Off-Plan Purchases & Consumer Law
Buying an Off-Plan Apartment in Türkiye as a Foreign Buyer: The Presale Contract, the Building Permit, Withdrawal, Delivery Within 48 Months and the 24-Month Right to Rescind Under Law No. 6502
Buying a flat that exists only as a scale model and a set of drawings means paying before the building stands. Turkish consumer law answers that risk with a separate set of rules for presale housing contracts (ön ödemeli konut satışı): no contract before the building permit, a mandatory contract form, no payment before a valid contract, a fourteen-day withdrawal right, a forty-eight-month ceiling on delivery and a right to leave the contract within twenty-four months. This guide follows Law No. 6502 article by article and explains when a foreign buyer can rely on it.
This guide is written for foreign nationals who are considering an apartment in a residential project that is still under construction in Türkiye and who will pay the developer before handover. It covers the consumer-law rules in Articles 40 to 45 of Law No. 6502, when a foreign buyer counts as a consumer, and where a dispute is heard. The secondary legislation on presales, prices, fees and the title-deed procedure are outside its scope.
1. When a Foreign Buyer Is a Consumer: Purpose, Not Passport (Article 3)
The protections described in this guide belong to the consumer. Article 3(1)(k) of the Law on Consumer Protection No. 6502 (Tüketicinin Korunması Hakkında Kanun, TKHK) defines a consumer as a natural or legal person acting for purposes that are not commercial or professional. The definition looks at the purpose of the purchase. It says nothing about nationality, and a foreign national who buys a flat to live in or to spend holidays in may therefore fall within it in the same way as a Turkish buyer.
The other side of the transaction is defined in the same article. Under Article 3(1)(i), a seller is a person who offers goods to consumers for commercial or professional purposes, and Article 3(1)(h) includes immovable property for housing or holiday purposes within the definition of goods. Article 3(1)(l) calls a transaction between these parties a consumer transaction.
- A foreign family buying a flat from a developer to live in or to use for holidays: the purpose test points towards consumer status.
- A company buying units as part of its business, or a buyer acting in a professional capacity: the purpose is commercial or professional, and Article 3(1)(k) does not cover that purchase.
- A sale between two private individuals: the person selling does not act for commercial or professional purposes, so the seller definition in Article 3(1)(i) is not met.
Where the facts are mixed, for instance where a buyer acquires several units, the Law gives no list. Whether a particular purchase was made for non-commercial purposes is assessed on its own facts by the arbitration committee or the court. What a foreign buyer can take from Article 3 is that the passport is not the test; the purpose is.
2. What a Presale Housing Contract Is, and the Pre-Information Form (Article 40(1)-(2))
Article 40(1) defines the presale housing contract (ön ödemeli konut satış sözleşmesi) as a contract under which the consumer undertakes to pay the sale price of an immovable intended for housing in advance, in cash or in instalments, and the seller undertakes to transfer or deliver the immovable after the price has been paid in whole or in part. A flat bought from a model, a brochure or a plan, and paid for before handover, fits that description.
Article 40(2) sets the first obligation in time. The consumer must be given a pre-information form containing the matters determined by the Ministry at least one day before the contract is concluded. The purpose is that the buyer reads the terms before committing, not at the signing table. The detailed content of the form is set by secondary legislation, which this guide does not cover; what the Law itself requires is the form and the one-day interval.
For a foreign buyer, the one-day rule has a practical meaning: the form should arrive early enough to be read in full, in a language the buyer understands, before anyone asks for a signature. A buyer who is shown the form for the first time on the day of signing should note the date on which it was actually handed over.
3. No Contract Before the Building Permit (Article 40(3))
Article 40(3) is short and absolute: a presale housing contract may not be concluded with consumers before a building permit (yapı ruhsatı) has been obtained. A sales office may open, a show flat may be furnished and a price list may circulate, but the Law does not allow a presale contract with a consumer until the permit exists.
Article 77(5) of the same Law attaches an administrative fine to breaches of the obligation in Article 40(3). The fine is a sanction against the seller; the text of Article 77(5) does not address what becomes of the contract or of the buyer's payments, which is why the order of dates matters to the buyer. The building permit should bear a date earlier than the contract date, and both documents should refer to the same project and the same plot.
