Which rate is the legal ceiling?

Under article 344 of the Turkish Code of Obligations, the increase at renewal for residential and roofed commercial tenancies has a ceiling. It cannot exceed the change in the consumer price index, measured on a twelve-month average basis, for the preceding rental year. This is not the headline annual inflation figure. TurkStat publishes the twelve-month average separately each month, and the two usually differ.

Use the figure for the month your contract renews. TurkStat publishes the previous month's inflation on the 3rd of each month, or on the next working day when the 3rd falls on a weekend or public holiday. The twelve-month average in that bulletin is the ceiling for leases renewing in the month it is published: a January renewal takes the rate published in January, a July renewal the rate published in July. The value pre-filled above reflects the most recently published period; replace it with your own month's rate.

A ceiling, not a target

The statutory rate is a maximum. Landlord and tenant are free to agree less, and with a good tenant that is often the cheaper outcome — one month of vacancy usually costs more than a year of foregone increase. An increase above the ceiling can be challenged later even if the tenant initially accepted it.

When the rent has fallen far below market

On long tenancies, CPI-capped increases can leave the rent well under market. For tenancies that have run five years or more, article 344/3 lets a court set a new rent free of the cap (kira tespit davası), from comparable rents and usually with a discount for the sitting tenant. It is a separate legal process and needs evidence of comparable rents, which we assemble as part of a valuation for owners we manage property for.

Practical points when you apply the increase

  • Notify the tenant in writing, in good time before the renewal date, and keep proof of the notice. Our notice generator writes it in Turkish, with an English translation.
  • Record the new rent in writing, either in a renewed contract or in the retained notice.
  • Collect rent through a bank: it is both your evidence of payment and what the tax office expects.
  • Confirm at the same time who pays the aidat (the building's monthly service charge) and the insurance, and who repairs fixtures.