Tapu in Türkiye: How to Read the Title Deed and Check a Property in 2026

The tapu (tapu senedi) is the only document that evidences ownership of real estate in Türkiye. Neither a contract with a developer, nor payment orders, nor utility bills perform that role. Below we look at the fundamental difference between kat mülkiyeti and kat irtifakı, how to read the fields on the certificate, how to check a property through the land registry and Web-Tapu, and which checks a foreign buyer in particular has to go through.

What a tapu is and why only it evidences ownership

The tapu is a certificate of an entry in the land register (tapu sicili), maintained by the General Directorate of Land Registry and Cadastre (Tapu ve Kadastro Genel Müdürlüğü, TKGM) through its local offices — tapu müdürlüğü. In Türkiye, ownership arises not when money changes hands and not when a private contract is signed, but at the moment the entry is made in the register.

A practical conclusion follows: the certificate itself is secondary to the entry. If the tapu is lost or damaged, ownership does not go anywhere — the land registry will issue a replacement. And conversely: a handsome contract in your possession, with no entry in the register, does not make you the owner.

The official deed of sale (resmî senet) is signed only on the premises of the land registry office, in the presence of one of its officials and, if a party does not speak Turkish, a sworn translator (yeminli tercüman). The document has no expiry date: it stays in force until the owner changes, and on a change a new certificate is issued to the new owner.

Kat mülkiyeti versus kat irtifakı: the crucial difference

This distinction matters more than the colour of the certificate, the floor area, or even the price. Two tapus on outwardly identical apartments in the same building can confer very different sets of rights.

Kat irtifakı — a right to a future unit

Kat irtifakı (literally "floor easement") is established over a plot of land while the building is still unfinished or has not been approved for occupancy. It rests on a construction permit (yapı ruhsatı) and an approved architectural plan. Formally, what you hold a right to is a share in the land (arsa payı) to which a specific future independent unit (bağımsız bölüm) is attached.

This status is perfectly normal for a new build under construction. The problem starts when a building was completed and occupied years ago and the tapu is still kat irtifakı: that almost always means the building never received its occupancy permit — the iskân.

Kat mülkiyeti — full condominium ownership

Kat mülkiyeti is registered once the building has been erected in accordance with the plan and the municipality has issued the occupancy permit (yapı kullanma izin belgesi, colloquially the "iskân"). Here the object of the right is no longer a share of land but a specific apartment or commercial unit with defined boundaries, floor and number.

What this changes in practice

One thing to keep in mind separately: rental income, utility tariffs and aidat (the building service charge) do not depend directly on the tapu's status, whereas the speed and price of exiting the property very much do.

How a tapu is converted from kat irtifakı to kat mülkiyeti

The conversion happens after the iskân is obtained. The municipality sends the occupancy permit to the land registry, and the office re-registers the titles — on the application of any one of the co-owners, or by operation of law, without each owner having to assemble a separate document package.

Formally the conversion is mandatory, but the administrative fine for failing to do it has been abolished, so in practice buildings sit on kat irtifakı for years. More on how the iskân is obtained and what to do when there is none in a separate article: the iskân in Türkiye.

Red and blue titles: what the colours mean

Tapu certificates are traditionally printed in two colours, and the colour tells you the category of property at a glance.

• A red title covers an independent unit within a building: an apartment, an office, a shop. It is issued both for kat mülkiyeti and for kat irtifakı.
• A blue title covers "principal real estate" (ana taşınmaz): a plot, a field, a garden — that is, land on which no independent units have yet been registered.

The buyer's cardinal mistake is treating a red certificate as a guarantee that the building has been approved for occupancy. It is nothing of the kind: red certificates are issued for kat irtifakı too. What you should be looking at is not the colour but the field showing the type of right and the property's designation (niteliği): "mesken" means residential, "dükkân" a retail unit, "arsa" development land, "tarla" agricultural land.

There is one more category — the shared title (hisseli tapu), where several owners are recorded in the register with their respective shares. This is lawful, but it complicates dealing with the property: co-owners have a pre-emption right (şufa). For a short-term residence permit based on property ownership, the share must be one hundred per cent.