A foreign buyer can ask for a copy of the building permit before signing and compare its date with the date on the contract. If the developer cannot show a permit, or offers a reservation agreement in the meantime, Article 41(2) discussed below becomes relevant.
4. The Form of the Contract and the Ban on Early Payments (Article 41)
Article 41(1) contains two form rules. The presale housing sale must be registered with the land registry (tapu sicili), and a promise-to-sell contract (satış vaadi sözleşmesi) must be drawn up by a notary in official form (noterde düzenleme şeklinde). A private contract signed in the developer's office, without a notary, does not meet the second rule.
The same paragraph then protects the consumer against the consequences of a defect in form. If these requirements are not met, the seller may not later invoke the invalidity of the contract against the consumer. The protection runs one way: the Law prevents the seller from using its own failure to observe the form as a way out of the contract to the consumer's detriment.
Article 41(2) closes the gap before signing. Unless a valid contract has been made, the seller may not ask the consumer to make any payment under any name, or to give any document that puts the consumer under a debt. A reservation fee, a deposit, an option payment or a signed promissory note requested before the valid contract would fall within the words 'under any name' and 'any document'.
For a buyer comparing a payment plan with the paperwork, the rule gives a simple test: the first payment should not bear a date earlier than the valid contract. Our guide to real estate due diligence in Turkey covers the title and plot checks that sit alongside these consumer-law rules.
5. Building Completion Insurance and Other Guarantees (Article 42)
Article 42(1) requires a seller whose project is above a size determined by the Ministry, measured by the number of housing units in the project or by the total price of the project, to take out building completion insurance (bina tamamlama sigortası) or to provide the other guarantees and conditions determined by the Ministry, and to do so before starting presales. The threshold itself and the detailed conditions are set by secondary legislation and are not covered in this guide.
Article 42(2) protects what that insurance produces. Compensation, guarantees and similar assurances provided under building completion insurance may not be included in a bankruptcy or liquidation estate, may not be attached, and no interim injunction or interim attachment may be placed on them.
The Law therefore does two things: it requires the insurance or guarantee for projects above the threshold, and it keeps the resulting compensation and guarantees outside the seller's bankruptcy estate and outside the reach of the seller's creditors. Before signing, a buyer can ask whether the project is above the threshold, which insurance or guarantee has been arranged, and whether the policy or guarantee covers the unit being bought.
6. Fourteen Days to Withdraw Without Giving a Reason (Article 43)
Under Article 43(1), the consumer has the right to withdraw (cayma hakkı) from the presale housing contract within fourteen days, without giving any reason and without paying a contractual penalty. It is enough for the notice of withdrawal to be sent to the seller within that period. The burden of proving that the consumer was informed of the right of withdrawal rests on the seller.
Article 43(2) deals with a purchase financed wholly or partly by a linked credit. The linked credit agreement enters into force at the end of the withdrawal period, with effect from the date the contract was concluded, and during the withdrawal period the housing finance institution may not demand interest, commission, statutory charges or any similar cost from the consumer.
Article 43(3) sets the return of performances after withdrawal: the consumer returns what he or she received within ten days from the date on which the seller returns the price it received and every document that put the consumer under a debt.
A buyer who decides to withdraw should send the notice in writing, by a method whose date can be proved later, and keep that proof. The text of Article 43 does not itself describe a form for the notice; what it requires is that the notice be directed to the seller within the period.
7. Delivery: The Promised Date and the Forty-Eight-Month Ceiling (Article 44)
Article 44(1), as amended by Law No. 7392 in March 2022, requires the seller to deliver the presale housing unit to the consumer within the time undertaken in the contract. That time may not in any case exceed forty-eight months from the date of the contract. A contract that promises delivery in five years, or that leaves the delivery date open, sits outside that limit.
The same paragraph explains what counts as delivery. Where the condominium easement (kat irtifakı) is registered in the land registry in the consumer's name together with the transfer of possession, transfer and delivery are also deemed to have taken place.
Article 77(5) attaches an administrative fine to breaches of Article 44 for each unit not delivered. As with the permit rule, the fine is a public-law sanction; the buyer's private-law position is governed by the contract and by the other provisions of the Law, including Article 45. Our separate guide to contractor delay, penalty clauses and rental loss looks at delay from the angle of the Code of Obligations.
