Buying a property in Turkey under a shared title deed structure is a different legal proposition from buying a property outright in your sole name. The Turkish Civil Code (Law No. 4721, "TMK") recognises two distinct forms of co-ownership — paylı mülkiyet (co-ownership in determined shares, broadly comparable to tenancy in common in common-law systems) under Articles 688-700, and elbirliği mülkiyeti (joint ownership without determined shares) under Articles 701-703 — and the rules for what each co-owner can do with the property, who has to consent to a sale or a mortgage, and how disputes between co-owners are resolved are materially different between the two regimes. The legal name on the title deed (tapu) tells you which regime applies, and the terms of any underlying inheritance, partnership, or sale contract can shift the analysis further.
For foreign buyers, the additional layer is the framework on foreign acquisition of Turkish real estate under the Title Deed Law (Law No. 2644) Articles 35 and 36, the Military Forbidden Zones Law (Law No. 2565), and the implementing regulations. These rules govern who can hold a Turkish title deed in the first place, with sectoral limits, geographic limits, and per-person area limits that all apply on top of the co-ownership analysis. ER&GUN&ER Law Firm advises foreign buyers on co-ownership purchases, inheritance-driven co-ownership disputes, partition (izale-i şuyu) lawsuits, statutory pre-emption claims, and structuring mechanisms that protect the buyer's economic position when the title is shared. The work runs in Turkish substantive law but typically in bilingual documentation, because the foreign buyer needs to understand what they are buying and the Turkish counterparty needs the legally operative Turkish text.
Two Forms of Co-Ownership: Paylı Mülkiyet vs Elbirliği Mülkiyeti
Paylı mülkiyet under TMK Articles 688-700 is the regime where the property is owned by multiple persons in determined shares — for example, "A owns 1/2, B owns 1/4, C owns 1/4" — recorded on the title deed at the Land Registry. Each co-owner has a defined ownership share that they can transfer independently (subject to the statutory pre-emption right discussed below), encumber with a mortgage independently, and inherit independently. The use of the property and the management decisions are governed by collective rules in Articles 691-695, but the ownership structure itself is a sum of individual shares.
Elbirliği mülkiyeti under TMK Articles 701-703 is the regime where multiple persons own a property collectively without determined shares — the most common example being heirs who inherit before the estate is partitioned (miras ortaklığı), or partners in a particular partnership form. Under Article 702, no individual co-owner has a defined share that they can independently transfer; any disposition of the property requires the unanimous consent of all co-owners. The most operationally significant difference between the two regimes flows from this point: in elbirliği mülkiyeti, a single objecting co-owner can paralyse a sale.
Elbirliği mülkiyeti can be converted to paylı mülkiyet through a court application or by unanimous agreement of the co-owners, recording the determined shares on the title deed. After conversion, each former joint owner becomes a paylı malik with a defined share, recovering the ability to act independently with respect to that share. Conversion is the standard first step for inheritance-driven co-ownership disputes that have stalled because one heir refuses to cooperate, because the conversion does not require unanimous consent in the way that a direct sale does. Practice may vary by authority and year on the documentary requirements for conversion; the Land Registry's practice has been refined multiple times since the introduction of e-Tapu, and a current procedural review is part of every conversion engagement we run.
Paylı Mülkiyet: Decision-Making and Co-Owner Rights
Within paylı mülkiyet, TMK distinguishes between three categories of decisions, each with its own consent threshold. Ordinary management acts under Article 691 — routine maintenance, payment of utility bills, day-to-day administration — can be taken by any single co-owner without consultation, with the costs allocable in proportion to ownership shares under Article 694. Significant management acts under Article 692 — material modifications to the property, change of intended use, agricultural cultivation decisions — require the agreement of co-owners holding a majority of both the number of co-owners and the value of shares. Acts of disposition under Article 692/2 — sale of the whole property, encumbrance with a long-term right, demolition — require the unanimous consent of all co-owners.
Each individual co-owner retains specific personal rights regardless of consent thresholds. Under Article 693, every paylı malik can use and benefit from the property in proportion to their share, take measures to preserve the property without others' agreement, and seek partition under Articles 698-699. Under Article 690, a co-owner can pursue the protection of the property against third parties without consulting the other co-owners. These individual rights operate as a floor below which the collective decision-making cannot push: even an objecting majority cannot deprive a minority co-owner of their proportional use right.
