How to verify a real-estate sale promise in Türkiye
A real-estate sale promise is not a title deed and does not make the promised buyer the registered owner merely because the document has been signed or money has been paid. It creates a contractual obligation concerning a future sale. The review therefore begins by identifying the document correctly: is it a reservation, an ordinary private preliminary agreement, a formally valid real-estate sale promise, or the final real-estate sale itself? These instruments do not have the same legal effect, and calling every preliminary document a sale promise can hide a serious form defect.
1. Verify legal form before commercial detail
Article 237 of the Turkish Code of Obligations No. 6098 provides that a real-estate sale must be made in official form and that a real-estate sale promise, repurchase agreement and purchase agreement are not valid unless executed in official form. A private signature, company stamp or professional-looking PDF therefore does not by itself prove that the document satisfies the form required for a sale promise. Confirm the authority that executed the instrument, its transaction reference and date, and distinguish an official sale promise from a marketing reservation or privately signed protocol.
2. Match every party and the authority to sign
Verify the full legal identity of the seller and buyer. Match the seller to the current registered owner or to a person legally authorised to bind that owner. If an attorney signs, inspect the power of attorney for the relevant authority. If a company sells, verify current corporate representation rather than relying on a sales employee, letterhead or business card. Correct form does not cure a lack of authority by the person who signed.
3. Identify one exact property
The contract should identify the asset without guesswork. Use province, district, neighbourhood, ada and parsel, and the independent-unit number where one exists. For an unfinished project, reconcile the promised unit and right with the project, building permit, condominium easement information and approved plans where relevant. A commercial project name and internal unit code may not be enough. A document for a similar unit in the same project is not evidence for the unit being purchased.
4. Audit price, currency and payment schedule
Record the total price, currency, initial payment, instalments, due dates, beneficiary account and whether payments depend on construction milestones or only calendar dates. The contract should state what happens if either party is late, transfer becomes impossible, area or specification changes, or the seller terminates. A large advance payment does not become safe simply because a promise exists. The promise does not remove a mortgage, attachment, restriction on disposal or lack of seller authority.
5. Understand land-registry annotation
Article 47 of the Land Registry Regulation requires a notarially executed contract for annotation of a real-estate sale promise as a personal right. Article 26 of the Land Registry Law No. 2644 provides that real-estate sale promises executed by notaries may, at the request of either party, be annotated in the land registry. Annotation is important because it makes the contractual right visible in the registry and gives it the effect provided by law against later dealings. It still does not register ownership in the promised buyer before the final sale and registration.
6. Track the five-year annotation period
Article 26 also states that if the sale is not completed within five years after annotation, the annotation is deleted from the registry ex officio. The file should therefore record the annotation date and journal reference. Do not treat an old annotation as permanent protection. In a long development schedule, the five-year point should appear in the transaction calendar so that the parties can review the legal position before the period expires.
7. Review current encumbrances separately
Obtain current land-registry evidence and review mortgages, attachments, personal-right annotations, easements and restrictions affecting disposal. If the seller promises to remove an encumbrance, identify who must remove it, by what date and what official evidence will close the condition. Recheck immediately before final transfer because registry status may change after the promise is signed. A promise does not freeze the title unless the applicable legal mechanism provides that protection.
8. Add consumer rules for prepaid housing when applicable
A transaction that qualifies as a consumer prepaid-housing sale has additional rules. The Ministry of Trade states that the consumer must receive the pre-information form at least one day before the contract and that a prepaid-housing contract cannot be concluded before the building permit is obtained. The contract must use the legally specified form: either a written agreement together with registration of a condominium easement transfer in favour of the consumer, or a real-estate sale promise executed in official notarial form. The seller cannot demand a payment under any name before a valid contract exists within this regime.
9. Do not confuse a sale promise with a final notarial property sale
Notaries can also execute final real-estate sale contracts through the statutory system. That is a different transaction from a promise to sell. A final sale proceeds to ownership registration through the official system; a sale promise remains a future contractual obligation until the ownership transfer is completed. Read the legal nature and effect of the instrument rather than assuming that every notarised real-estate document is only a promise.
10. Foreign buyers and citizenship files need separate tests
If the buyer is foreign, the contract itself does not prove eligibility to acquire the property. Nationality restrictions, parcel location and any restricted-zone issue must be checked separately. If the sale promise is being used for a Turkish-citizenship application, current TKGM rules on qualifying property, value, annotation, bank evidence and the TTB amount document also have to be satisfied. A formally valid promise does not by itself prove citizenship eligibility.
11. Make an evidence-based decision
Classify the file as ready to proceed, ready only after named conditions are closed, or not ready. Hold or stop when the property cannot be matched, seller authority is unresolved, official form is missing, a material encumbrance has no credible removal mechanism, or a substantial payment is demanded before basic evidence is produced. Each condition should state the evidence required, responsible party and deadline.
Red flags
- A privately signed document presented as a formally valid sale promise without verification.
- Different ada, parsel or independent unit between the contract and current registry.
- A signer with no proven authority to bind the owner.
- Large payments before title restrictions are checked.
- A vague promise to remove a mortgage or attachment without a closing mechanism.
- An old annotation whose current status and date are not checked.
- Language implying that the promise itself transferred ownership.
- For consumer prepaid housing, no building permit or payment demanded before a valid contract.
FAQ
Does a sale promise transfer title? No. Ownership is transferred by the final official registration; the promise creates a contractual right that may be annotated under the applicable rules.
Is a private agreement enough? Not if the document is intended to operate as a Turkish real-estate sale promise under Article 237, which requires official form.
How long does the annotation remain? Article 26 provides for deletion if the sale is not completed within five years after the annotation.