Turkish Rental Law: Rent Increases and Ending a Tenancy
Turkish tenancy law is considerably more protective of tenants than most foreign landlords expect. Letting a flat is straightforward; getting it back, or raising the rent to market, runs through a set of articles and deadlines that punish improvisation.
What actually governs a Turkish tenancy
Residential and roofed commercial lettings in Turkey are governed by the Turkish Code of Obligations (Türk Borçlar Kanunu, TBK). The provisions that matter to a landlord are concentrated in a short run of articles, and the single most important thing to understand about them is their direction: they are drafted to keep a tenant in place. A Turkish residential tenancy is not a fixed-term arrangement that quietly expires. It is an arrangement that renews itself unless something specific stops it.
That surprises foreign owners, often at the worst moment. A landlord who has agreed a one-year lease frequently assumes that at the end of the year the flat comes back. It does not. Under Article 347, a fixed-term residential lease renews automatically on the same terms, year after year, unless the tenant gives notice. The landlord has no equivalent right to end it simply because the term has run. Only after ten renewal years does a no-reason termination right arise, exercisable by written notice at least three months before the end of the then-current lease year.
Before that point, ending a tenancy requires one of the statutory grounds, and each ground has a deadline measured in weeks rather than months. Turkish tenancy law is not hostile to landlords, but it is entirely unforgiving about timing. The landlord who acts on the right ground three weeks late is in the same position as the landlord with no ground at all.
The articles that matter
Turkish Code of Obligations, residential tenancies
How much you can raise the rent, and when you cannot
Article 344 caps what a landlord can charge on renewal. Whatever the parties agreed in the contract, the increase applied for a new rental year may not exceed the twelve-month average change in the consumer price index for the preceding rental year. A clause in the lease promising a larger rise does not override the ceiling; it simply is not enforceable above it. The same logic applies to contracts written in a foreign currency or indexed to one, which carry their own restrictions and should not be drafted without advice.
The ceiling is a ceiling, not a target. Nothing obliges a landlord to raise the rent at all, and there are tenancies where holding the rent steady to keep a reliable tenant is plainly the better commercial decision. But the ceiling does mean that a tenancy which starts below market tends to stay below market, because indexation compounds from wherever it started. Getting the opening rent right matters more in Turkey than in jurisdictions where you can simply re-let at market each year.
The five-year reset
The escape from that compounding is the rent determination case (kira tespit davası). Where a tenancy has run for five years, the rent can be re-determined judicially, and the court is no longer confined to the index. It fixes a figure by reference to fair market value, taking into account the condition of the property and comparable local rents. This is the mechanism that corrects a long tenancy which has drifted far below market, and it is worth knowing about before you find yourself with a ten-year tenant paying a fraction of the going rate.
It cuts both ways. A tenant can also bring a determination case where the rent has run ahead of the market. And because it is a court process with its own evidential requirements around comparables, it is not a substitute for setting the rent sensibly at the outset. If you are still deciding what to charge, our notes on the Istanbul rental market and on renting out property in Turkey cover the commercial side.
The lawful ways to end a tenancy
Each ground has its own trigger and its own deadline. The deadlines are short, and missing one generally means waiting a full further lease year.
| Ground | Article | Deadline to act | Court case needed? | Re-letting restricted? |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Landlord or close family genuinely needs the property | 350 | Within one month of the end of the lease term | Yes | Yes — three years |
| Substantial reconstruction or renovation making occupation impossible | 350 | Within one month of the end of the lease term | Yes | Yes — three years |
| New owner needs the property after purchase | 351 | Written notice within one month of acquisition; case no earlier than six months later | Yes | Yes — three years |
| Tenant’s written undertaking to vacate on a stated date | 352 | Within one month of the committed date | Yes | No |
| Two justified written warnings in the same lease year | 352 | Within one month of the end of that lease year | Yes | No |
| No reason required, after ten renewal years | 347 | Written notice at least three months before the lease year ends | Notice first | No |
Ending a tenancy, step by step
The order matters as much as the substance. Most failed possession claims in Turkey fail on procedure rather than on merits.
