Figures last checked: . Turkish rules for foreign buyers change often, so treat the figures below as the position on that date.
What a British citizen may buy
British citizens can buy a home in Turkey in their own name and have it registered at the Turkish land registry. Brexit changed nothing here: the right to buy never depended on EU membership, and Turkey abolished its reciprocity condition for foreign buyers in 2012. You do not need a Turkish company or a Turkish partner.
There are limits. A foreign individual may hold at most 30 hectares across the whole of Turkey, and foreign ownership in a district may not exceed ten per cent of the area where private ownership is allowed. In military forbidden zones and military security zones you cannot buy as a foreigner at all. In special security zones it is only possible with the governor's permission.
For an apartment or a villa in a coastal town those limits rarely matter. Still, the land registry checks them for every purchase by a foreigner, and that check is one of the reasons a Turkish transfer takes time.
The tapu: where the transfer actually happens
In Turkey there is no solicitor or notary who completes the sale the way you are used to in England or Scotland. Ownership passes at the office of the land registry, the tapu müdürlüğü. Buyer and seller sign the official deed there, and only afterwards is the title deed, the tapu, put into your name.
The registry asks, among other things, for your passport, a completed identity form, a recent passport photograph, proof that the price was paid through a bank and a policy of the compulsory earthquake insurance DASK. If you do not yet have a Turkish identification number for foreigners, that is arranged at the application. If you do not speak Turkish, a sworn translator must be present when you sign.
You do not have to attend in person. Many UK buyers are represented under a power of attorney. A power of attorney drawn up in the UK must meet Turkish requirements, so have a Turkish lawyer check it before you have it prepared and legalised.
Valuation: no longer always compulsory
Much of the information online says that a foreigner needs a valuation report from a firm licensed by the Turkish capital markets regulator for every purchase. That was true for several years. Since a 2024 circular of the Turkish land registry, the report is only compulsory when the purchase is used to obtain Turkish citizenship.
That does not mean you should buy without one. An independent valuation shows whether the asking price matches the market and helps if you later need to prove what the property is worth. For a buyer paying from savings or UK equity, it is one of the few objective checks on the price.
Watch the value that goes into the deed. The transfer fee is calculated on the declared value, and that may not be lower than the municipal tax value of the property. Declaring a lower figure to save on the fee is a poor idea: an application for a residence permit looks precisely at the value in the deed.
The costs around the transfer
The biggest item is the tapu harcı, the title deed fee: 4 per cent of the declared value. The law puts 2 per cent on the buyer and 2 per cent on the seller. In practice it is often agreed that the buyer pays the whole amount, so read the sale contract on this point.
On top of that you pay a fixed fee to the registry, the DASK policy, the sworn translator and your own legal fees. Count all of these in advance, because they come out of your own funds and not from a loan. Some buyers also pay a currency specialist to move sterling into lira or euro; that cost is small compared with a poor exchange rate on a large transfer.
After the transfer a second set of costs starts and comes back every year: the annual property tax, the DASK renewal, the service charge on a complex and the utilities. They are modest compared with the UK, but they are in lira and they rise with Turkish inflation.
The 90-day rule for a holiday home
British citizens can visit Turkey without a visa for up to 90 days in any 180-day period. For a holiday home that is usually enough, and it has been the rule since January 2020, so it is not a new arrangement. Your passport must have at least 150 days of validity on entry.
If you expect to spend longer than that, or to live there, the home itself does not extend your stay. That takes a residence permit, with its own conditions on the value of the property and the neighbourhood it sits in. Our residence guide covers those rules; the point here is to decide before you buy whether this is a holiday home or a future main home, because the two have different checklists.
Earthquakes and the year of construction
Turkey lies in an earthquake zone. DASK insurance is therefore compulsory for homes and is needed to complete the transfer. The policy covers damage to the building itself, not your contents.
More important than the insurance is the property. Ask about the year of construction, the building permit and the occupancy certificate, and have an older property surveyed. A home that looks good on the outside says little about how it was built.
Preparing as a UK buyer in Turkey
- Have a Turkish lawyer check the title deed, charges and permits before you pay a deposit.
- Check that the price and the value in the deed match.
- Agree in writing who pays the 4 per cent title deed fee.
- Consider an independent valuation, even where it is not compulsory.
- Arrange a sworn translator or a valid power of attorney.
- Take out the DASK policy before the transfer.
- Check the year of construction and commission a survey if in doubt.
- Know where the money comes from before you commit, and plan the sterling transfer.
Questions UK buyers ask
Further reading
What people ask us
Across our network, 107 of the 356 enquiries we received between 27 May and 9 October 2026 came from people who had already found a property, and 119 gave a second home as their purpose. Those are network-wide figures, not Turkey alone, but they are why this guide starts with the transfer and the costs: most readers are past the dreaming stage and about to pay a deposit.
Who made this guide. Bas Terpstra makes, reviews and approves every guide, with AI tools and public sources as the starting point. Rules and amounts change, so use this as general information and check the details for your own situation.
This guide is general information and not personal financial, legal or tax advice. Turkish rules on property purchases by foreigners change regularly. Have your purchase handled by an independent Turkish lawyer and your tax position reviewed by a UK accountant.