Verifying building age and renovation history before buying property in Türkiye
Statements such as “new building” or “fully renovated apartment” are not evidence by themselves. Building age is a documentary and technical history made up of several dates: the construction-permit date, completion or occupancy-permit date, later repair dates and any approved alteration or strengthening works. A flat may have brand-new finishes while its structural frame, common installations and waterproofing are decades old. The buyer should therefore build one dated timeline in which every material event is linked to a document and to the correct block or independent unit.
1. Start with the construction permit and occupancy record
Request the building permit, approved project and occupancy permit where applicable. Match them to the address, parcel, block and independent unit. Authorities empowered to issue building permits review projects under Planning Law No. 3194 and implementing rules, and approved architectural projects also feed relevant condominium registration processes. The permit date helps identify the regulatory era in which the building was designed, but it does not by itself prove that construction matched the plans or that no later changes occurred.
2. Separate structural age from the age of finishes and services
Create separate dates for the structural frame, facade and roof, waterproofing, lift, heating, water, drainage and electrical systems, and then the interior finishes of the unit. Replacing kitchens, bathrooms and floors does not change the age of foundations, columns or beams. New windows or facade cladding do not prove that electrical wiring or buried pipes were renewed. This distinction prevents the broad marketing word “renovated” from hiding exactly what remains old.
3. Classify later works as maintenance, alteration or structural strengthening
Routine maintenance addresses wear without materially changing the approved project. An alteration can change layout, use, floor area, common areas or licensed plans. Structural strengthening is a separate engineering operation with a defined design and performance objective. The Turkish Building Earthquake Code contains a dedicated chapter for evaluation and strengthening design of existing buildings. Painting a column or filling a superficial crack is therefore not equivalent to documented strengthening.
4. Identify works that should have left an official trail
Where there is an added storey, change of use, major opening, suspected removal of structural walls, change in area or common elements, or a claimed strengthening project, obtain the revised project, relevant permit or approval and available completion records. Ministry guidance distinguishes works affecting structural elements, construction area, use or licensed project documents from minor maintenance. Regulatory changes also set conditions for strengthening-permit applications, reinforcing the need to verify a formal engineering and approval trail rather than a sales description.
5. Reconcile the paperwork with the building as it exists
A genuine document can still describe an earlier version of the property. During inspection, compare storey count, stairs and lift positions, enclosed balconies, merged units, openings, ground-floor commercial spaces, roof additions and extensions with available plans. A discrepancy is not automatically an illegal structure, but it is a question that requires documented resolution. A seller statement that the change is “old” or was made by a previous owner does not remove its relevance to the current buyer.
6. Review earthquake, damage and repair history
Ask for post-earthquake damage reports, evacuation decisions, concrete or reinforcement repairs, settlement history, persistent moisture and previous engineering assessments. AFAD material on strengthening notes that deterioration over time, including reinforcement corrosion, and the effects of past earthquakes can reduce structural capacity. Age therefore matters together with exposure, maintenance and repair history, not as a standalone number.
7. Use the code era as a screening variable, not a safety certificate
The current Turkish Building Earthquake Code was published on 18 March 2018 and entered into force on 1 January 2019, following several earlier generations of seismic regulation. Permit history can help identify the likely design era, but it cannot justify saying that an existing building “complies with the current code” without technical review of the project and condition. An older building is not automatically unsafe and a newer one is not automatically safe.
8. Do not confuse renovation history with structural inspection
The renovation file should answer what changed, when it changed, who designed or approved it and what evidence survives. A structural inspection answers a different question: what can be concluded about the load-bearing system under the scope of a technical examination. If a seller claims that a building was strengthened, request the strengthening design, designer, scope, approvals, material and execution records and whether the work covered the entire building or only selected elements. Before-and-after photographs or a contractor invoice alone do not prove structural strengthening.
9. Buyer questions that should produce documents
- What are the original permit and occupancy dates, and do they belong to this block?
- Which works were done later and were they cosmetic, building-service or structural?
- Are revised plans and permits available for material alterations?
- Was the building strengthened, why, over what scope and under whose design?
- Are there previous earthquake-damage, repair or engineering reports?
- When were roof, waterproofing, lift, heating, electrical and plumbing systems last renewed?
10. Decision framework and red flags
Treat the record as clear when a consistent timeline can be reconstructed from the original permit to the current physical state. Make the purchase conditional when substantial works have no supporting files or when plans and reality differ in a way that requires municipal or engineering clarification. Red flags include presenting a renovation year as the construction year, visible major changes without revised documentation, unexplained cutting or removal of elements, an unsupported strengthening claim, fresh finishes covering recurring cracks or moisture, and reliance on a technical report that predates major alterations.
11. Closing-day and recordkeeping control
The physical building age normally does not change at closing, but the conditions that supported the decision must be closed. Confirm receipt of the correct plan or permit, the required engineering opinion and evidence of any agreed repair. Preserve the issuing source, date, scope, block and unit for every document. Record what was verified, what remained unavailable and what was accepted as a contractual risk so another reviewer can reproduce the decision without relying on sales conversations.
FAQ
Does a complete renovation make the building newer? It makes the renovated finishes or services newer, but it does not change structural age unless documented structural work was carried out.
Is construction year enough for earthquake assessment? No. It is only a screening variable; soil, design, execution, alterations and present condition require separate evidence.
What is the strongest evidence of a strengthening claim? The engineering design, defined scope, approvals, execution records and technical reports tied to the same building.