MINISTRY OF JUSTICE ANNOUNCES EXECUTION OF IMMOVABLE SALES IN NOTARY PUBLICS STARTING AS OF 4 JULY 2023

In our previous Newsletters, we had informed you of the Law on the Amendment of the Law on Judges and Prosecutors and Some Other Laws numbered 7413 (in Turkish: “7413 Sayılı Hâkimler Ve Savcılar Kanunu İle Bazı Kanunlarda Değişiklik Yapılmasına Dair Kanun)published in the Official Gazette numbered 31880 and dated 28 June 2022 which brought notable amendments to the Law numbered 1512 on Notary Public (in Turkish: “1512 Sayılı Noterler Kanunu”, the “Law”) and its Regulation on the Procedures and Principles Applicable to the Immovable Sales Contracts Executed by the Notary Publics (In Turkish,“Noterler Tarafından Düzenlenen Taşınmaz Satış Sözleşmelerine Uygulanacak Usul Ve Esaslar Hakkında Yönetmelik”, the “Regulation”).

With this new legislation, the exclusive authority of land title registry offices to recognize the sale of immovable has also been granted to notary publics.

To summarize the changes introduced by the Law, the Regulation and their implementation as of 4 July 2023;

• Notary publics may execute Immovable Sale Contracts (the “Contract”)
• Notary publics will issue an application document and upon receiving this application for the sale of an immovable, notaries will be analysing all of the constraints on the immovable as well as observing the principles, methods and restrictions in other laws regarding the sale of that immovable;
• Notaries will conclude the Contract only after determining the owner of the immovable, and that there is no legal obstacle with respect to the sale of such immovable. Therefore, in case the holder of the right cannot be identified from the land title registry records and other documents, or if there is a legal matter preventing the sale, no sale transaction will be carried out by the notary public;
• Immovable sale contracts are exempt from stamp tax and valuable paper fees. However, land title registry duties applicable for immovable sales will be collected by the notary publics;
• Notary public fee that will be charged for these sales contracts will not be less than TRY 500- (approx. Euro 17) and more than TRY 4,000- (approx. Euro 141), based on the value of the concerning immovable. Such fees shall be increased every year as per the applicable provisions of the Tax Procedural Law.

As for the application of this new system;

• The applications for issuance of the Contract shall only be made through  “e-appointment/application” system of the Notaries Union of Turkey through e-government (in Turkish, “e-devlet”).
• The required documents set out in the Regulation shall be uploaded to the Notaries Union of Turkey Information System (in Turkish, “Türkiye Noterler Birliği Bilgi Sistemi”, the “Notary System”), and the original documents shall be submitted to the notary on the determined appointment date.
• Upon submission of the application, the relevant notary will issue an application document from the Notary System. If the application document cannot be issued due to legal or factual obstacles, the subject application will be rejected and the parties will be provided with the opportunity to update their applications.
• If the requisite documents related to the subject immovable are not completed, the missing documents will be requested from the land registry office where the immovable is registered through the Turkish Land Registry and Cadastre Sharing System (in Turkish, “Tapu ve Kadastro Paylaşım Sistemi” “TAKPAS”); the missing documents will be completed by the land registry office and uploaded to the Turkish Land Registry and Cadastre Information System (in Turkish, “Tapu ve Kadastro Bilgi Sistemi” “TAKBİS”) within 3 (three) business days at the latest.
• Following the completion of missing documents, the notary will submit the application document to the General Directorate of Land Registry and Cadastre through TAKPAS. If then, there is no legal obstacle to the sale of the immovable, the notary will prepare the Contract, invite the parties for the signature process of the Contract, and record the Contract and other related documents to TAKBİS. Following this registration, the land registry office records the immovable to the land registry. The Contract together with the accompanying documents shall be recorded on the Notary System and the hardcopies shall be archived at the relevant notary.
• Finally, the notary will issue a title deed (in Turkish, “tapu senedi”) and deliver this title deed to the parties upon the completion of the registration after the Contract is signed.

Kindly note that notary publics are responsible for the damages caused by the arrangement of the Contract. In case the damage is paid by the State, the State will recourse to the notary public who realized the sale transaction. Lawsuits to be filed against the notary publics will have jurisdiction in the court of the place where the land title registry is located.

Our Law Firm remains at your disposal for any further clarifications you may need.

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