The proportional cost-bearing under Article 694 is the most common source of operational friction. Where one co-owner pays for repairs and the others do not contribute, the paying co-owner has a recovery claim against the non-paying co-owners for their proportional share. The claim is enforceable in the civil courts under standard rules, with documentary evidence (invoices, payment receipts, communications evidencing the necessity of the work) carrying the case. We advise paying co-owners to gather documentation contemporaneously rather than reconstructing it after the fact, because the burden of proof on necessity and proportional allocation sits with the claimant.
Elbirliği Mülkiyeti: Why a Single Heir Can Block Everything
Elbirliği mülkiyeti most commonly arises through inheritance: when an owner dies, their property passes to the heirs as elbirliği mülkiyeti until the estate is formally partitioned. The heirs collectively own the property without any individual heir holding a determined share that they can act on independently. Under Article 702, all dispositions and significant management decisions require unanimous consent. A single heir who refuses to sign — for emotional reasons, strategic reasons, or simple unreachability — can prevent the property from being sold, leased, mortgaged, or materially modified.
The remedies for the cooperative heirs are: persuade the holdout heir to consent (the cheapest path, but often impossible); apply for partition of the estate (miras taksimi) which converts the elbirliği mülkiyeti to paylı mülkiyet with determined shares for each heir; or initiate the partition lawsuit (izale-i şuyu davası) before the Civil Court of Peace (Sulh Hukuk Mahkemesi) under Articles 698-699 to compel the dissolution of the co-ownership. The partition lawsuit is the heavy procedural artillery; the conversion to paylı mülkiyet is the lighter middle option.
Foreign heirs based abroad face additional complications because Turkish probate (veraset ilamı or mirasçılık belgesi) requires either an application before the Turkish Civil Court of Peace or the Turkish notary, with the heir's identity documents apostilled and translated. Where multiple heirs are based in different jurisdictions, the procedural coordination becomes time-intensive. We routinely run these files for foreign heirs through powers of attorney executed in the heir's home jurisdiction with apostille, allowing the Turkish counsel to manage the entire procedure without the heir needing to travel. Practice may vary by authority and year on the documentary requirements for foreign heir applications; the Civil Court of Peace's standard documentation set has been refined since the e-court system extended to inheritance applications.
The Statutory Pre-emption Right: TMK Articles 732-735
The most under-appreciated feature of paylı mülkiyet is the statutory pre-emption right (kanuni önalım hakkı) under TMK Articles 732-735. Where one co-owner sells their share to a third party, the other co-owners have a statutory right to step into the buyer's shoes at the same price and same terms. The right is statutory — it exists by operation of law without needing to be agreed in any contract — and it cannot be waived by the agreement of the seller and the third-party buyer alone, because the right belongs to the non-selling co-owners.
The mechanics are precise. Under Article 733, the seller (or the buyer) must notify the other co-owners of the sale through a Turkish notary. The other co-owners then have three months from the notification to exercise the pre-emption right, and the absolute outer limit is two years from the registration of the transfer at the Land Registry, beyond which the right is extinguished regardless of notification. Exercise is by lawsuit under Article 734 before the Civil Court of First Instance (Asliye Hukuk Mahkemesi) where the property is located, with the claimant depositing the purchase price into court at filing. A successful pre-emption lawsuit unwinds the third-party purchase and substitutes the pre-empting co-owner as the buyer at the same terms.
For a foreign buyer of a co-owned property share, this is the single most important risk factor in the deal economics. A foreign buyer who pays for a 50% share without procuring the proper pre-emption notification — and without the three-month exercise window expiring without challenge — can find themselves displaced from the deal years later by a pre-empting co-owner. The standard protective measures are: confirm at the title diligence stage who the other co-owners are; require the seller to notify the other co-owners through the Turkish notary as a condition precedent to the sale; structure the closing to wait out the three-month statutory window before releasing escrowed funds; or obtain notarised waivers of pre-emption from each other co-owner before signing. Practice may vary by authority and year on the form of the pre-emption notification accepted by the courts; the Court of Cassation's case law has refined the documentary requirements multiple times since the TMK came into force.
