Buying Property in Turkey Through a Company: When It Makes Sense
A company is not a shortcut around the rules that apply to foreign buyers — it is a different set of rules, with its own permission process, its own limits and its own permanent costs. Here is how Turkish law treats corporate buyers, and the handful of situations where the structure actually pays.
Three kinds of buyer, not one
Foreign buyers often arrive at the idea of a company sideways. Someone mentions that a company can hold property, that it might simplify a later sale, or that it avoids a restriction. In Turkish law the position is more structured than that, and the first thing to understand is that the law does not recognise a single category of “foreign buyer” at all. It recognises three, and they are governed differently.
There are foreign natural persons — individuals. There are foreign legal persons — companies incorporated abroad. And there are companies established in Turkey with foreign capital, which are Turkish companies under Turkish law that happen to be foreign controlled. Individuals and foreign legal persons are dealt with under Article 35 of Land Registry Law No. 2644; Turkish companies with foreign capital are dealt with under Article 36. They are not variations on a theme. They have different eligibility tests, different permission routes and different consequences for getting it wrong.
This guide sets out who may buy through which route, the permission process that applies to a foreign-capital company, the limits and sanctions that come with the structure, and the narrow set of circumstances in which a company genuinely beats holding property personally. For the ordinary individual route, start with our guide to whether foreigners can buy property in Turkey, and the full Turkey property buyer’s guide.
Corporate Acquisition — At A Glance
The framework, before you talk to anyone about structures
Who is actually allowed to buy, and under what
Six distinctions that determine whether a structure is available to you at all, before anyone discusses whether it is a good idea.
Foreign individuals
Acquire under Article 35. Subject to the 30-hectare national cap and the ten per cent district cap, and to zone restrictions. The only route that counts toward citizenship by investment.
Foreign trading companies
Only companies established under the laws of their own country and having legal personality may acquire. Their acquisitions sit under specific statutes rather than a general right.
Foreign foundations & associations
Cannot acquire real estate in Turkey. Exceptions arise only where an international convention or a special law provides one — which is rare and specific.
Turkish foreign-capital companies
Incorporated in Turkey under the Turkish Commercial Code and registered in the Trade Registry, but foreign controlled. Acquire under Article 36, with a governorship permission process.
The special-law routes
Certain acquisitions run under dedicated statutes: the Tourism Incentive Law No. 2634, the Industrial Zones Law No. 4737 and the Turkish Petroleum Law No. 6491 among them.
Acquisitions outside the rules
Where property is acquired outside the permitted framework, a forced liquidation can follow, with disposal required within a year. The sanction is real, not theoretical.
What makes a Turkish company a “foreign capital” company
This is the point people most often get wrong, because the instinct is to think in terms of shareholding alone. The test has two limbs. A company established in Turkey is treated as a company with foreign capital where foreign investors hold fifty per cent or more of the shares, or where foreign investors are entitled to appoint and dismiss the majority of the board of directors. Either limb is enough.
The consequence of falling inside the definition is not that you cannot buy. It is that the acquisition moves onto a different track: Article 36 rather than Article 35, with a permission process attached and a constraint on purpose. The consequence of arranging the shareholding to fall outside the definition, purely to dodge the process, is that you have created a structure whose real control sits somewhere its paperwork does not reflect — which is a problem that tends to surface at the least convenient moment, typically on a later sale or a financing.
There is a second constraint that applies once you are inside the regime, and it is easy to underestimate. A company with foreign capital may acquire real estate and limited rights in rem only in order to engage in the activities set out in its articles of association. The articles therefore need to contemplate the intended property activity before the purchase. Drafting them narrowly and then buying something unrelated is not a technicality; it goes to whether the acquisition was permitted at all.
Personal ownership against a Turkish company
The structural differences that do not move with the tax tables. Confirm the current rates and thresholds separately.
| Held personally | Held in a Turkish company | |
|---|---|---|
| Legal route | Article 35, Law No. 2644 | Article 36, plus governorship permission |
| Counts for citizenship by investment | Yes — the qualifying route | No — does not count toward the threshold |
| Permission process before purchase | Standard checks only | Separate application and permit |
| Purpose restriction | None | Limited to the articles of association |
| Capital gain on disposal | Exempt once held five years | No holding-period exemption |
| Ongoing compliance | Minimal | Bookkeeping, annual filings, audit obligations |
| Transferring the asset | Sale and re-registration of the deed | Can transfer shares instead of the deed |
| Holding with others | Co-ownership shares on the deed | Shareholdings, with a constitution |
| Best suited to | Homes, single investments, citizenship applicants | Development, commercial use, rental businesses, portfolios |
When a company is the right answer, and when it is not
For most people reading this — someone buying a home, a holiday property or a single investment flat — personal ownership is simpler, cheaper and better. That is not a hedge; it follows from two specific features of the system.
