Renting Out an Istanbul Flat from Abroad: The Questions Owners Ask

Yes. Holding the title deed is enough; no residence permit or citizenship is needed. Three practical things are required: a Turkish tax number, a way to sign the lease from where you are, and a bank route for the rent, because residential rent must be paid through a bank. The income is taxable in Turkey.

No. The valuation, the listing authorisation on e-Devlet, tenant screening, your approval of the tenant and the service agreement are all done remotely. The only steps that ever need you in person are a title-deed transaction or a signature you prefer to give yourself, and both can be handled by power of attorney instead.

Three routes. An electronic lease signed inside e-Devlet, if you have a Turkish ID number and e-Devlet access. A power of attorney to a representative in Istanbul, given at a Turkish consulate or by a local notary with an apostille and sworn translation. Or print, sign and courier the paper lease, usually three to five days each way. A lease does not need a notary to be valid.

Every owner named on the tapu, the title deed, must sign the lease or be represented. The usual solutions are one co-owner giving the other a power of attorney, or both giving one to a representative in Istanbul. The lease can name a single account for the rent.

Turkish consulates act as notaries for Turkish documents. You book an appointment, bring your passport or ID and the property details, and state exactly which powers you are granting: to let, to collect rent, to sign, to represent you at the building assembly. It is normally issued at the appointment and is then valid at any notary or registry in Turkey. Lead times for an appointment vary by consulate, from days to weeks.

You do not need to be in Istanbul. A signed key-release letter authorising us to collect, with a copy of your ID and title deed, is what the previous company needs; we provide a bilingual form, which you can also fill in yourself on our free key release letter page. We collect, count and photograph the keys and send you the handover record the same day.

The deed was registered under your foreigner's identity number, and the land registry record was never linked to your new Turkish ID number. Until it is, e-Devlet lists no property and the listing authorisation cannot be granted. The fix is an identity-linking application to the land registry, through Web Tapu or by a representative with a special-authority power of attorney. Do not use the portal's no-title-deed option; the flat has a deed.

A copy of the title deed, a copy of your passport or ID, where you live and how to reach you, and, for a letting, the listing authorisation granted on e-Devlet. If keys are held by someone else, the key-release form. Nothing is stored on this website; documents travel by WhatsApp or e-mail.

Not necessarily. Rent must be paid through a bank, but the account can be ours: on Full Management the tenant pays us and we forward the rent to your account abroad within three business days. If you would rather receive it directly, opening a Turkish account normally takes one visit in person with a passport and a tax number; the rules vary by bank.

Rarely workable. The tenant pays in lira from a Turkish bank, and a cross-border transfer costs them fees and days every month, so most tenants refuse or pay late. The routes that work are a Turkish account in your name or collection through a manager who forwards it.

Online. The Revenue Administration's interactive tax office has an application for a foreigner's tax number that takes a passport scan and issues the number electronically. It is free, and any tax office in Turkey issues one on the spot if you are ever there. You need it before a bank account, an insurance policy or a tax return.

Yes. Non-residents are taxed in Turkey on income from property in Turkey. Residential rent has an annual exemption that is revised each year, the return is filed in March for the previous year and the tax is paid in two instalments. Most of Turkey's tax treaties then give you a credit at home, so the same rent is not taxed twice in full. The current figures are in our rental income tax guide.

The law caps a residential deposit at three months' rent. It is recorded in the lease and the handover record, held as the agreement states, and returned at move-out net of deductions that are documented with the inventory and photos. You approve any deduction before it is made.

In Turkish lira, which is what the tenant earns and what the lease states. The conversion happens when the rent is forwarded to your account abroad, at that day's rate, and the transfer cost is the owner's. A rent review each year within the legal cap is how the lira figure keeps pace.

Viewings, yes; the choice, no. We screen every candidate for identity, income, references and payment history and send you a short profile. You approve the tenant before anything is signed. That is a written commitment on our property management page.

Yes, and in central Istanbul a large share of tenants are foreign. Ask for a passport, the residence permit or its application receipt and proof of income; the tenant registers the address after moving in. A tenant without Turkish credit history has no Findeks report, so income and references carry more weight.

Furnished suits central districts with international and short-stay tenants and commands more rent, at the cost of an inventory to manage and faster wear. Unfurnished attracts families who stay longer. Which is right depends on the district and the flat; it is part of the free valuation.

Not while a long-term tenant is in place; the tenancy is theirs. If the flat stays empty for your own use, that is what our vacant property care is for: keys held, the flat checked monthly and prepared before you arrive.

The sequence does not need you in the country: a written reminder the day after the due date, then a notary notice, and after two justified notices in one lease year an eviction case, run by a lawyer under a power of attorney. Before the case is filed, the law requires an attempt at mediation. What matters is that each step is documented from day one.

The owner. The aidat (the building's monthly service charge), DASK (the compulsory earthquake insurance) and property tax continue while the flat is empty, and utility accounts are either closed or moved into the owner's name at move-out. Our guide on the true cost of an empty apartment puts numbers on it.

Yes. The office works in Turkish, English, Arabic and Russian, spoken and written. Contracts are in Turkish, because that is the binding text in Turkey, and you receive an English explanation of every clause before you sign anything.

Every Turkish estate agency must hold a Real Estate Trading Licence; ours is number 3417413 and can be looked up in the Ministry of Trade's public TTBS registry. The listing authorisation is granted by you on e-Devlet and can be withdrawn by you at any time, so control never leaves your hands.

Istanbul, UTC+3. We reply the same day whichever time zone you write from; if your message arrives while Istanbul is asleep, it is answered when the office opens.

Neither. We do not guarantee rent. We do not manage short-term lets, because they need a permit that requires every owner in the building to consent, which an owner abroad can almost never obtain. Long-term residential tenancies only.

Yes, and we suggest it. A video call before any agreement, and a live walk-through of the flat on the first visit if you want to see it. Nothing is owed until you decide to go ahead.