Shared Title Deeds in Turkey: Sale, Unnotified Transfer and Separating Your Share

What Is a Shared Title Deed?

A shared title deed describes a property whose ownership belongs to several persons who are recorded together as owners in the land registry. What is divided here is not the property itself but the right of ownership. The physical integrity of the property is preserved; each co-owner holds a right over the whole of the property at a defined proportion.

"Shared title deed" is not an official term in Turkish law. The two technical regimes encountered in the land registry are governed by the Turkish Civil Code (Law No. 4721) under the headings of shared ownership (Articles 688-700) and joint ownership (Articles 701-703).

Shared Ownership Versus Joint Ownership

Shared ownership is defined as several persons holding title to the whole of a physically undivided asset in defined proportions. Joint ownership means holding property together by reason of a community arising from statute or from contracts provided for by statute. In shared ownership each co-owner has a share expressed as a proportion; in joint ownership there is no defined share and each participant's right extends to the entirety of the assets.

The practical consequence can be stated in a single sentence: in shared ownership a co-owner may dispose of their own share independently; in joint ownership a participant may make no disposition alone.

How to Identify Your Ownership Type

The "share" column on the title deed or the property registration document answers this question. A fractional proportion such as 1/3 or 5/8 indicates shared ownership; the phrase "iştirak hâlinde" or "elbirliği hâlinde", or the recording of heirs as a single community, indicates joint ownership. The record can be examined through the e-Government portal or the Web Tapu system operated by the General Directorate of Land Registry and Cadastre.

Can You Sell Your Own Share?

The answer depends directly on the ownership regime. Under shared ownership, a co-owner may sell their share wholly or partly to a third party without obtaining the consent of the other co-owners. Under joint ownership, an independent sale of a share is legally impossible.

Sale of a Share Under Shared Ownership

Pursuant to Article 688 of the Turkish Civil Code, each co-owner holds the rights and obligations of an owner in respect of their own share. As a result the share may be transferred, pledged and attached by creditors. The consent of the other co-owners is not required; this does not, however, leave them unprotected. The Code grants them a pre-emption right that may be exercised after the sale.

Selling the property in its entirety is a different transaction. Under Article 692, a disposition covering the whole of the jointly held property requires the consent of all co-owners unless otherwise agreed. If even one co-owner does not participate, the property cannot be sold as a whole.

Why Share Sales Are Impossible Under Joint Ownership

Article 702 provides that participants must decide unanimously on both administration and disposition, and states expressly that so long as the community subsists no partition may take place and no disposition may be made over a share. Since participants in joint ownership hold no defined shares, there is no technical "share" capable of being sold.

In practice an heir frequently signs a private agreement declaring that they have "sold their share". Such agreements, which amount to promises to sell immovable property, are invalid unless executed in official form; and even in official form they cannot produce registration until the joint ownership has been terminated. The legal character of these disputes is examined in our guides on the promise to sell immovable property and on sales made outside the land registry.

Converting Joint Ownership Into Shared Ownership

The Code offers a way out for an heir locked into an estate community. Under Article 644, an heir may request that the joint ownership over all or part of the assets in the estate be converted into shared ownership. The magistrate's court notifies the other heirs and invites them to submit any objections within a period it determines.

Once the conversion is effected, the heir acquires a defined share in the land registry and may from that moment sell it independently. For the procedural steps see our article on the transfer of an inheritance share at the land registry.

How Is a Share Sale Carried Out?

A share sale is executed in official form and only before the land registry directorate, exactly as with an ordinary property sale. Agreements drawn up before a notary, private written documents or protocols signed at an estate agency do not transfer title. Transactions concluded outside the land registry create, at most, a contractual undertaking.

Required Documents

• Identity documents and current photographs of the parties
• The title deed or the block and parcel details of the property
• A document from the relevant municipality showing the property tax value
• A compulsory earthquake insurance policy for buildings
• A power of attorney expressly authorising the sale of immovable property, where an agent acts
• For foreign buyers, a property valuation report and the other documents required by legislation

Price, Fees and Tax Obligations

Under the tariff annexed to the Fees Act (Law No. 492), the land registry fee is collected separately from the buyer and the seller at a rate of 2 per cent each of the transfer price. The declared price may not fall below the property tax value of the immovable. For shared properties, the fee is calculated on the value of the share being sold.

Declaring a price below the true figure does not merely create a risk of tax penalties; it also produces adverse consequences in pre-emption proceedings and title cancellation claims, as examined in our article on under-declaring the sale price.

