Revoking a Power of Attorney in Türkiye: How an Owner Abroad Withdraws a Notarised POA, Tells the Agent and the Land Registry, and Which Acts Still Bind

Can you revoke a Turkish power of attorney, including from abroad? Yes: under Article 42(1) of the Turkish Code of Obligations No. 6098 (Türk Borçlar Kanunu, TBK), the person represented may at any time limit or withdraw an authority to represent that arises from a legal transaction, and under Article 42(2) cannot waive that right in advance, rights that may arise from the underlying relationship between the parties being reserved; under Article 512, either side may end the mandate contract unilaterally at any time, but a party who ends it at an inappropriate time must make good the other's resulting loss. What matters next is who learns of the revocation: the agent (Art. 45), any third party to whom the authority was made known (Art. 42(3)) and, for property, the land registry, which records a revocation document in its register of revocations (Land Register Statute Art. 77).

This guide is for foreign owners of property in Türkiye who gave a power of attorney before a Turkish notary or at a Turkish consulate. It follows the text of the legislation and does not describe court practice, timings or costs.

1. What Exactly Is Being Revoked: the Authority or the Mandate?

One notarised document, two legal relationships.

• The mandate contract. Under Article 502(1), a mandate contract (vekâlet sözleşmesi) is the contract by which the agent undertakes to carry out a piece of business or a transaction for the principal. The agent must carry out the work loyally and with care, observing the principal's legitimate interests (Art. 506(2)).
• The authority to represent. The results of a legal transaction carried out by an authorised representative in the name and for the account of another bind the person represented directly (Art. 40(1)). Where the authority arises from a legal transaction, its content and extent are determined by that transaction; where it has been made known to third parties, by that notification (Art. 41).

The distinction matters on revocation. Withdrawing the authority under Article 42 removes the agent's power to act in the owner's name; ending the mandate under Article 512 ends the contract between owner and agent. An owner who wants a clean break will want to do both, in the same notice.

A power of attorney used to sell or encumber a flat needs special authority in the first place. Unless specially authorised, an agent may not, among other acts, bring a lawsuit, make a gift, transfer an immovable or restrict it with a right (Art. 504(3)). At the land registry, a request made through an agent requires a power of attorney drawn up under the Notaries Law that shows authority for the requested acts, and a power of attorney for a land registry transaction must bear the principal's signature (Land Register Statute, Tapu Sicili Tüzüğü, Art. 18(4)).

2. Can I Revoke a Turkish Power of Attorney at Any Time?

Yes. Article 42(1) states that the person represented may at any time limit or withdraw an authority to represent that arises from a legal transaction, and Article 42(2) adds that he or she cannot waive this right in advance.

• A clause calling the power irrevocable. Article 42(2) is the rule to read against such a clause: the right to limit or withdraw the authority cannot be waived in advance. The second sentence of Article 42(1) reserves the rights that may arise from the legal relationship between the parties, such as a contract of service, mandate or partnership; whether such rights exist depends on that relationship.
• Ending the mandate. Article 512 provides that the principal and the agent may each end the contract unilaterally at any time.
• The cost of bad timing. Under the same article, the party who ends the contract at an inappropriate time (uygun olmayan zamanda) must make good the loss the other suffers as a result.
• Partial revocation. The owner may also limit rather than withdraw the authority (Art. 42(1)); Article 42(3) speaks of an authority withdrawn wholly or partly.

3. Who Has to Be Told About the Revocation, and Why?

1. The agent. As long as the representative does not know that the authority has ended, the person represented or his or her successors are bound by the results of the legal transactions the representative carries out (Art. 45(1)). This rule does not apply where third parties knew that the authority had ended (Art. 45(2)).
2. Third parties told of the authority. If the person represented made the authority known to third parties expressly or indirectly and does not tell them that it has been wholly or partly withdrawn, he or she cannot raise the withdrawal against third parties in good faith (Art. 42(3)). An owner who wants to rely on the withdrawal should list everyone to whom he or she made the authority known and tell each of them.
3. The land registry. The Land Register Statute keeps a register of revocations (aziller sicili) among the auxiliary registers of the land register (Art. 7(3)(a)). When a revocation document (azil belgesi) arrives, the director or a land registry officer he or she assigns writes on it at once the date, hour and minute of receipt and records it in that register (Art. 77(2)).

