s tourism are not allowed.

5. Inspection and Temporary Article

  • It is stated that the residential properties with authorization licenses will be inspected at least every two years after the license is issued, and the residential properties that are found not to maintain their minimum qualifications during the inspection will be subject to action under the Law.
  • In addition, there is a provisional article for the existing residential properties that have the characteristics of high quality residential properties. It is stated that the provisions of this Regulation regarding high quality properties will be applied to the residences that are currently subject to short-term rental for tourism purposes according to the management plan shown in the (Declarations) section of the condominium registry before 01.01.2024, and where reception, security and daily cleaning service spaces, dry cleaning, laundry, catering and shopping service services, gymnasium and swimming pool services are provided, without the condition of being built in the places specified in Article 19 of the Planned Areas Zoning Regulation regulating the construction conditions according to the parcel usage functions.

6. Effective Date

The above-mentioned regulation has entered into force on 01.01.2024.

The full text of the Regulation (in Turkish) is available at the link below:

https://www.resmigazete.gov.tr/eskiler/2023/12/20231228-1.htm

Pelin Tırtıl Esin
Partner | [email protected]
Behiç Ateş Gülenç
Associate | [email protected]