Dissolution by Court Order: The İzale-i Şuyu Lawsuit
Any co-owner has the unilateral right under TMK Article 698 to terminate the co-ownership by partition. The right cannot be waived for more than ten years by contract, and it cannot be waived at all where the partition is necessary because of essential reasons. Where the co-owners cannot agree on the partition voluntarily, the dissolving co-owner files the partition lawsuit (ortaklığın giderilmesi davası or izale-i şuyu davası) before the Civil Court of Peace under TMK Articles 698-699 and the procedural rules of the Code of Civil Procedure (Law No. 6100).
The Civil Court of Peace examines two paths. First, partition in kind (aynen taksim) under Article 699/1: the property is physically divided into separate parcels, with each co-owner receiving a parcel matching their share. Partition in kind requires that the property be physically divisible into reasonable parts without disproportionate value loss; agricultural land and large industrial sites can sometimes be partitioned in kind, but a single residential apartment almost never can. Second, partition by sale (satış suretiyle taksim) under Article 699/2: where partition in kind is not feasible, the property is sold at public auction conducted by the enforcement office, and the proceeds are distributed to the co-owners in proportion to their shares.
The auction process under partition by sale is conducted under the Enforcement and Bankruptcy Law (Law No. 2004), with a court-appointed expert valuing the property and setting the auction starting price. Any third party can bid at the auction, and any of the co-owners can also bid using their proportional share of the proceeds as effective credit. In practice, auctions of co-owned property frequently see the co-owners themselves emerge as winning bidders, because they have an existing economic interest and an information advantage over third-party bidders. The lawsuit timeline runs typically 18-36 months from filing to auction, with the Court of Peace's caseload and the parties' procedural strategy as the main timing variables. Practice may vary by authority and year on the introduction of mandatory pre-litigation mediation for partition disputes; recent legislative changes have extended mandatory mediation to additional civil disputes, and a procedural check at filing time confirms the current scope.
Mortgage and Encumbrance on a Single Share
A paylı malik can mortgage their individual share without the consent of the other co-owners, under TMK Article 857 and the mortgage rules of Articles 881-897. The mortgage attaches to the share, not to the whole property; on enforcement, the lender can sell only the mortgaged share, and the buyer steps into the position of the original co-owner subject to the same statutory pre-emption right that applies to any share sale. The other co-owners cannot block the mortgage, but they can pre-empt the share buyer at auction under Articles 732-735.
The mortgage on a single share is therefore a meaningfully riskier instrument from the lender's perspective than a mortgage on a whole property, because the enforcement realisation depends on a market for partial ownership shares — a market that is thin even in major Turkish cities for residential property. Lenders typically discount the loan-to-value calculation accordingly, and many Turkish banks decline to mortgage a single share at all, preferring to lend on the whole property with all co-owners as co-debtors and co-mortgagors.
Where one co-owner defaults on their personal financial obligations and a creditor obtains a court order against them, the creditor can pursue enforcement against that co-owner's share — but not against the shares of the other co-owners. The other co-owners' protection is the statutory pre-emption right at the enforcement auction, allowing them to acquire the defaulting co-owner's share at the auction price rather than letting a third party enter the co-ownership. Innocent co-owners who become aware of pending enforcement against another co-owner's share can prepare in advance to participate in the auction. We routinely run this preparation work for foreign co-owners who learn through Land Registry monitoring that a co-owner's share is under enforcement.
Foreign Buyers: Acquisition Limits Under Tapu Kanunu Articles 35 and 36
The substantive co-ownership analysis above applies to any buyer of a Turkish title deed, regardless of nationality. Foreign buyers face an additional gating layer under the Title Deed Law (Law No. 2644) Articles 35 and 36, and the Military Forbidden Zones Law (Law No. 2565). Article 35 sets the framework for foreign individual buyers; Article 36 sets the framework for Turkish-incorporated companies with foreign capital.
For foreign individual buyers, the rules require that the buyer's country of citizenship be on the list of countries from which Turkish acquisition is permitted (the list is set by Presidential decision and currently includes more than 180 countries), that the property not be located in a military forbidden zone or security zone (the Military Forbidden Zones Commission and the General Staff conduct case-by-case clearances), that the buyer's individual holdings within Turkey not exceed 30 hectares in total (with case-by-case extension to 60 hectares possible under Presidential approval), and that the foreign-held real estate within any single district not exceed 10% of the district's privately-owned area. The military zone clearance is the variable most commonly underestimated, because the clearance requires a check by the relevant military authority and can take weeks or months depending on the property location.
