Amendments to the law on short-term rentals were adopted in Parliament at the General Assembly.
The law defined the procedures and principles of renting out accommodation to natural and legal persons for tourism purposes.
✅ The period of short-term rentals is up to 100 days, i.e. rentals exceeding 3 months are long-term rentals.
✅ To rent out a flat, you will need to obtain a licence from the Ministry of Culture and Tourism and display a sign at the entrance to the building stating that it is for rent.
✅ The cost of licences will be determined by the Ministry.
And of course, the most important point, which, unfortunately, through the efforts of representatives of the real estate and construction sector, could not be changed, is:
✅ The consent of all owners of flats in the building is required to obtain a licence for short-term rentals. The licence is obtained for the building as a whole, not for an individual flat.
It is not yet clear in what form exactly they will require permission from the owners, especially considering that in resort towns - these are all houses and complexes where the owners are multinational and many are not permanently in Turkey.
✅ Management companies will be sent an example - a sample of the required authorisation from the owners.
✅ If one owner has more than 5 rental properties in one building, he/she needs to register a company.
✅ The obligation to obtain authorisation lies with the landlord. If it is not the owner himself who rents out the property, it is possible to rent it out through category A travel companies that are certified by TÜRSAB (Turkish Travel Agencies Association).
Ataberk Estate already has the necessary licence and has the right to engage in tourism activities.
✅ Sub-letting is prohibited. A tenant cannot rent out accommodation rented from the owner to third parties on his own account and in his own name.
✅ As now, it is also necessary to register all tenants in the police system, where all passport data of tenants are entered.
✅ In complexes with hotel infrastructure where short-term rental activities are specified in the management plan (yönetim planı), it will not be necessary to obtain an additional licence, i.e. these complexes will be suitable for short-term rentals.
Yönetim planı - the management plan of the complex, the rules according to which the accommodation will take place. An ordinance that defines the rules to be followed in public accommodation. This plan can be changed by a 4:5 share of those who voted. I.e. in completed residential complexes this plan is already in place, it is determined at the time of registration of independent residential shares (kat irtifakı) at the cadastral office, i.e. in simple words at the stage of tapu formation.
Penalties for non-compliance with the short-term rental regulations:
✅ If the owner rents the flat without a permit, the initial administrative fine is 100,000 liras, if the owner does not receive a permit within 15 days and continues renting the flat, the fine is 500,000 liras.
✅ If a person rents an apartment from the owner for a long term and rents it for a short term, the fine is 100,000 liras.
✅ Publishing advertisements on the internet is also prohibited from persons who do not have a licence.
✅ There is also a fine of 100,000 liras if there is no signboard on the house from the Ministry of Tourism.
This regulation will come into force from 1 January 2024.
It will take approximately 3 months to obtain the necessary licences for the house.
Note from Alexandra Cabacchi ( CEO of Ataberk Estate):
On 28.12.2023, a guideline (sayı 32413) on the application of the law on short term renting of property was published in the official gazette (Resmi Gazete). In my own words, I will tell you the main points from this guideline. I will tell you that there are a lot of questions and only in practice we will get answers to them.
The flat for short-term rentals must be licensed (in order to get a licence for a flat, it must be located in a complex or house that is "suitable" for renting). I.e. the sequence is as follows: first the complex collects consents from the owners and then, if everything is done correctly, the licence application for the flat is submitted.
✅ All applications for a licence will be accepted through the e- devlet system.
✅ For town houses (without hotel infrastructure), it is necessary to obtain the consent of all owners for short-term rentals. Accordingly, I think there will be virtually no such options, as obtaining the consent of all tenants is hardly an enforceable condition. Flats in such buildings will be suitable only for long-term rent (from 101 days and more)
✅ For houses with hotel infrastructure (Yüksek nitelikli konutlar) there is no need for 100% consent of all owners, but in the management plan of the complex (charter, in Turkish, yönetim planı) must be prescribed - short-term renting 😏 And here, of course, again a snag, because in existing complexes no one has prescribed this. I.e. it will be necessary to add this clause to the charter of the complex and then apply for a licence for the flat. The process of changing the charter of the complex is also not clear, because in Alanya, for example, no one has done it. The consent of 80% of the owners is needed to do this.
The management companies do not have any information about the form in which these consents are taken: whether the personal presence of the owner or a notarised power of attorney is required, or whether it is possible to do with an ordinary unnotarised surety for a representative. If unnotarised powers of attorney are suitable, it will simplify the procedure a bit. The decision of the residents' meeting (Yönetim karan defteri) will need to be notarised and the documents will need to be submitted to the cadastral office to change the constitution of the complex.
✅ If an owner has several flats in one complex, he/she can apply for a licence for all flats at once
✅ If a management or travel company will be renting on behalf of the owner on a short-term basis, the owner must leave a notarised power of attorney for this company.
✅ You cannot rent out a part of the flat, for example, a separate room, but you can rent out the whole property.
✅ If the flat is licensed, an inspection will come within 30 days to check that the property meets the required standards. If there are any deficiencies, the licence may be cancelled or a fine may be issued.
✅ The licence will say: who received the licence (company or owner), the address of the flat, the licence number and how many people can stay in the flat.
✅ Once the licence has been issued, the ministry will produce a plaque to be put up at the entrance to the flat (this plaque will also contain the contact number of the person in whose name the licence is issued, individual or company).
✅ When submitting a rental advertisement (on the internet or other sources), the landlord must attach the licence file, and the tenant must have this information.
Requirements for the property to be rented:
Basically, everything that is already present in the flats rented by our company is specified. Additional required items:
Fire extinguisher
Fire detector
On the front door - plan of the flat in the complex and the way out of the building in case of evacuation
Information about the rules of the complex and the rules of living in the flat, rules of check-in and check-out
Cleaning and disinfection card
During monitoring inspections - this will be checked.
Requirements for complexes with hotel infrastructure:
Reception
Security
Cleaning service
Laundry service
Catering services (cafe, shop)
Gym
Swimming pool
Conclusions:
The law comes into force from 01 January, nevertheless no facility will have the necessary licence to surrender any time soon. As in order to apply for this licence, management companies will first have to hold a meeting and vote (changing the charter if necessary), and this will all take time.
Most of the flats will not be suitable for formal short term lettings.
Most of the options for short-term rentals will be in new complexes with hotel infrastructure (it will be already stipulated in the charter)
However, in new complexes without hotel infrastructure, the consent of all tenants will be required. It is likely that the developers will take such permission from the owners when transferring the tapu.
I assume that on the secondary market there will be more options, as many owners will prefer to sell than to rent illegally.
The flats that get a licence will have a big advantage as the competition will be much lower already.
We will share more information with you as we get more information, based on real experiences.