How to read a tapu: the fields on the document

Before signing, check three things: the owner's name in the malik field against their passport, the ada/parsel and bağımsız bölüm numbers against the ones you saw at the property, and the unit's designation. An apartment designated as a "depot" or an "office" is not the same as residential, and this affects both utility tariffs and your ability to register your address there.

The amount stated in the deed of sale deserves particular attention: duties and taxes are calculated from it, and it is the figure the valuation report has to support.

How to check a property: land registry, e-Devlet and Web-Tapu

The e-Devlet portal

Your account on the government services portal (e-Devlet) offers the services "Tapu Bilgileri Sorgulama" — the list of properties registered to you — and "Tapu Takyidat Bilgileri Sorgulama" — information on encumbrances. To log in, a foreigner needs a foreigner identification number and an e-Devlet password, issued at a PTT post office branch. How the portal works is covered separately: e-Devlet in Türkiye.

One important limitation: you cannot simply look up someone else's property through e-Devlet. The register is not public in the sense that it is, say, in some European countries.

Web-Tapu

Web-Tapu (webtapu.tkgm.gov.tr) is the land registry's online workspace. Through it an owner files applications for transactions, orders a valuation report, books an electronic appointment for signing, and — importantly for a buyer — can share the extract showing encumbrances (takyidatlı tapu kaydı) with a specific person: a buyer, an agent or a lawyer. Foreigners have a dedicated section of the portal.

Asking the seller to grant access through Web-Tapu is the quickest and most honest way to see the real picture on a property. A refusal without a coherent reason is itself a reason to be wary.

The land registry office and the municipality

The owner (or their representative under a power of attorney) can order an extract showing encumbrances from the tapu müdürlüğü. In parallel it is worth visiting the municipality's planning department (imar müdürlüğü): there you can check the construction permit, whether the iskân exists, whether what was built matches the plan, and whether any enforcement notices have been issued over unauthorised alterations.

Encumbrances: what may be sitting on a property

The body of restrictions in the register is called takyidat in Turkish. The most common are:

• ipotek — a charge, most often a bank mortgage; it passes with the property;
• haciz — an attachment under enforcement proceedings;
• satış vaadi şerhi — an annotation recording a notarised promise to sell to a third party;
• irtifak hakkı and intifa hakkı — an easement and a right of use (usufruct): formally you are the owner, but someone else may use the property;
• şufa and vefa — a pre-emption right and a right of repurchase;
• an annotation barring disposal for three years — entered where the property was used to obtain Turkish citizenship under the investment programme (see Turkish citizenship through real estate for details).

Charges and attachments do not evaporate on a sale — the new owner takes the property together with them. So the contract must state expressly that encumbrances will be lifted by the signing date, and the payment schedule should be tied to that.

The checks a foreign buyer goes through

Military and security zones. Foreigners may not acquire property in military prohibited zones and security zones. Historically the land registry requested a military command clearance for every transaction, which drew the process out. In provinces where the boundaries of such zones have already been mapped and entered into the system, a separate request is no longer needed — the check is performed electronically. Where that work is not finished, the office still waits for a positive response and the transaction takes longer.

Quantitative limits. A foreign individual may own no more than 30 hectares in Türkiye in total (the limit may be raised by presidential decision), and foreign acquisitions within a single district must not exceed 10% of the privately owned land in that district. For an apartment buyer this is usually academic; for a land buyer it is a very real risk.

"Closed" neighbourhoods. Restrictions at the mahalle (neighbourhood) level concern not the purchase but address registration and residence permits: you can buy a property in a closed neighbourhood, but you cannot obtain an ikamet against it. The list is published by the Presidency of Migration Management and revised regularly, so it must be checked immediately before the transaction. More on this in our article on the residence permit in Türkiye.

How the transfer works and how long it takes

The application is filed through Web-Tapu, after which the system allocates a signing time. Both parties (or their representatives under a power of attorney) attend on the appointed day, the land registry official reads out the deed, the parties and the translator sign, the duties are paid, and the new tapu is issued, as a rule, the same day.

The signing itself takes less than an hour. Most of the time goes on preparation: the valuation report, the DASK policy, the tax number, the certificate of cadastral value from the municipality and, where needed, sworn translations and a power of attorney. Waiting for a land registry appointment is usually a matter of working days, though in peak season it can take longer at resort offices.

