Article 20: Buying a Property with Unpaid Service Charges – Legal Risk and Protection

20a. Does the debt transfer to the buyer?

Yes. Unpaid service charge debt from the previous owner is legally transferred to the new buyer. If you did not check before purchasing and there is a debt – it is now yours. This rule applies not just to service charges but also to outstanding electricity and water subscription debts.

20b. How to check before buying

What appears on the title deed: Mortgages, liens and legal encumbrances are visible on the title deed. However, service charge, electricity and water debts do not appear on the title deed.

You must take these three steps before buying any resale property:

• Go to the site management and ask: Is there any outstanding service charge debt on this apartment? Request this in writing.
• Check with the electricity provider (SEDAS or relevant authority) for any outstanding electricity debt.
• Check with the municipal water authority for any outstanding water debt.

Do not purchase any resale property without completing these three steps.

20c. A real-life example

A case witnessed recently: a property with a market value of 60,000 Euro was found to have 22,000 Euro in accumulated service charge debt. This means the real cost for an unsuspecting buyer would have risen to 82,000 Euro. This is not an exceptional situation – it occurs frequently in properties that have been vacant for a long time or have not changed hands in years.

20d. If you are buying a property with debt – two options

Option 1 – Clean title deed: The seller pays all debts themselves and transfers a clean title deed to you. This is the safest option.

Option 2 – Debt transfers, price is reduced: The seller does not pay the debts and transfers them to the buyer. In this case, the total debt amount must be deducted from the sale price.

Example:

• Property price: 60,000
• Total debt: 22,000
• Real payment: 38,000 + you pay the debts yourself

In either case, all debts must be clearly set out in writing in the contract. A verbal agreement is not valid.

20e. Send it to your lawyer

Independent legal support is essential in these situations. Your lawyer will check all legal obligations on the title deed, obtain written debt certificates from site management, the electricity and water authorities, and add a clause to the contract confirming the debts have been cleared or transferred.

20f. Official sources

• Condominium Law No. 634 – service charge debt transfer and site management obligations
• General Directorate of Land Registry and Cadastre (TKGM): tkgm.gov.tr
• SEDAS – electricity debt query: sedas.com.tr
• Alanya Municipality – water debt query: alanya.bel.tr

20f. Water, electricity and subscription debts Do they transfer?

Aidat debt (service charge arrears) transfers to the buyer under Turkish law this is well documented. Less well known: utility subscription debts in the previous owners name do not legally transfer, but they can create practical problems. If the previous owner has outstanding electricity or water bills, the relevant utility company may require these to be settled before transferring the subscription to your name. In practice, this usually means the debt appears during the subscription transfer process after purchase. Have your lawyer request a utilities clearance certificate (abonelik borç belgesi) from the relevant providers as part of pre-purchase due diligence not just the aidat clearance.

20g. Site management debt vs title deed annotation

There are two different types of aidat-related debt: informal arrears (site manager has records but no legal action taken) and formally annotated title deed debt (the site management has obtained a court order and the debt is recorded as a lien on the tapu). The second is visible on a title deed extract (tapu kaydı). The first is not it requires a direct request to the building management for a debt clearance letter (borçsuzluk belgesi). Both must be checked. A clean tapu extract does not mean no informal debt exists.

Questions buyers ask

Reddit r/Turkey: I bought a property and found out afterwards it had 3 years of unpaid aidats. What are my options?

This is a documented and unfortunately common situation. Under Turkish Condominium Law (Kat Mülkiyeti Kanunu), aidat debt transfers with the property. You are legally liable for the previous owners unpaid service charges. Your options: pay the debt and pursue the seller through the courts for recovery (time-consuming, expensive, uncertain); negotiate a price reduction with the seller if the sale is not yet complete; or if the sale has completed and the debt was not disclosed, bring a claim against the seller for misrepresentation. The last option requires a lawyer and will take 12-24 months. Prevention is far cheaper: always require a borçsuzluk belgesi before closing.

Quora: The seller says the aidat debt will be cleared before transfer. How do I make sure?

Do not take the sellers word for it. Require the borçsuzluk belgesi (debt clearance letter) from the site management, dated within 5 working days of the transfer date, as a condition of closing. Have your lawyer hold the transfer of funds until this document is provided. If the seller cannot provide it, the debt has not been cleared. A verbal assurance or promise in a preliminary contract is not sufficient if the debt reappears after transfer, a contract clause saying seller will clear the debt gives you a legal claim but does not make the debt disappear.

EXPERT ADVICE: Before buying any resale property, ask the site management, electricity and water authority for written confirmation of any debts. The title deed may look clean but these debts are invisible on it. A 22,000 Euro surprise is not something anyone deserves.

Sources: 634 Sayili Kat Mulkiyeti Kanunu – https://www.mevzuat.gov.tr | T.C. Adalet Bakanligi – https://www.adalet.gov.tr

P.S. Try to avoid instalment purchases if at all possible. Bank interest rates in Turkey are high and the risks multiply with time. If you are buying from a developer on a payment plan, make sure all documents are complete and in order same golden rule as always. And keep the instalment period to a maximum of one year. If someone is offering you two, three, four years of payments think twice. The longer the plan, the longer your money is exposed to a developers financial health, delivery delays, and market changes. Short instalment, clean paperwork, independent lawyer. That is the only way to do it safely.