Gifting Property in Türkiye: How a Flat Passes by Gift, When the Gift Can Be Revoked and What Heirs and Spouses Can Claim Under TBK 285-298 and the Civil Code

How do you gift a property in Türkiye, and can the gift be undone? A gift of a flat needs official form: under Article 288(2) of the Turkish Code of Obligations No. 6098 (Türk Borçlar Kanunu, TBK), the validity of a promise to gift an immovable depends on its being made in official form, the transfer contract must be drawn up in official form (Civil Code Art. 706(1)) and ownership passes on registration at the land registry (Civil Code Art. 705(1)). Once performed, the gift can be revoked on the three grounds in Article 295 TBK, within one year starting from the day the donor learned the ground (Art. 297), and the donor's heirs and spouse may have separate claims under the Civil Code.

This guide is for foreign families who own property in Türkiye. It follows the text of the legislation and does not describe court practice.

1. What Counts as a Gift Under Article 285?

A gift is a contract, not a one-sided act. Under Article 285(1), a gift contract (bağışlama sözleşmesi) is the contract by which the donor undertakes to make, with effect between living persons, a transfer from his or her assets to the donee without consideration (karşılıksız).

• Two parties. The donee must accept; until acceptance, a person who has offered a gift may withdraw the offer, even if the item has in fact been set apart from his or her other assets (Art. 293).
• No consideration. Article 285(1) requires a transfer without consideration; a transfer in return for a price does not meet that definition.
• What is not a gift. Waiving a right not yet acquired or rejecting an inheritance is not a gift (Art. 285(2)), and the performance of a moral duty is not treated as a gift either (Art. 285(3)).

A gift is made between living persons. If performance of the gift depends on the donor's death, the provisions on wills (vasiyet) apply (Art. 290(2)), and dispositions on death are subject to their own forms (TMK Art. 706(2)); see our guide to making a will in Turkey.

2. Who Can Give a Flat and Who Can Accept It?

Anyone with capacity to act (fiil ehliyeti) may make a gift, with the limits arising from the matrimonial property regime between spouses or from inheritance law reserved (Art. 286(1)). Those two reserved limits are the subject of Sections 8 and 9 below.

• Prodigality. If, as the result of proceedings begun within one year after the gift, the donor is placed under restriction because of prodigality (savurganlık), the court may annul that gift (Art. 286(2)).
• A donee without capacity. A person without capacity to act may accept a gift if he or she has the power of discernment. The gift falls away if the donee's legal representative forbids the acceptance or orders the return of what was given (Art. 287).
• A child who is a minor. Where the donee is the donor's own minor child, the representation rules of the Civil Code are a separate check to make before the appointment at the land registry.
• Acting through an attorney. Unless specially authorised, an attorney may not make a gift and may not transfer real estate (Art. 504(3)). A power of attorney from abroad should therefore give that special authority both for the gift and for the transfer of the flat.

3. What Form Does a Gift of Real Estate Need?

Official form, at both stages.

• Bir taşınmazın veya taşınmaz üzerindeki ayni bir hakkın bağışlanması sözü vermenin geçerliliği, ancak resmî şekilde yapılmış olmasına bağlıdır. The validity of a promise to gift an immovable or a real right over an immovable depends on its being made in official form (Art. 288(2)).
• Taşınmaz mülkiyetinin devrini amaçlayan sözleşmelerin geçerli olması, resmî şekilde düzenlenmiş bulunmalarına bağlıdır. The validity of contracts aimed at transferring ownership of immovable property depends on their being drawn up in official form (Civil Code, TMK, Art. 706(1)).

For other gifts, the validity of a promise depends on written form (Art. 288(1)), and a promise invalid for lack of form is treated as a manual gift once the donor performs it. That rescue does not apply to gifts whose validity depends on official form (Art. 288(3)), so a flat promised in a private letter or a signed note is not saved by later performance. A manual gift is made by handing over a movable (Art. 289), so a flat cannot pass that way.

Ownership of immovable property is acquired by registration (TMK Art. 705(1)), and real rights come into being through entry in the register (TMK Art. 1022(1)). Under Article 26(1) of the Land Registry Law No. 2644 (Tapu Kanunu), official deeds concerning ownership are drawn up by the land registry director or land registry staff; under a later paragraph of the same Article, the parties and the registry staff who prepare the deed sign it, and the director or the assigned officer approves it.

For a parent abroad, Article 26(2), added by Law No. 7181, matters. In contracts aimed at transferring ownership, where the parties are at different land registry offices or at the organisation abroad (yurt dışı teşkilatı), the officials may take each party's declaration separately and complete the contract; the procedure is set by regulation. Another route is a specially authorised attorney under Article 504(3) TBK.

4. Can the Donor Attach Conditions or Burdens?

Yes. A gift may be made subject to a condition (Art. 290(1)), and the donor may attach burdens (yükleme) to it (Art. 291(1)).