For the mandate itself, Article 514 adds that the principal or his or her heirs answer for the business the agent did before learning that the contract had ended as if the contract were still running. Telling the agent first, and keeping proof of when the agent was told, matters under both Article 45 and Article 514.

Substitute agents need attention too. Where the agent, relying on a power to appoint a substitute (tevkil), has appointed someone else, the land registry also asks for the underlying power of attorney (Land Register Statute Art. 18(4)).

4. How Is a Revocation Served Through a Turkish Notary?

The Notaries Law No. 1512 (Noterlik Kanunu) does not contain an article written for revoking a power of attorney. It does give notaries the tools a revocation uses.

• Notices. Sending protests, notices (ihbarname) and warnings (ihtarname) is among a notary's duties (Art. 60(7)).
• What a notice contains. A warning or notice concerning any kind of legal transaction contains the names, surnames and full addresses of the person making the request and of the other party, the subject of the warning or notice, the requester's signature, and the service annotation, the notary's signature and seal and the date in words and figures (Art. 106(1)).
• Powers of attorney for land registry work. Contracts and powers of attorney that by their nature require a transaction at the land registry are drawn up under the Law's chapter on drawing up documents (düzenleme) (Art. 89).

A notice of revocation addressed to the agent, served through a notary, gives the owner a document showing what was said, to whom and on what date. Article 77 of the Land Register Statute does not say how a revocation document reaches the registry; what it requires is that the document, once it arrives, is timed and recorded. The owner's task is to make sure it arrives.

5. Can I Revoke From Abroad Through a Turkish Consulate?

Yes, the Notaries Law gives that role to consuls. Article 191 provides that notarial work in foreign countries is carried out by consuls, and Article 192 that this duty is performed inside the consulate building under the Law's provisions on notarial acts.

• Which rules apply to consuls. Article 193 provides that the provisions of the Law other than those it lists do not apply to consuls. The listed provisions include Article 60 on notaries' duties and Articles 78 to 108, which take in Article 89 on documents for land registry work and Article 106 on notices.

For a sale, the Land Registry Law also provides a route that does not depend on an agent. Under Article 26(2) of the Land Registry Law No. 2644 (Tapu Kanunu), added by Law No. 7181, in contracts aimed at transferring ownership of immovable property, where the parties are at different land registry offices or in the organisation abroad (yurt dışı teşkilatı), the parties' declarations of will may be taken separately by official staff and the contract completed; the procedure is set by regulation. On the steps of a sale, see our guide to buying property in Turkey as a foreigner.

6. What Must the Agent Hand Back After Revocation?

• The power of attorney itself. If a document of authority was given to the representative, he or she must, when the authority ends, return it to the person represented or deposit it at the place the judge determines (Art. 44(1)). If the person represented or the successors fail to do what is needed for the document to be returned, they must make good the loss of third parties in good faith arising from that (Art. 44(2)).
• Accounts and money. At the principal's request, the agent must account for the business carried out and hand over what he or she received in connection with the mandate, and must pay interest on money whose delivery is delayed (Art. 508). An owner whose agent collected sums for the flat may ask for that account under this article.
• What the owner owes the agent. The principal must pay, with interest, the expenses and advances the agent made for the proper performance of the mandate and release the agent from obligations undertaken (Art. 510(1)). The agent may also claim from the principal the loss suffered because of performing the mandate, unless the principal proves that he or she was not at fault (Art. 510(2)).

7. Does a Power of Attorney End on Death, Loss of Capacity or Bankruptcy?

Yes, unless something else was agreed or follows from the nature of the business. Under Article 43(1), an authority to represent arising from a legal transaction ends on the death of the person represented or of the representative, a decision declaring either of them absent (gaiplik), the loss of capacity to act, or bankruptcy, unless the parties agreed otherwise or the nature of the business indicates otherwise. The rule also applies when a legal person ends (Art. 43(2)), and the parties' mutual personal rights are reserved (Art. 43(3)).

The mandate contract ends automatically (kendiliğinden) on the death, loss of capacity or bankruptcy of the agent or the principal, unless the contrary follows from the contract or the nature of the business; the same applies when a party that is a legal person ends (Art. 513(1)). If the end of the mandate puts the principal's interests at risk, the agent, or his or her heir or representative, must continue to perform it until the principal, or his or her heir or representative, is in a position to manage the matters alone (Art. 513(2)).