8. Rescinding the Contract Within Twenty-Four Months (Article 45)
Article 45(1), in the wording introduced by Decree Law No. 684 and enacted by Law No. 7074, gives the consumer a second exit, separate from the fourteen-day withdrawal. Up to twenty-four months from the date of the contract, the consumer has the right to rescind the contract (sözleşmeden dönme) without giving any reason.
The right is not cost-free. Where the consumer rescinds, the seller may ask for the costs arising from taxes, charges and similar statutory obligations caused by the sale of the unit or by the promise-to-sell contract, and for compensation up to the following percentages of the contract price, counted from the date of the contract:
- for the first three months: up to 2%;
- from three to six months: up to 4%;
- from six to twelve months: up to 6%;
- from twelve to twenty-four months: up to 8%.
The Law speaks of compensation 'up to' these rates: they are ceilings on what the seller may ask, not fixed charges.
Article 45(2) removes the charge in several cases. If the seller does not perform its obligations at all or does not perform them properly, it may not claim any amount from the consumer. No amount may be claimed either where the consumer rescinds because he or she has died or has permanently lost the ability to earn an income and can no longer make the advance payments, or because the seller refused the consumer's proposal to replace the contract with an instalment sale on ordinary terms. Whether a particular delay or defect amounts to non-performance is assessed on the facts by the arbitration committee or the court.
Article 45(3) sets the refund period. The amount to be returned to the consumer, and every document that put the consumer under a debt, must be returned within one hundred and eighty days at the latest from the date on which the notice of rescission reaches the seller. The consumer returns what he or she received within ten days from the date on which the seller returns the price and the documents.
Two dates therefore matter to a buyer considering this route: the contract date, which fixes the applicable percentage band and the twenty-four-month limit, and the date on which the notice reaches the seller, which starts the one-hundred-and-eighty-day refund period.
9. Withdrawal, Rescission and Seller Default Side by Side
The table compares the buyer's two exits and the position where the seller has not performed. Each entry follows the text of the article cited.
| Point | Withdrawal (14 days) | Rescission (24 months) | Seller default |
|---|---|---|---|
| Legal basis | Art. 43 | Art. 45(1) | Art. 45(2) |
| Time limit | Fourteen days | Up to twenty-four months from the contract date | The Law sets no separate period in Art. 45(2) |
| Reason required | No reason; no contractual penalty | No reason | Seller has not performed its obligations at all or properly |
| What the seller may ask | Nothing; the article excludes a contractual penalty | Statutory costs from taxes, charges and similar obligations, plus compensation up to 2%, 4%, 6% or 8% of the contract price depending on the period | No amount; also no amount where the consumer died, permanently lost earning ability or the seller refused an instalment-sale proposal on ordinary terms |
| Notice | Enough that it is sent to the seller within the period | Refund period runs from the date notice reaches the seller | Refund period runs from the date notice reaches the seller |
| Refund | Consumer returns acquisitions within ten days of the seller's return (Art. 43(3)) | Within 180 days at the latest from receipt of notice (Art. 45(3)) | Within 180 days at the latest from receipt of notice (Art. 45(3)) |
| Linked credit | Enters into force at the end of the withdrawal period; no interest or commission meanwhile (Art. 43(2)) | Not regulated in Art. 45 | Not regulated in Art. 45 |
10. Where a Dispute Goes: Arbitration Committee, Consumer Court and Mediation (Articles 68, 73 and 73/A)
A dispute about a presale housing contract is a dispute arising from a consumer transaction, and the Law sends it down one of two routes depending on its value. Under Article 68(1), for disputes below a monetary limit, an application to the consumer arbitration committee (tüketici hakem heyeti) is mandatory, and for disputes above that limit an application to the committee may not be made. The limit is a Turkish lira figure that is revalued each year, so which route applies depends on the value of the dispute at the time of filing.
Above the limit, Article 73(1) gives jurisdiction over disputes arising from consumer transactions to the consumer courts (tüketici mahkemeleri). Under Article 73(5), the consumer may also bring the action before the consumer court at the consumer's place of domicile (yerleşim yeri).
