Dispute over
Property Sales to Foreigners Continues. Foreigners Come as Tourists
and Practice Real Estate in Turkey
May 31, 2007 -
The Realtors in the tourism areas state that the foreigners that
have previously come to Turkey as tourists, practice real estate by
renting out the Turkish property they have purchased.
There is an increase in the illegal rental of properties, purchased
by foreign nationals in the tourist areas of Turkey, mainly in
Antalya, Bodrum, Marmaris, Kusadasi, and Didim.
In a statement to the A.A. correspondent, the president of the
Antalya Real Estate Chamber of Brokers, Mr. Seref Saglam, stated
that there is a large volume of unrecorded real estate practice by
foreigners and that the appropriate organizations must take the
necessary actions of prevention.
"It is
known that the foreigners are selling properties from their home and
work place through the internet to foreigners. 90% of the properties
sold in the holiday resorts were done by unregistered real estate
individuals" stated Mr. Saglam. He further explained that there are
2, 100 registered real estate brokers in
Antalya. After a detailed investigation, over 2,000 unregistered
real estate individuals, mainly foreigners were discovered. Mr.
Saglam further explained:
"Fraudulence increases, when sales are done over the internet. If it
wasn't enough that they work without paying taxes, the unregistered
real estate brokers, take properties priced at 100,000 euros, and
sell them for 150,000 to 200,000 euros, not only cheating the
foreigners, but also, because they are not under supervision, show
the value of the sold properties at a much lower price, and defraud
in taxes. If it is taken notice the size of the industry and the
pressing supremacy of unregistered real estate brokers, the loss in
government taxes is larger than expected."
"We are
warning citizens, whether they are home or land sellers, buyer or
renters that they should check to see if the realtors are registered
with the Chamber of Real Estate Brokers for any renting or sales
transactions. If the Real Estate Broker is a member, then they can
confidently proceed with an agreement", stated Mr. Saglam.
The president of the Bodrum Chamber of Real Estate Brokers, Mr. Omer
Yetkin, explained that there are a large number of foreigners
practicing real estate, and further continued to say that "Large
companies use those who come to Bodrum for a holiday and practice
real estate, to sell through the internet at high prices. These
individuals work unregistered. The number of unregistered workers
will increase even more during the months of April, May, and June.
Prevention must be applied as soon as possible against these
unregistered real estate brokers."
"There are 300 registered members with our organization. The
remainder work unregistered. We are writing to the municipality, and
tax department, regarding this issue. As an organization, we just
haven't been able to get ahead of this issue after opening various
structured courses. We want the authorities to solve this problem",
stated Mr. Yetkin.
"UNDESERVED INCOME INCREASING IN THE SECTOR"
The president of the Didim Real Estate Broker Organization stated
that the number of those practicing illegal real estate is
increasing day-by-day because the real estate sector has become
quite important due to the interest by foreigners.
There has been a huge demand for properties in the important tourism
regions such as Didim and Kusadasi, by foreigners in the last few
years; and as a result there has been a smashing increase in real
estate offices opened by joint Turkish-foreigner partnerships. Mr.
Coskun, continued to state that the foreigners have opened up
construction companies, using a Turkish partner, to overcome some of
the illegalities.
"In order for foreigners to be allowed to purchase real estate, they
must obtain permission from the military, and this period can take
up to 6 months. For the foreigners to overcome this lengthy waiting
period they set up companies on paper, with a Turkish partner, and
then it looks like the property was bought under their name. The
real estate business in Didim is growing rapidly, and the sole
reason for this is high unearned (undeserved) income. This
uncontrolled and unsupervised industry provides undeserved income
and these types of businesses increase by the day. The large
construction companies offering their properties off plan have made
agreements through connections with foreigners abroad. The
foreigners are in turn selling these properties above the official
value in their own country with large agency commissions. This is
generating a loss for the government. We estimate that 40 percent of
the real estate sold to foreigners is through foreigners practicing
unregistered real estate in Didim.
REGISTERED 100, UNREGISTERED 700
The president of the Kusadasi Real Estate Organization, Mr. Huseyin
Sentoker, stated that there are 275 registered real estate brokers
in the province. In response to the additional 600 - 700 brokers
that have come forth, Mr. Sentoker stated this:
"The number of realtors with foreign partners has increased since
the reinstatement of the law to sell to foreign citizens. The legal
procedures for this subject matter are insufficient. The real estate
market went back into motion after the embargo was lifted for
foreigners to purchase real estate. And this is the reason why it
has drawn the attention of foreign companies to our area. The number
of registered realtors with foreign partners is no more than 10. The
store owners are other than foreign employers. Partnerships are
particularly Irish and German citizens. There is emptiness in the
law. The foreigners are purchasing the land, building on it, and
selling to foreigners. If they could bring over their own workers
and materials from their countries, they would."
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