Identify your ground honestly
Work out which article you are actually relying on before you do anything else. “I would like the flat back” is not a ground. Need under Article 350 must be genuine, and a court will test it. Choosing the wrong ground and discovering it in the hearing costs you the lease year.
Diarise the deadline immediately
Every ground runs to a one-month or three-month window tied to a date: the end of the lease term, the date of acquisition, the committed vacate date, or the end of the lease year. Establish that date precisely and work backwards. This is the step foreign landlords skip.
Serve notice properly, through a notary
Where notice is required — a new owner’s notice under Article 351, or the three-month notice after ten renewal years — serve it formally so that service can be proved later. A message on a phone is not a notice you can rely on in court.
Complete mandatory mediation
Since 1 September 2023, mediation is a required procedural step in most rental disputes under Law No. 6325. Filing a case without completing it invites rejection on procedural grounds. Enforcement proceedings for unpaid rent follow a separate route and are not caught by the requirement.
File within the window
If mediation does not resolve it, the case goes to the civil court of peace. The filing deadline attaching to your ground still governs, so mediation must be started early enough that the case can still be issued in time. Leaving it to the last fortnight is how landlords lose a year.
Respect the re-letting restriction
Where possession was recovered on the basis of need, reconstruction or a new owner’s need, the property may not be let to someone else for three years under Article 355. Recovering a flat on a need ground and immediately re-letting it at a higher rent exposes you to a claim.
Six things to get right from the start
Most Turkish tenancy disputes are decided by decisions the landlord made before the tenant moved in.
A written contract
Turkish law recognises oral leases, but you cannot prove terms you did not write down. Put the rent, the term, the deposit and the payment date in writing, signed, with identity details for every occupant.
Rent paid through a bank
Paying rent through the banking system creates the payment record that a late-payment warning under Article 352 depends on. Cash rent is very hard to litigate about, and the difficulty falls on the landlord.
The opening rent
Because renewals are index-capped, the figure you start at shapes the whole tenancy. A rent set too low to fill the flat quickly can take years and a court case to correct.
The vacate undertaking
A written undertaking by the tenant to leave on a stated date is a real ground under Article 352, but only if it was given after the tenant took possession. One signed with the lease at the outset does not work.
Registration and tax
Rental income is taxable in Turkey and letting activity has its own declaration obligations. Treat the tax position as part of the letting decision, not an afterthought — see our guide to taxes for foreign owners.
Short-term versus long
Letting to tourists is a different legal regime with its own permit requirement, not a lighter version of a residential tenancy. Confusing the two is a common and expensive error.
Where this sits in the wider picture
None of this makes Turkish residential letting unattractive. It makes it a long-duration commitment rather than a flexible one. If your plan is to let the flat for a season and use it yourself the rest of the year, a residential tenancy is the wrong instrument, and a short-term rental permit governs a different regime with different obligations. If your plan is steady long-term income from a tenant who stays, the protective structure is arguably working in your favour: it produces exactly the stability that long-hold investors say they want.
What it does demand is administration. Deadlines, notices served through a notary, a payment trail through a bank, and someone able to act locally within a one-month window. Landlords who run a Turkish flat casually from another country are the ones who end up with a tenant they cannot move and a rent they cannot raise. Alongside the tenancy rules themselves, budget for the running costs that come with any Turkish apartment — the building’s aidat service charges, insurance, and the tax position for foreign owners.
Letting a Turkish property from abroad?
We can put management, notices and the tenancy paperwork on a proper footing before a problem arises.
Turkish rental law: common questions
What foreign landlords ask once they realise the lease does not simply expire.
Where to go next
Running, letting and taxing a Turkish property as a foreign owner.
- Renting out property in Turkey — the commercial side of letting as a foreign owner.
- Property management in Turkey — running a property remotely, and who acts for you.
- Short-term rental permits — the separate regime for holiday lets.
- Taxes in Turkey for foreigners — including rental income.
- Aidat and service charges — the recurring building costs.
- Apartments for rent in Istanbul — what the rental market looks like.
- All Turkey property guides — the full index.
Letting a Turkish property the right way
Whether you are buying a tenanted flat, letting one for the first time, or trying to recover possession, we can connect you with licensed Turkish counsel and put the management, notices and paperwork on a footing that will hold up if it is ever tested.
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