Details of Notary Publics’ New Authority in respect of Sale of Real Properties Announced

For citizenship applications based on the execution of a promise to sell real property agreement, the real property sales amount required by the legislation for eligibility of citizenship acquisition – which is currently USD 400,000 – must now be paid in a single contract. Within this framework, more than one real property can be subject to a single contract, however, submission of more than one promise to sell real property agreement will not be deemed eligible for citizenship applications.

Property Sales Agreements Concluded by the Notary Publics (“Regulation”) was published in the Official Gazette by the Ministry of Justice. With the publication of the Regulation, the details of notary publics’ new authority to conclude real property sales agreements have been revealed.

Beginning from 1 July 2023 (the effective date of the new authority was previously announced as 1 January 2023 but has been postponed to 1 July 2023), real property sale agreements can also be executed before the notary publics. Some of the notable provisions of the Regulation can be summarized as follows:

• Applications for the issuance of the contract can only be made through Turkish Notaries Association’s (“Association”) “e-appointment” application using the e-Government portal.
• Notary publics are required to perform the procedures related to the contract in person.
• Land registry details of the real property subject to sale, information related to parties’ IDs, passports as well as the property’s real estate tax value, sales amount and all associated documents shall be registered with the Turkish Notaries Association Information System.
• When drawing up a contract, notary publics shall use the contract sample prepared by the Association by taking into account the form and content of the contract included in the Land Registry and Cadastre Information System.
• Notary publics shall transmit the application document to the General Directorate of Land Registry and Cadastre electronically and inquire the detailed title deed registration information and other information and documents of the real property to be sold.
• After the completion of the preparation of the records and documents related to the real property, notary publics shall take into account all kinds of restrictions on the real property, observe the limitations, procedures and principles in the legislation on the sale of real property and prepare the contract after determining that there is no legal obstacle to the sale of the real property.