The Law On The Leasing Of Residential Properties For Tourism Purposes And Amendments To Certain Laws Was Published In The Official Gazette.

The Law On The Leasing Of Residential Properties For Tourism Purposes And Amendments To Certain Laws Was Published In The Official Gazette.

The Law on the Leasing of Residential Properties for Tourism Purposes and Amendments to Certain Laws (“the Law”) was published in the Official Gazette dated 2 November 2023, and numbered 32357. The Law, which was drafted with the aim of legally grounding practices that have emerged in the tourism sector and especially residential property lease transactions for tourism purposes, stipulates that before concluding a lease agreement for tourism purposes, it has become mandatory to obtain a permission certificate (“Permit”) from the Ministry of Culture and Tourism (“Ministry“) or the governorships authorized by the Ministry in order to lease residential properties for tourism purposes for a period of 100 days or less at a time. In addition, a plaque, the qualifications of which are determined by the Ministry, must be hung at the entrance of the property leased for tourism purposes, and failure to hang a plaque is subject to severe sanctions.

Under the Law, regulations have been introduced regarding the supervision of residential property lease activities for tourism purposes and the conformity of these properties to tourism standards. Additionally, the conditions under which the Permit can be issued are also regulated. Accordingly, for Permit applications, it is mandatory to submit a decision unanimously taken by all condominium owners of the building where the independent section subject to the Permit is located, indicating that the property lease activity for tourism purposes is deemed appropriate. This situation could complicate the increasingly popular daily or weekly property lease transactions.

Landlords are now obliged to obtain a permit before placing their residential properties on the market for tourism purposes. The obligation to obtain the permit rests with the landlord. In the event that leasing activities for tourism purposes are carried out by one other than the landlord, these leases can be carried out exclusively through Group (A) travel agencies certified in accordance with the Law on Travel Agencies and the Association of Travel Agencies.

According to the provisions of the Law, it is also forbidden for the users of a residential property leased from a permit holder to lease it to third parties for their own name and account, or for the tenant of a residential property leased for the purpose of using it as a residence to lease it to third parties for tourism purposes on their own name and account. This regulation prohibits the residential property leased for tourism purposes from being subject to sublease agreements for tourism or other purposes.

However, for high-quality residential properties that have complexes offering distinct luxury services and that include multiple independent sections, if their management plans to be prepared according to the Condominium Law contain provisions allowing short-term lease activities, then the leasing activities of these residential properties can be conducted through a dwelling management companies, and the unanimous vote of the condominium owners will not be required for the permits to be obtained for these residential properties. Additionally, these residential properties may also be subject to sublease.

Significant fines have been regulated for those who do not comply with the legal requirements. Some of these fines are as follows:

Those who lease out residential properties leased for tourism purposes without a permit will be imposed an administrative fine ranging from one hundred thousand Turkish Liras to one million Turkish Liras for each leased property.
Those who sublease the tourism-purposed residential properties leased from the permit holder to third parties on their own behalf and account will be imposed an administrative fine of one hundred thousand Turkish Liras for each contract.
Those who sublease residential properties they have leased for their own use as a residence to third parties for tourism purposes on their own behalf and account will be imposed an administrative fine of one hundred thousand Turkish Liras for each contract.
Those who mediate the leasing of residential properties for tourism purposes without a permit will be imposed an administrative fine of one hundred thousand Turkish Liras for each contract.
Intermediary service providers that provide electronic commerce and promotion opportunities for the leasing of residential properties without a permit will be imposed an administrative fine of one hundred thousand Turkish liras for each property if they do not remove the content within 24 hours despite the warning given to them.
Those who lease out the same residential property more than four times within one year from the date of the first contract, despite each lease contract being for more than one hundred days, will be subject to an administrative fine of one million Turkish Liras.
In cases where misleading information is provided to users in communication tools regarding the qualifications of the residential property leased for tourism purposes, the promised conditions are not fulfilled, the residential property is allocated for a shorter period than specified in the contract, or not delivered in accordance with the contract, an administrative fine of one hundred thousand Turkish liras will be imposed.

In addition, if it is notified by the authorized public institutions and organizations that the residential property leased for tourism purposes is used in violation of public order, public security and public morality, the permit will be canceled.

Lastly, even in cases where the permits are canceled for lawful or unlawful reasons, the rights of the users will continue until the end of the contract period between the parties.

The effective date of the Law has been determined as January 1, 2024. With the entry into force of the new regulations, current rental residential propertw owners engaged in tourism-purpose leasing activities are required to apply to the Ministry for a permit within one month from the date of the Law’s entry into force.

You can access the full text of the Law, which came into effect as of November 2, 2023, here (https://www.resmigazete.gov.tr/eskiler/2023/11/20231102-16.htm).