• Enforcing a burden. The donor may require performance of the burdens the donee accepted under the contract (Art. 291(2)). For a burden imposed in the public interest, the right to require performance passes after the donor's death to the relevant public authority (Art. 291(3)).
• A burden that costs more than the gift. If the value of what was given does not cover the cost of performing the burden and the excess is not paid to the donee, the donee may refuse to perform it (Art. 291(4)).
• Return if the donee dies first. The donor may stipulate that the gift returns to him or her if the donee dies before the donor (Art. 292(1)). Where the gift concerns an immovable or a real right over one, that reversion condition may be annotated in the land register (Art. 292(2)).

Because a gift of a flat needs official form, conditions and burdens are best written into the official deed itself, in plain words. A parent who wants to keep living in the flat may consider a separate real right instead; see our guide to usufruct.

5. Can a Completed Gift Be Revoked, and Within What Time?

Yes, but on three grounds set by the Code and within one year. Under Article 295, the donor may revoke a manual gift or a promise to gift that he or she has performed, and may claim the return of what was given to the extent of the donee's enrichment on the date of the claim, if one of these has occurred:

1. The donee has committed a serious crime against the donor or one of the donor's relatives (yakınları).
2. The donee has acted in significant breach of his or her legal obligations towards the donor or a member of the donor's family.
3. In a gift with a burden, the donee has failed to perform the burden without a justified reason.

Article 297 sets the time limit. The donor may revoke the gift within one year starting from the day he or she learned the ground for revocation. If the donor dies before the year has run, the right passes to the heirs, who may use it until the period ends; if the donor did not learn of the ground while alive, the heirs may use it within one year starting from the death. If the donee intentionally and unlawfully kills the donor or prevents the donor from exercising the right, the heirs may revoke the gift.

A change of mind is not on the list. The measure of return is the donee's enrichment on the date of the claim, not the value of the flat on the day of the gift. Where the title has to be corrected through the courts, see our guide to deed cancellation lawsuits.

6. Withdrawing a Promise Before the Transfer

A promise is not yet a performed gift, and Article 296 gives the person who promised wider exits. He or she may revoke the promise and refuse to perform it:

1. if one of the grounds exists on which he or she could claim back a manual gift;
2. if his or her financial situation has changed so much that keeping the promise would be extraordinarily burdensome for him or her;
3. if, after the promise, new family obligations have arisen for him or her or those obligations have become significantly heavier.

If the inability of the person who promised to pay his or her debts is established, or his or her bankruptcy is decided, the duty to perform ends (Art. 296(2)). Unless otherwise agreed, a gift consisting of periodic performances ends on the donor's death (Art. 298).

7. Is the Donor Liable if the Flat Has Problems?

To a limited extent. The donor is not liable to the donee for loss arising from the gift unless he or she caused that loss through gross fault (ağır kusur) (Art. 294(1)). If the donor has also given a separate warranty promise (garanti sözü) about the item given, he or she is liable under it (Art. 294(2)).

A donee should therefore check the land register entries, any mortgage or annotation and the building before the appointment; see our guide to real estate due diligence.

8. How Does a Gift Affect the Heirs' Reserved Shares?

A gift during life can be reduced after death if it falls within Article 565 and harms a reserved share. Where Turkish inheritance law governs the estate, a person who leaves descendants, parents or a spouse may dispose on death of the part of the estate outside the reserved shares (TMK Art. 505(1)). The reserved share is half of the statutory share for descendants, a quarter for each parent, and for a surviving spouse the full statutory share when inheriting with descendants or the parents' line and three quarters in other cases (TMK Art. 506).

• Which gifts count. Under Article 565, gratuitous transfers listed there are subject to reduction (tenkis) like dispositions on death. The list is: (1) transfers during life made on account of the share to a statutory heir who loses heir status, transfers to descendants by a transfer of assets or a release from debt made with the proviso that they are not to be returned, and dowry or establishment capital beyond the usual; (2) transfers made to settle inheritance rights before death; (3) gifts made while reserving a right freely to withdraw, and gifts made within the year before death other than customary presents; (4) transfers evidently made for the purpose of defeating the reserved share rules.
• The calculation. Gratuitous transfers during life are added to the estate when calculating the disposable part, to the extent they are subject to reduction (TMK Art. 508).
• The order. Reduction is made, until the reserved share is complete, first from dispositions on death and then from gifts during life, going back from the newest to the oldest (TMK Art. 570(1)); dispositions and transfers to public legal entities and to public-benefit associations and foundations are reduced last (570(2)).
• The donee in good faith. A donee in good faith must return what remains of the gift at the time the estate passes; one not in good faith answers under the rules for a possessor not in good faith (TMK Art. 566(1)). Where an item cannot be divided without loss of value, Article 564 sets out money-based ways of settling the reduction, and Article 564(3) applies them to gifts during life.

An heir who has not received the reserved share may sue for reduction (TMK Art. 560(1)). The right to sue lapses (düşer) one year after the heirs learn that their reserved shares were harmed and in any case, for dispositions other than wills, ten years after the opening of the estate; the reduction claim may be raised as a defence at any time (TMK Art. 571). Separately, statutory heirs must bring gratuitous transfers received on account of their shares into the estate to equalise, and transfers to descendants such as a transfer of assets are subject to equalisation unless the deceased expressly stated otherwise (TMK Art. 669). Whether a gift falls under one of these Articles depends on the facts. Which country's law governs the estate of a foreign parent is a separate question; see our guide to cross-border inheritance and estate planning.