Attending in person is not compulsory: the transaction can be carried out under a power of attorney (vekâletname) executed before a Turkish noter or at a Turkish consulate. How that works and where the risks lie is covered in our articles on powers of attorney in Türkiye and buying property by proxy.

The costs of a transfer

• Tapu harcı — a duty of 4% of the value declared in the deed. By law it is split equally between buyer and seller (2% each), but in practice the whole of it is often passed to the buyer — this is a matter for negotiation, so put it in writing.
• Döner sermaye — a fixed service fee charged by the land registry; it is higher for foreigners and indexed annually, so check the current tariff at the tapu müdürlüğü or on the TKGM website.
• DASK — compulsory earthquake insurance. Without a valid policy the transaction cannot proceed and utility contracts cannot be opened.
• The valuation report from a company licensed by the capital markets regulator (SPK). It is ordered through Web-Tapu and has a limited validity, so there is no point commissioning it well in advance.
• Sworn translation, notary, power of attorney — each paid separately at the provider's rates.

A word on the declared value. By law it cannot be lower than the property's cadastral value (emlak vergisi değeri). Understating the price in the deed to save on duty is a widespread but bad idea: the tax authority assesses the difference with penalties against both parties, and on resale an understated base translates into a larger capital gains tax bill. In 2026 the cadastral bases were raised appreciably, and the room for such schemes has narrowed.

One more change worth knowing about in advance: settlement of property transactions is moving to a secure payment system using a blocked bank account. The details and the sequence of steps are in our article on the property purchase procedure.

Common mistakes and what to check before signing

• Treating a red title as confirmation that the building has been approved for occupancy.
• Failing to request an extract showing encumbrances and learning about a mortgage only after paying a deposit.
• Transferring money before the encumbrances have been lifted and the parties have agreed a signing date.
• Not checking the seller's name on the tapu against their passport: a relative is selling, or the power of attorney has expired or been revoked.
• Taking the floor area from the sales listing on trust instead of the plan area in the documents.
• Understating the amount in the deed at the seller's request.
• Signing without a sworn translator "because there's a manager here who speaks your language".
• Not checking the unit's designation: apartments designated as "office" or "retail unit" mean different utility bills and different registration options.

Frequently asked questions

Does a red tapu mean the building has its iskân?

No. Red certificates are issued for kat irtifakı too — that is, before the occupancy permit is granted. Look at the type of right in the document, and check the iskân with the municipality.

Is it worth buying an apartment with kat irtifakı?

In a new build under construction it is the norm. In a building completed several years ago, the absence of kat mülkiyeti is a signal to dig deeper: why is there no iskân, what is preventing it, and are there any municipal enforcement notices. The price of such a property should reflect that risk.

I have lost the tapu certificate. Have I lost the apartment?

No. The right is evidenced by the entry in the register, not by the piece of paper. Apply to the land registry office for a replacement copy.

Can a tapu be registered without travelling to Türkiye?

Yes, through a representative under a notarised power of attorney. The power of attorney must be drafted correctly and contain specific authorities — it is the key document, and deserves more careful attention than the contract itself.

Does a tapu automatically give a residence permit?

No. Ownership is only a ground for applying, and under the current rules a short-term permit based on property requires a property value at or above the set threshold, supported by a valuation report, a one hundred per cent share, and an address that is not in a neighbourhood closed to registration.

How many owners can be entered on one tapu?

Co-ownership by several people is permitted and the shares are recorded in the register. But bear in mind: a residence permit based on the property requires a whole share, and dealing with a co-owned property is more complicated — the other owners' rights have to be taken into account.

The information in this article is provided for general guidance. The requirements of the land registry (TKGM), municipalities and the migration service, the level of fees and the lists of documents all change, and practice differs from one office to another. Check the current rules with the relevant authority or with a lawyer before filing your documents.

Need help?

New Time Investment handles property transactions and paperwork in Alanya and across Türkiye. We check a property with the land registry and the municipality, examine encumbrances and the status of the tapu, prepare the document package, and accompany you on signing day together with a sworn translator.

If you are still choosing a property, it is worth showing us your shortlist before you pay a deposit — that is the stage at which anything is cheapest to put right.