Rights and duties of the landlord and tenant in Turkey

The tenant is the legal name of the person who resides in a certain property in return for a fee, and the landlord or lessor is the person who offers his property to live in return for a certain fee. Each one of the parties has rights and duties. Therefore, in this article from Ebla Real Estate, we will provide a guide on the rights and duties of the landlord and tenant in Turkey.

Table of Contents

Terms of the lease:

A lease agreement is signed in order to protect the rights of the real estate owner and tenant. For the benefit of both parties, the lessor and the lessee must ensure that the contract includes a set of matters:

Personal data of both parties (name, ID number, date and place of birth…).
The date of the lease commencement.
The value of the rent as the rent value must be clearly stated in the contract. Moreover, it is necessary to specify the date of payment of the rent and to mention how the payment will be made (manually, an account in the bank, through a real estate office).
Cleaning revenues, recreational facilities revenues, and other additional revenues that the tenant may have to pay.
Moreover, the lessor must pledge in the tenancy contract that there are no previous accrued dues such as bills or other fees.
Additionally, the tenant is obligated to pay an insurance amount and it must then be mentioned in the contract.
It is important that the two parties agree on a specific amount of the annual rent increase and to mention that in the contract.
It is worth noting that both parties must sign the contract.

Duties of the tenant in Turkey:

Paying the rent is one of the most important duties of the tenant.
Moreover, the tenant must abide by all the expenses he must pay, such as water, electricity and gas bills.
The tenant also has to hand over the house in the same way he has received it.
Furthermore, the tenant is obliged to inform the landlord of the problems that are reported to him by the management of the building board.
If the tenant wants to make any change to the property, he must obtain written permission from the property owner.
The tenant may not lease the leased property to other parties.

Rights of the tenant in Turkey:

The right to live in the house until the end of the contract period, with the possibility of extending it for another year.
The right to receive the property at the date agreed upon in the lease.
In addition to the right not to write any clause in the lease contract that violates the terms of the contract or causes any harm to the tenant.
The tenant can request from the landlord the things that need to be renovated in the rented house.
The tenant can ask the landlord to fix any defects during an appropriate period.
If the owner does not fix the defect, the tenant has the right to repair it and deduct the expenses resulting from that from the property’s rent.. Or he can ask to exchange the property for another free of defects, according to tenants’ rights in Turkey.
If the rented person has problems, he has the right to exit by stating a justified reason.
Additionally, the lessee has the right to take the insurance amount.. If he leaves the house as clean as he receives.

Duties of the landlord in Turkey:

Paying all taxes and insurance related to the leased property.
Paying all expected and unexpected side expenses for the rental property.
In the event of any defect in the property leading to damage to the tenant, the responsibility of the landlord lies in the repair of this defect.
In the event that he wishes to vacate the property, he must notify the tenant before a sufficient period.

Rights of the landlord in Turkey:

Receipt of the financial dues on the specified time. In the event that the date of payment of rent is not specified.. The date shall be at the beginning of the month.
The lessor may terminate the lease if the tenant does not pay the rent or other expenses that he has to pay.
Receipt of the property exactly as it was handed over to the tenant after the end of the lease contract.

When does the landlord have the right to evict the tenant:

When the period stipulated for the tenant’s use of the property expires.. The landlord has the right to take out the tenant, unless both parties want to renew the contract. The landlord has the right to evict the tenant in the event of repeated delay in paying the rent.
Moreover, the landlord has the right to terminate the lease when he wants to sell the property. However, he must send a notice to the tenant within a maximum period of one month from the date of transfer of ownership of the property.
The owner of the property has the right to carry out the necessary repairs or restructuring of the property to preserve the value of his property. However, in this case, it is forbidden to rent the property to anyone other than the old tenant.. This prohibition is valid for three years.
Furthermore, the landlord can terminate the rental contract in case he needs the property for himself or for one of his relatives of the first class for the sake of housing. In this case, he is not entitled to rent this property to another tenant for three years.

Therefore, the landlord will not be able to illegally evict the tenant.. Unless there is a justifiable reason to do so.