Article 10: Real Estate Agent, Developer or Lawyer? – Who to Use and When
One of the most common questions from foreign buyers: do I need an agent, a lawyer, or both? The answer depends on what you are buying and from whom. This article explains what each party actually does and whose interests they represent.
10a. The estate agent – they work for the seller
The most important thing to understand: Turkish estate agents represent the seller’s interest, not yours. Their commission is paid by the seller (or split), and their job is to close the deal.
What a good agent provides:
- Access to a wide range of listings across multiple sellers
- Local market knowledge on areas, prices, and demand patterns
- Language and communication bridge between you and Turkish-speaking sellers
- Price negotiation support
What agents cannot do:
- Conduct legal due diligence – that is the lawyer’s job
- Guarantee the legal status or title deed integrity of a property
- Act as your legal representative at the Land Registry
Commission rate: legally 2% from buyer and 2% from seller. In practice 3% plus VAT from the buyer is common. From 1 January 2026, all property listings in Turkey must carry EIDS (Electronic Ad Verification System) verification – an unverified listing is a red flag.
10b. The developer’s sales team – they work for the developer
When buying directly from a construction company, you deal with their in-house sales team. They are employed by the developer and have no obligation to you. Never sign the developer’s standard contract without a lawyer reviewing it first.
10c. The lawyer – The only party working for you
A Turkish property lawyer is the only professional in the transaction whose obligation runs to you. Not legally required – but for a foreign buyer, effectively essential. What only a lawyer can do:
- Obtain the official title record extract and check for mortgages, liens, and annotations
- Verify building permit and zoning compliance
- Review and rewrite the sales contract in your favour
- Represent you at the Land Registry on the day of transfer
- Handle post-purchase tasks: utility registrations, municipality tax notification
Cost: 0.5-2% of the purchase price, minimum approximately 20,000-50,000 TL.
| Task | Agent | Developer | Lawyer |
|---|---|---|---|
| Finding properties | Yes | Direct | Not their role |
| Legal due diligence | No | No | Yes – essential |
| Contract review | No | No | Yes – essential |
| Land Registry representation | No | No | Yes – with PoA |
| Whose interest? | Seller | Developer | Yours |
10d. The independent valuation expert — A fourth party worth knowing
Beyond agent, developer, and lawyer, there is a fourth professional that foreign buyers underuse: the independent property surveyor or valuation expert (ekspertiz uzmanı). SPK-licensed valuation experts can provide an independent assessment of a property’s condition, market value, and legal status that goes beyond what the mandatory ekspertiz report covers. For older buildings, properties requiring renovation, or any purchase where you are uncertain about structural condition, commissioning an independent condition survey before signing is money well spent. Cost: approximately 2,000-5,000 TL. Find one through the Capital Markets Board (SPK) licensed valuator registry at spk.gov.tr.
10e. The notary and interpreter — Their actual role
Foreign buyers are sometimes confused about what Turkish notaries do in a property transaction. A notary in Turkey does not review the legality of your purchase — they authenticate signatures and translate documents. If you sign a notarised document without understanding it, the notary’s stamp does not protect you from what is written in it. An interpreter translates the words; a lawyer explains their consequences. These are not interchangeable roles. Never use a notary’s interpreter as your legal adviser. If a developer or agent offers to arrange a notary and interpreter “for your convenience,” ensure your independent lawyer has reviewed the documents before you sit down at the notary’s table.
Questions buyers ask
Reddit r/Turkey: “Do I really need a lawyer? The agent says the process is simple and they handle everything.”
This is one of the most important things to understand about Turkish property. “The agent handles everything” means the agent handles everything in the agent’s interest — which is to close the deal. A lawyer reviews the title deed for mortgages, liens, and restrictions. A lawyer checks the building permit and zoning compliance. A lawyer rewrites contract clauses that are unfavourable to you. A lawyer represents you at the Land Registry. None of these tasks are performed by the agent — and the agent has no legal obligation to perform them. Turkish property law does not require a lawyer, but for a foreign buyer in a foreign-language system, proceeding without one is one of the highest-risk decisions you can make. The lawyer’s fee (0.5-2% of purchase price) is the cheapest insurance you will ever buy.
Quora: “Can I use the developer’s lawyer to save money?”
No. The developer’s lawyer is paid by the developer and represents the developer’s interests. Using them saves you their fee — which is typically small — while exposing you to the full cost of undetected legal problems that a lawyer working for you would have caught. The conflict of interest is absolute: the developer’s lawyer will not tell you that a clause in the contract is unfavourable to you, because removing it is against their client’s interest. Always use your own lawyer, found independently, not recommended by the agent or developer.
Facebook expat group: “I bought without a lawyer and everything was fine. Why do people say it’s necessary?”
Because the problems that a lawyer prevents are invisible when they don’t happen — and catastrophic when they do. Many buyers complete Turkish property purchases without a lawyer and have no immediate problems. The issues surface years later: when they try to sell and discover an annotation on the title deed that prevents transfer, when a building permit violation means the property cannot be renovated, when a clause in the original contract limits their rights in a dispute with the developer. The absence of a problem in the short term does not mean no problem exists. A lawyer’s job is to prevent problems that would otherwise not be visible until it is too late to fix them cheaply.
EXPERT ADVICE: Of the three parties in a transaction, the lawyer is the one whose professional obligation runs directly to you. The agent finds properties; the developer presents theirs. The lawyer reviews everything on your behalf. Use an agent to find properties. Use a lawyer for everything that matters legally. If the agent or developer suggests a lawyer is unnecessary, that is a good moment to verify independently. Sources: T.C. Ticaret Bakanligi – https://www.ticaret.gov.tr | T.C. Tapu ve Kadastro Genel Mudurlugu – https://www.tkgm.gov.tr
P.S. — Let me put this in perspective. You are about to make a purchase somewhere between 40,000 EUR and potentially several million euros — in a foreign country, in a legal system that operates in a language you most likely do not speak, with contracts drafted by the other side. For a few hundred to a few thousand euros, you can have someone in that room whose only job is to protect you. Not the agency’s lawyer. Not the developer’s lawyer. Not a lawyer someone recommended to you as a favour. Your own independent lawyer — one you found yourself, one who answers only to you. I cannot stress this enough. The lawyer is not a formality. The lawyer is not an optional extra. The lawyer is the single most important person in your entire purchase process. Everything else — The location, the view, the price, the payment plan — comes after. Independent legal representation comes first. Always. Without exception. I have been watching property transactions in Alanya since 1997. The buyers who skipped this step to save a few hundred euros are the ones whose stories I remember for the wrong reasons.