Before a consumer court action, Article 73/A(1) makes applying to a mediator a condition of the action (dava şartı). The same paragraph lists exceptions, among them disputes within the arbitration committee's remit, objections to arbitration committee decisions and, under sub-paragraph (d), disputes that are consumer transactions and arise from the immovable property itself (taşınmazın aynından doğan uyuşmazlıklar). Whether a given claim falls under sub-paragraph (d) is a matter the court assesses; a buyer should not assume that mediation can be skipped without checking.
Our guide to defective goods and a foreign buyer's rights under Law 6502 explains the arbitration committee and consumer court route in more detail for other consumer purchases.
11. A Checklist for Foreign Buyers Before Signing or Paying
The steps below follow the order in which the rules of Law No. 6502 come into play, from the first look at the project to the moment a buyer may want to leave the contract. They concern documents the buyer can ask to see; they are not a list of administrative procedures.
- Decide on what basis you are buying: for living or holidays, the purpose test in Article 3(1)(k) points towards consumer status; a commercial or professional purchase falls outside it.
- Ask for the pre-information form and make sure you receive it at least one day before the contract (Art. 40(2)).
- Ask for a copy of the building permit and check that its date is earlier than the contract date (Art. 40(3)).
- Check the form of the contract: registration with the land registry, or a promise-to-sell contract drawn up by a notary in official form (Art. 41(1)).
- Compare the payment plan with the contract date: no payment and no debt document before a valid contract (Art. 41(2)).
- Ask whether the project is above the Ministry threshold and which building completion insurance or other guarantee covers it (Art. 42).
- Read the delivery clause: a fixed time, no more than forty-eight months from the contract date (Art. 44(1)).
- Note the contract date in your calendar: day fourteen for withdrawal (Art. 43) and month twenty-four for rescission, with the 3-, 6- and 12-month points where the compensation ceiling rises (Art. 45(1)).
- If you leave the contract, send written notice by a method whose date can be proved, and keep the proof (Arts. 43(1) and 45(3)).
Each of these points is easier to check before the first payment than after it. A permit dated after the contract, a reservation fee taken before the notary, a delivery clause without a fixed time or a pre-information form handed over at the signing table are all visible on paper, and all can be raised with the developer while the buyer still has a choice.
Frequently Asked Questions
Does Turkish consumer law protect a foreign buyer?
It can. Article 3(1)(k) of Law No. 6502 defines a consumer as a natural or legal person acting for non-commercial or non-professional purposes. The definition does not refer to nationality, so a foreign buyer who purchases a flat from a developer to live in or for holidays may be a consumer. A purchase made for commercial or professional purposes falls outside the definition.
Can a developer sign an off-plan contract with me before the building permit is issued?
No. Article 40(3) provides that a presale housing contract may not be concluded with consumers before a building permit has been obtained. Article 77(5) attaches an administrative fine to a breach of that rule.
The developer wants a reservation fee before the contract. Is that allowed?
Article 41(2) provides that, unless a valid contract has been made, the seller may not ask the consumer to make any payment under any name or to give any document that puts the consumer under a debt. A payment requested before the valid contract falls within those words.
Does the contract have to be signed before a notary?
Article 41(1) requires the presale housing sale to be registered with the land registry and a promise-to-sell contract to be drawn up by a notary in official form. If these requirements are not met, the seller may not later invoke the invalidity of the contract against the consumer.
How long can the developer take to deliver my flat?
Article 44(1) requires delivery within the time undertaken in the contract, and that time may not in any case exceed forty-eight months from the contract date. Registration of the condominium easement in the buyer's name together with the transfer of possession also counts as delivery.
Can I change my mind after signing?
Yes, on two separate bases. Within fourteen days you may withdraw without giving a reason and without a contractual penalty (Article 43). Up to twenty-four months from the contract date you may rescind without giving a reason; the seller may then ask for statutory costs and compensation up to 2%, 4%, 6% or 8% of the contract price depending on the period (Article 45(1)), and the refund is due within 180 days at the latest from receipt of the notice (Article 45(3)).
What if the developer is the one who fails to perform?
Under Article 45(2), if the seller does not perform its obligations at all or properly, it may not claim any amount from the consumer. Whether a specific delay or defect amounts to non-performance is assessed on the facts by the arbitration committee or the court.