Under Article 45, transactions of a representative who did not know that the authority had ended still bind the successors, unless third parties knew that it had ended. For the estate itself, see our guide to cross-border inheritance and estate planning.

8. Which Acts Still Bind the Owner After the Revocation?

It depends on who knew of the end of the authority, and when.

• Before the agent knew. Legal transactions the representative carried out while not knowing that the authority had ended bind the person represented, and the rule does not apply where the third party knew it had ended (Art. 45). Under the mandate, the principal answers for business done before the agent learned of the end as if the contract continued (Art. 514).
• Third parties not told of the withdrawal. Where the authority was made known to a third party and its withdrawal was not, the withdrawal cannot be raised against that third party in good faith (Art. 42(3)).
• After the agent knew. Subject to Article 42(3) above and to Article 44(2) on the document not returned, a legal transaction made as representative by a person without authority does not bind the person represented unless he or she ratifies it (onama) (Art. 46(1)). The other party may ask the person represented to say within a reasonable time whether he or she ratifies; if there is no ratification within that time, the other party is released (Art. 46(2)).
• No ratification. If the person represented does not ratify the transaction, expressly or impliedly, loss arising from its invalidity may be claimed from the unauthorised representative, unless he or she proves that, when the transaction was made, the other party knew or should have known of the lack of authority. Where equity requires, other losses may also be claimed from an unauthorised representative at fault, and rights arising from unjust enrichment are reserved (Art. 47).

If a sale has already been registered and the owner disputes it, the question becomes one of correcting the land register; see our guide to deed cancellation lawsuits. Where the document used was forged rather than revoked, criminal provisions are a separate matter; see our guide to forgery and document fraud.

9. Side by Side: Ending a Power of Attorney and What Follows

10. Step by Step: Revoking a Power of Attorney Over a Flat in Türkiye

1. Find the power of attorney and note any power to appoint a substitute (Land Register Statute Art. 18(4)).
2. Have a notice of revocation drawn up before a Turkish notary or, abroad, at a Turkish consulate (Notaries Law Arts. 60, 106, 191-193).
3. Serve it on the agent, on any substitute and on everyone to whom you made the authority known (TBK Arts. 42(3), 45).
4. Make sure the revocation document reaches the land registry so that it is recorded in the register of revocations (Land Register Statute Art. 77).
5. Ask the agent to return the power of attorney and to account for what he or she received (TBK Arts. 44, 508).
6. Check the land register record for any transaction made before the revocation reached the agent (TBK Arts. 45, 514).

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Frequently Asked Questions

Can I cancel a Turkish power of attorney while I am outside Türkiye?

Yes. Under Article 42(1) TBK, the person represented may withdraw an authority to represent at any time, rights that may arise from the underlying relationship being reserved. Under Articles 191 to 193 of the Notaries Law, notarial work abroad is carried out by Turkish consuls, to whom the Law's provisions on notices (Arts. 60 and 106) apply.

My power of attorney says it is irrevocable. Can I still revoke it?

Article 42(2) TBK states that the person represented cannot waive in advance the right to limit or withdraw the authority. Rights that may arise from the underlying relationship, such as a mandate contract, are reserved (Art. 42(1)), and under Article 512 a party who ends the mandate at an inappropriate time must make good the other party's resulting loss.

Does a sale bind me if my agent signed it before hearing of the revocation?

Under Article 45 TBK, as long as the representative does not know that the authority has ended, the person represented is bound by the results of the legal transactions he or she carries out. The rule does not apply where the third party knew that the authority had ended.

Does the land registry record a revocation?

Yes. The Land Register Statute keeps a register of revocations among its auxiliary registers (Art. 7(3)(a)). When a revocation document arrives, the date, hour and minute of receipt are written on it at once and it is entered in that register (Art. 77(2)).

Does my power of attorney end if I or my agent dies?

Under Article 43(1) TBK, an authority arising from a legal transaction ends on the death of the person represented or of the representative, unless the parties agreed otherwise or the nature of the business indicates otherwise. Transactions of a representative who did not know that the authority had ended still bind the successors, unless third parties knew that it had ended (Art. 45).

Do I have to tell the buyer or tenant the agent dealt with?

If you made the authority known to them, expressly or indirectly, Article 42(3) TBK provides that you cannot raise the withdrawal against them if they are in good faith and you did not tell them that the authority was withdrawn.