Source Freshness Review — Closing appointment
A closing appointment is useful only when it is tied to the current land-registry application. In Türkiye, a buyer should not treat an old Web Tapu screenshot, a fee message from another sale, or a generic document list as proof that the present transfer is ready for signature. TKGM allows applications to be submitted through Web Tapu and the case then progresses through document review, fee assessment and the signature appointment. The reference point for freshness is therefore the application number and the latest messages issued for that specific transaction.
Which information can become stale?
The appointment time itself can change, but so can the facts behind it. Identity documents may expire, a power of attorney may be replaced or revoked, a company signatory may change, a DASK policy may lapse, and the property record may acquire a new mortgage, seizure or annotation. For transactions involving a foreign buyer, transaction-specific requirements such as valuation, foreign-exchange documentation or translated identity material must be checked against the current TKGM instructions rather than a checklist saved from an earlier year. A document can be authentic yet no longer be sufficient for the appointment being prepared.
TKGM’s current public guidance also warns that SMS messages concerning fees and signature appointments can sometimes be delayed by mobile operators. That makes the official application status and the land-registry office’s current communication more reliable than an assumption based on when an SMS was expected to arrive. A buyer should record the date and time of each material message and avoid paying a sum merely because an intermediary says that “the appointment is confirmed.”
Build the file around the current application
Start with the exact property identifiers and the parties who will sign. Link the current Web Tapu application, any deficiency notice, the assessed title-deed fee, revolving-fund charge, appointment notice, DASK information where applicable and the authority document for any representative. If a later notice changes a fee or requests another document, the later official notice should supersede the earlier working copy. Keep the earlier item for history, but mark it as replaced so that the wrong amount or appointment is not used.
Freshness also means checking the source itself. TKGM announced that the 2026 revolving-fund tariff took effect on 1 January 2026. A fee table from 2025 is therefore not a safe basis for a 2026 closing. Likewise, the title-deed fee for a sale should be taken from the current legal and TKGM guidance for the actual declared transfer value, not from a social-media post or a broker’s old estimate. The file should distinguish statutory title-deed fees from separate revolving-fund service charges.
What should be rechecked shortly before signing?
Within a short period before the appointment, confirm that the parties, representative authority, property, transaction type and payment instructions still match the application. For a building subject to compulsory earthquake insurance, confirm that the DASK policy is valid on the transaction date; the Disaster Insurance Law requires validity to be established for covered title-registration transactions. If a document was uploaded several days earlier, verify that no replacement document or new deficiency request has appeared in the case.
Do not interpret an appointment as proof that every commercial issue between buyer and seller has been resolved. The registry appointment deals with the land-registry transaction; handover, furniture, vacant possession, tenant status, private payment milestones and contractual remedies may require separate evidence. These matters should be aligned with the transfer date, but they should not be confused with the official appointment notice.
Practical freshness test
A sound closing file answers four questions: Is the source official or directly issued for this transaction? Is it the latest version available? Does it identify the same property and parties? Is it still valid on the intended signature date? If any answer is uncertain, obtain a current copy or confirmation before relying on it. This prevents a common closing error: arriving with genuine but obsolete documents and discovering only at the counter that the application, fee, authority or insurance evidence has changed.
How to close the freshness review in practice
Before the completion day, match the latest appointment notice to the Web Tapu application reference, the land-registry directorate and the parties in the transaction. If the appointment was rescheduled, record the date of the replacement message and treat the earlier notice as historical evidence only. An internal email or a broker’s forwarded message should not become the controlling source when a fresher official notification is available. The appointment should also be read together with the fee status and any deficiency shown in the application, because a time slot by itself does not prove that the file is ready to sign.
Where travel, a sworn interpreter or an attorney-in-fact must be arranged, perform a final check close to the point when people or money will actually move and record who performed it and when. If the official information cannot be retrieved, or two official channels conflict, readiness remains open until the difference is resolved. This turns source freshness into a reproducible test: the latest official information, for the same application, current enough for the decision being made.