The first is the treatment of gains. An individual who holds a Turkish property for at least five years is not taxed on the capital gain when they sell. A company has no equivalent exemption: gains fall within its taxable profits regardless of how long the asset was held. For a long-term holding, that single difference frequently outweighs everything a company structure offers. We have set out the wider picture in our guides to taxes in Turkey for foreigners and property taxes in Turkey, and the current rates should be confirmed with an adviser rather than taken from any article, including this one.
The second is running cost. A company is a permanent administrative obligation. Bookkeeping, annual tax filings and compliance continue whether the property is earning, empty or being renovated, and they continue in a jurisdiction where you are probably not resident. Those costs are modest in absolute terms and enormous relative to a single dormant holiday home.
So when does it make sense? The honest list is short. Genuine commercial or development activity, where the property is the business rather than an asset held alongside one. A real rental operation, particularly where expenses are substantial and letting is continuous — though note that short-term tourism letting is separately licensed in Turkey whoever owns the property, as our guide to the short-term rental permit explains. Several properties held together, where administering one entity beats administering many deeds. And families or groups holding jointly, where shareholdings can be reorganised, inherited or transferred without a title deed transaction each time — a point worth reading alongside our guide to inheritance law in Turkey.
If a company is the right structure, the order to do it in
Corporate purchases fail on sequencing far more often than on eligibility. Each step below gates the one after it.
Settle the objective before the structure
Establish what the property is for, how long you expect to hold it, whether income is intended, and whether citizenship or residency forms any part of the plan. If citizenship does, the qualifying property must be in your personal name and the question is largely answered.
Take tax advice in both countries
Turkish treatment is only half the picture. How your home jurisdiction taxes a foreign company, its profits and its distributions can reverse the answer entirely. Get advice on both sides before incorporating anything.
Choose the entity and draft the articles for the purpose
A company with foreign capital may acquire property only for the activities set out in its articles of association. Draft them with the intended property activity in view from the outset rather than amending under time pressure later.
Incorporate and register in Turkey
The company is established under the Turkish Commercial Code and registered in the Turkish Trade Registry. It will need its own tax registration and banking, in the same way an individual buyer needs a tax number and a Turkish bank account.
Run the property due diligence in the usual way
The buyer being a company changes nothing about the property checks. Pull the full title deed record and read the annotations, confirm the occupancy permit, and instruct your own lawyer rather than relying on the seller’s.
Apply to the provincial governorship for permission
The application is coordinated with the relevant authorities, including the General Staff, police and gendarmerie, and the permit is issued by the governor’s office. Acquisitions in prohibited or military security zones require General Staff permission; special security zones require the governor’s permission. Allow for this timetable rather than assuming it.
Complete and register within the permitted window
Once permission is granted, registration must take place within six months. Purchase funds move through Turkey’s mandatory secure payment system rather than directly to the seller — see our explainer on escrow accounts in Turkey — and compulsory DASK insurance must be valid before the transfer can be registered.
Put the ongoing compliance on a proper footing
From completion the company has permanent obligations: bookkeeping, annual filings and compliance, all of which need someone competent in Turkey to run them. Budget for this as a standing cost of the structure, not an afterthought.
Not sure whether you should be buying personally or through a company?
Tell us the objective and we will work through the structure with licensed Turkish lawyers and accountants before anything is committed.
Buying property in Turkey through a company — frequently asked questions
The questions corporate and investor buyers ask most often about eligibility, permissions and whether the structure is worth it.
Where to go next
The rest of our foreign-buyer and investor library.
- Can foreigners buy property in Turkey? — the individual route, its limits and its checks.
- Turkish citizenship by investment — the property route and what it requires.
- Real estate investment in Turkey — how to judge a deal before you structure it.
- Taxes in Turkey for foreigners — the wider tax position for non-resident owners.
- Legal services — title deed work, due diligence and power of attorney.
- Buying property in Turkey: seven pitfalls — the mistakes foreign buyers still make.
- Land for sale in Turkey — where corporate buyers most often end up looking.
- All Turkey property guides — the full library by region and topic.
Decide the structure before you find the property
Tell us what you are trying to achieve in Turkey and we will work through whether personal ownership, a Turkish company or another route fits, and what each one commits you to. We work with licensed Turkish lawyers and accountants, and every transaction settles through the secure payment system.