9. Gifts, Spouses and Marital Property

Unless the law provides otherwise, each spouse may enter into any legal transaction with the other and with third persons (TMK Art. 193), so a gift between spouses is possible. Three rules of the Civil Code still bear on it where Turkish law governs the marriage.

• The family home. A spouse may not transfer the family home, or restrict rights over it, without the other spouse's explicit consent (TMK Art. 194(1)); a spouse who cannot obtain consent, or is refused it without a justified reason, may ask the judge to intervene (194(2)). A parent gifting the flat the couple lives in to a child needs that consent; see our guide to the family home annotation.
• The donee's personal property. The participation in acquired property regime applies between spouses as the rule (TMK Art. 202(1)). Under it, assets a spouse obtains later by inheritance or by any form of gratuitous acquisition are personal property by law (TMK Art. 220(2)), so a flat a married child receives as a gift is his or her personal property, unless the spouses have adopted another regime by a marital property contract (TMK Art. 202(2)).
• The donor's spouse. Gratuitous transfers a spouse made without the other spouse's consent within the year before the regime ends, other than ordinary presents, and transfers made during the regime with the intent of reducing the other spouse's participation claim, are added in value to acquired property (TMK Art. 229). If the debtor spouse's assets or estate do not cover the participation claim, during the liquidation the creditor spouse or his or her heirs may claim the gratuitous transfers to be counted in acquired property from the third persons who benefited, limited to the amount left uncovered (TMK Art. 241(1)); that right lapses one year after they learn of the harm and in any case five years after the regime ends (241(2)).

For the division itself, see our guide to matrimonial property division.

10. What If the Child or Spouse Receiving the Flat Is a Foreign National?

Article 35 of the Land Registry Law sets the acquisition rules for foreigners and makes no exception for gifts. Subject to the legal restrictions, foreign natural persons who are nationals of the countries determined by the President may acquire immovable property and limited real rights in Türkiye, within the area ceilings Article 35(1) sets. Commercial companies with legal personality formed abroad under their own country's laws may acquire them only under the provisions of special laws (Art. 35(2)), and the President may limit, suspend or prohibit acquisitions where the country's interests require (Art. 35(3)).

Check that the donee qualifies before the appointment is booked; see our guide to buying property in Turkey as a foreigner.

11. Side by Side: The Steps and Claims Around a Gift of Real Estate

12. Step by Step: Gifting a Flat in Türkiye

1. Obtain the land register record and check the entries, annotations and any mortgage.
2. Check that the donee may acquire property in Türkiye (Land Registry Law Art. 35).
3. If the flat is the family home, obtain the spouse's explicit consent (TMK Art. 194).
4. Decide on any condition, burden or return clause and write it into the deed (TBK Arts. 290-292).
5. Sign at the land registry in person, with separate declarations under Article 26(2), or through a specially authorised attorney (Land Registry Law Art. 26; TBK Art. 504(3)).
6. Keep the heirs' reserved shares and the spouse's claims in view in your estate plan (TMK Arts. 229, 565).

Our real estate and litigation practices advise foreign families and owners in English; reach us through the contact page.

Frequently Asked Questions

Can I gift my flat in Türkiye to my child by a signed letter?

No. Under Article 288(2) TBK, the validity of a promise to gift an immovable depends on official form, and under Article 706(1) TMK a contract aimed at transferring ownership must be drawn up in official form. Ownership passes on registration (TMK Art. 705(1)).

Can I sign the gift at the land registry from abroad?

Article 26(2) of the Land Registry Law allows the officials to take each party's declaration separately where the parties are at different land registry offices or at the organisation abroad; the procedure is set by regulation. An attorney may also act if specially authorised to make a gift and transfer real estate (TBK Art. 504(3)).

Can I take the flat back if my child and I fall out?

Article 295 TBK allows revocation on three grounds: a serious crime against the donor or a relative, a significant breach of legal obligations towards the donor or the donor's family, or an unperformed burden without justified reason. Revocation must be made within one year starting from the day the donor learned the ground (Art. 297).

Can I make the flat come back to me if my child dies first?

Yes, if the gift says so. Under Article 292 TBK, the donor may stipulate that the gift returns if the donee dies before the donor, and for real estate that condition may be annotated in the land register.

Can my other children challenge the gift after my death?

They may sue for reduction if their reserved shares are harmed and the gift falls under Article 565 TMK. The right to sue lapses one year after they learn of the harm and in any case ten years after the opening of the estate; as a defence it may be raised at any time (TMK Art. 571).

Is a flat my married son receives as a gift shared with his wife?

Under the participation in acquired property regime, assets a spouse obtains by any form of gratuitous acquisition are personal property by law (TMK Art. 220(2)), where the spouses have not adopted another regime by a marital property contract (TMK Art. 202(2)), and subject to which law governs the marriage.