Didim Today

Today I’ll go through my inbox and respond to some questions. The first question concerns Turkish property law and family law together. The email reads as follows; “Dear Berk, I am English and I have had Turkish nationality through marriage for the last 14 years. I own a villa in Turkey which we currently live in. The tapu (title deed) is in my name only. I have been told that if I wish to sell this villa I have to get a legal document giving my [husband’s] permission.

Is this true? If it was the other way around and the tapu was in my husband’s name only, would he have to get my permission in order to sell? I am happily married and have no intention of selling at present, but I just wanted to clarify this. Thank you for your help and time.”

Dear Liz, it seems that the question is raised in such a way as to ask if the Turkish legal system puts men on a higher level in the legal hierarchy. The Turkish Civil Code is based on Swiss law, and the two codes are almost identical; therefore, there should be no questions over issues of equality.

In other words, as you have correctly stated, this is based on the question of who owns the property. Your husband’s permission might be required only because it is you who holds title. If it was the other way around, if it was your husband who holds ownership of the property, then he should seek your permission when selling the property.

In your case, I need to have more data to respond to your question. There are a couple of possibilities that could change my answer. First, it depends on which asset regime you are operating under. There are different types of asset regimes provided by Turkish law. I wrote about them last week, and you can follow up on this topic at http://www.todayszaman.com/tz-web/columnists-205670-what-happens-to-your-assets-when-you-get-divorced.html.

The other possibility is the remarks or annotations in the property’s land registry records. In some cases one of the spouses puts a remark on the property such as “family house” if this house is the familial residence.

Most properties in Turkey are registered in men’s names, and in some cases men are exposed to business risks. A woman would not want her husband to stake their house against a business adventure or as collateral for a cash deposit. In order to provide control over the family property, at least over the family residence, the law allows spouses to make a declaration to the land registry office and file an annotation saying that the property in question is the residence of the family and that therefore no transactions should be carried out without the consent of the spouse who does not hold ownership of the property. The intention of the law is to protect the wife and children against any careless act of the husband.

If the property is registered as a “family residence,” then the spouse who is selling the property should confirm with the land registry office that the non-property-owning spouse approves the sale.

NOTE: Berk Çektir is a licensed attorney at law and available to answer questions on the legal aspects of living in Turkey. Send enquiries to This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it The names of the readers are disclosed only upon written approval of the sender. You can read more at Todays Zaman always.