For Turkish-incorporated companies with foreign shareholding, Article 36 applies a different framework: the company can acquire real estate within the limits of its corporate purpose, but the acquisition is subject to the Council of Ministers' (now the Presidency's) sectoral and geographic restrictions where the foreign shareholding exceeds 50% or where the foreign shareholders effectively control the company. Practice may vary by authority and year on the application of these restrictions to mixed-investor companies; the post-2018 Presidential Decree-based regulatory architecture has refined the procedural pathway multiple times.
Tax Allocation Among Co-Owners
The annual real estate tax (emlak vergisi) under Real Estate Tax Law No. 1319 is assessed on the property's tax value and allocated among the co-owners in proportion to their shares. Each co-owner is responsible for their proportional liability, and the municipality issues the tax notification accordingly. Where one co-owner fails to pay, the municipality's enforcement remedies are against that co-owner's share, not against the shares of the paying co-owners — but a tax lien (haciz) recorded on the property affects the property as a whole until released, which can complicate sales and refinancing during the lien's existence.
Income from leasing the co-owned property is allocated among the co-owners in proportion to their shares for income tax purposes, regardless of how the rent is operationally collected. Each co-owner declares their proportional rental income on their personal tax return under the Income Tax Law (Law No. 193) Article 70 (rental income), with the standard exemption for residential rent up to the annually-adjusted threshold. Where one co-owner collects all the rent and does not distribute it, the non-receiving co-owners still bear the tax obligation on their proportional share unless the receipt is documented as a recoverable amount and pursued accordingly.
Capital gains on the sale of a share or of the whole property follow the rules of Repeated Article 80 of the Income Tax Law for individual sellers. For real estate held by an individual for at least five years before sale, the capital gain is exempt from income tax. For real estate held for less than five years, the gain is taxed at progressive personal income tax rates after a deduction adjusted annually for inflation indexing under Article 38 of the Tax Procedure Law. For corporate sellers, the standard corporate tax rules of Law No. 5520 apply, with the post-2023 amendments to Article 5/1-e (under Law No. 7456 effective 15 July 2023) significantly limiting the previous real-estate gain exemption for new acquisitions. Practice may vary by authority and year on the inflation indexing methodology and the documentation accepted to evidence holding-period start dates.
Drafting Co-Ownership and Use Agreements
The TMK provisions on co-ownership decision-making operate as default rules; the co-owners can vary many of them by agreement. A well-drafted co-ownership and use agreement (paylı malik anlaşması) addresses the points that the TMK leaves to default rules but where the parties have specific commercial preferences. Common terms include: who occupies the property and on what terms; how rental income is collected, accounted for, and distributed; how operating costs are allocated where the proportional rule does not match the parties' usage; how decisions on improvements, renovations, and material modifications are taken; how a co-owner's share can be transferred and what notice or pre-emption rights apply by contract on top of the statutory rules; how disputes are resolved.
The agreement is binding between the contracting co-owners as a contractual matter, but it does not bind future buyers of any share unless the new buyer becomes party to it through novation. The protection of contractual rights against successor co-owners is therefore a drafting point that requires attention: an obligation expressed as a personal undertaking by the co-owner runs only against that co-owner; an obligation expressed as a real burden requires registration as an annotation on the Land Registry record (şerh) under TMK Article 1009 and the Land Registry Regulation, and not all contractual provisions are eligible for registration as such.
For shared holiday homes, mixed-use investments, and family-owned real estate where the co-ownership is intended to be long-term, we typically draft the agreement with arbitration as the dispute resolution forum rather than the standard civil courts. Arbitration produces a final binding award on a faster timeline than the courts, and where the co-ownership relationship is sensitive (family members, business partners), the confidentiality of arbitration is a meaningful additional benefit. ISTAC (Istanbul Arbitration Centre) under Law No. 6570 of 29 November 2014 is the standard institutional choice for Turkish-domestic arbitrations of this type. Practice may vary by authority and year on the arbitrability of specific co-ownership disputes; partition lawsuits under TMK Articles 698-699 have generally been treated by Turkish courts as falling within the exclusive jurisdiction of the Civil Court of Peace, with arbitration restricted to the contractual aspects of the co-ownership relationship rather than the statutory partition right itself.
Frequently Asked Questions
- What is the difference between paylı mülkiyet and elbirliği mülkiyeti? Paylı mülkiyet (TMK Articles 688-700) is co-ownership with determined individual shares, where each co-owner can act independently with respect to their share. Elbirliği mülkiyeti (TMK Articles 701-703) is joint ownership without determined shares, where all dispositions require unanimous consent.
- Can I sell my share in a paylı mülkiyet property? Yes, but the sale is subject to the statutory pre-emption right of the other co-owners under TMK Articles 732-735. The other co-owners can step into the buyer's shoes at the same price within three months of notification, with an absolute outer limit of two years from the registration of the transfer.
- Can I sell my share in an elbirliği mülkiyeti property? No. Elbirliği mülkiyeti has no individual determined shares to sell. Conversion to paylı mülkiyet is a prerequisite for any independent sale.
- What is the statutory pre-emption right (önalım)? Under TMK Articles 732-735, when one co-owner of a paylı mülkiyet property sells their share to a third party, the other co-owners can exercise a statutory right to acquire the share at the same price and same terms. The right is exercised by lawsuit before the Civil Court of First Instance, with the price deposited into court at filing.
- What is the partition lawsuit (izale-i şuyu)? Under TMK Articles 698-699, any co-owner can file a lawsuit before the Civil Court of Peace to dissolve the co-ownership. The court orders partition in kind where physically feasible, or partition by sale through public auction where partition in kind is not feasible.
- How long does a partition lawsuit take? Typically 18-36 months from filing to auction, depending on the court's caseload and the parties' procedural strategy.
- Can a single heir block a sale of inherited property? In elbirliği mülkiyeti (the default for inherited property before partition), yes — any individual heir can refuse consent. The remedies are conversion to paylı mülkiyet, or filing a partition lawsuit.
- Who pays the property taxes in a co-ownership? Each co-owner is liable for their proportional share of the annual real estate tax under Law No. 1319. Non-payment by one co-owner results in a tax lien on that co-owner's share.
- How is rental income allocated? In proportion to the ownership shares for income tax purposes, regardless of how the rent is operationally collected.
- Can foreign nationals buy a co-ownership share in Turkey? Yes, subject to the framework of Title Deed Law Article 35: the buyer's nationality must be on the permitted list, the property must clear military zone restrictions, the buyer's total Turkish holdings must not exceed 30 hectares, and the foreign-held area in any district must not exceed 10% of the district's privately-owned area.
- Can a single share be mortgaged? Yes, under TMK Article 857. The mortgage attaches to the share, and on enforcement, the lender can sell only the mortgaged share. Many Turkish banks decline to lend against a single share due to the thin market for partial ownership.
- What happens if one co-owner defaults on their debts? Creditors can pursue enforcement against the defaulting co-owner's share, but not against the shares of the other co-owners. The other co-owners can exercise the statutory pre-emption right at the enforcement auction.
- Are co-ownership disputes subject to mandatory mediation? Recent legislative changes have extended mandatory pre-litigation mediation to certain civil disputes. The current scope as it applies to specific co-ownership claims should be checked at filing time.
- Can co-ownership disputes be arbitrated? Contractual disputes within a co-ownership agreement can be arbitrated, typically through ISTAC. The statutory partition right under TMK Articles 698-699 is generally treated as falling within the exclusive jurisdiction of the Civil Court of Peace.
- Where does ER&GUN&ER Law Firm support co-ownership matters? Pre-purchase title diligence, statutory pre-emption notifications and lawsuits, partition lawsuits before the Civil Court of Peace, conversion of elbirliği mülkiyeti to paylı mülkiyet, foreign buyer compliance with Title Deed Law Article 35, and drafting of co-ownership and use agreements with arbitration clauses.
Author: Mirkan Topcu is an attorney registered with the Istanbul Bar Association (Istanbul 1st Bar), Bar Registration No: 67874. His practice focuses on cross-border and high-stakes matters where evidence discipline, procedural accuracy, and risk control are decisive.
He advises foreign owners, heirs, and investors across Real Estate Law, Co-Ownership and Partition Disputes, Inheritance Law, Foreign Acquisition of Turkish Real Estate, Property Tax, Civil Litigation, and cross-border documentation matters where procedural accuracy and evidence discipline are decisive.
Education: Istanbul University Faculty of Law (2018); Galatasaray University, LL.M. (2022). LinkedIn: Profile. Istanbul Bar Association: Official website.