Unnotified Sales and the Pre-emption Right

A co-owner does not need permission from the others to sell their share to a third party; the sale must, however, be notified to them through a notary. A sale carried out without notification is not invalid, but it gives the other co-owners the ability to exercise their pre-emption right through court proceedings, and the limitation period does not begin to run.

Legal Nature of the Right

The pre-emption right is defined as the power of the remaining co-owners, where one co-owner sells their share to a third party, to acquire that share on the same terms in priority. Governed by Article 732, it is a formative right and is exercised solely by bringing an action against the buyer (Article 734). The claimant must deposit the sale price together with the registry costs borne by the buyer, in cash, within the period and at the place determined by the court.

Notarial Notification and Limitation Periods

Under Article 733, the sale is notified to the other co-owners through a notary by either the buyer or the seller. The pre-emption right lapses three months after the sale is notified to the right holder and in any event two years after the sale. These are forfeiture periods and are taken into account by the court of its own motion.

Settled case law of the Court of Cassation on the application of Article 733

For the three-month forfeiture period to begin, the sale must have been duly notified through a notary by the buyer or the seller. A co-owner's awareness of the sale by other means does not substitute for the notarial notification required by the Code and does not start the three-month period. In such cases only the two-year long-stop period applies.

The De Facto Partition Defence

One of the strongest defences in pre-emption proceedings is the assertion that the co-owners have effected a de facto partition of the property in terms of its use. Where this defence succeeds, the claim is dismissed.

Consistent approach of the Assembly of Civil Chambers and the relevant chambers of the Court of Cassation

Where a de facto partition as to use exists between the co-owners, and the holder of the pre-emption right continues to occupy the portion allocated to them, exercising the pre-emption right is regarded as contrary to the rule of good faith. The right is then treated as abused and the claim is dismissed.

De facto partition is proved by site inspection, witness statements, satellite imagery and documents evidencing the duration of use. The scope of this defence is examined in our article on dismissal of pre-emption claims on the basis of agreed partition, while the procedure itself is set out in our current guide to pre-emption proceedings.

Where the Right Cannot Be Exercised

• Sales by compulsory auction: under Article 733(1) the pre-emption right cannot be exercised in auctions conducted by an enforcement office or a court.
• Transfers other than sale, such as gift or exchange: the right arises only in sales. Whether a transfer is in truth a sale may itself be disputed; see our article on exchange transactions at the land registry.
• Waiver of the right: a waiver must be made in official form and annotated in the land register. Renunciation in respect of a particular sale is subject to written form.
• Joint ownership: since share sales are impossible, no pre-emption right arises.

How Can a Share Be Separated?

There are three routes to separating your share in fact: agreed partition among the co-owners, subdivision in conformity with zoning legislation, and a partition action where no agreement can be reached. Which route is available depends on the nature of the property and its zoning status.

Priority of Division in Kind

Under Article 698, unless there is an obligation to maintain the shared ownership, each co-owner may request partition of the property. This is a powerful right exercisable by the will of a single co-owner. Article 699 provides that partition is effected either by dividing the asset in kind or by selling it and distributing the proceeds.

Settled practice of the Court of Cassation in partition proceedings

Before ordering a sale, the judge is obliged to investigate whether division in kind is possible. Division in kind is preferred to sale where the property can be divided into shares without significant loss of value and where zoning legislation permits it. If the resulting parcels are not of equal value, equalisation is achieved by adding money to the parcel of lower value.

A decision that the sale be conducted by auction among the co-owners alone requires the consent of every co-owner. Otherwise the sale is conducted publicly and the property may pass to third parties. For the procedure, the competent court and the sale stage, see our guide to partition proceedings.

Structures and Occupancy Compensation

Where one co-owner has erected a building, greenhouse or similar structure on the property, a separate dispute arises as to who is entitled to the portion of the sale proceeds attributable to that structure. In such cases an action for determination of ownership of structures must be brought before or together with the partition action. Similarly, claims for occupancy compensation and prevention of interference may arise against a co-owner using more than their share.

Risks When Buying a Share

Although shared property appears attractive because it is priced below market value, it carries three fundamental risks for a buyer: recovery of the share by third parties through pre-emption proceedings, the absence of any right of actual use over the property, and the complete absence of any development right by reason of zoning legislation.

The Zoning Prohibition on Share Sales

The final paragraph of Article 18 of the Zoning Act (Law No. 3194) prohibits, in areas without a zoning plan, private parcelling schemes and promises to sell that would divide land and parcels into shares for any development purpose. Properties transferred on death, condominium applications, share allocations for agriculture and livestock, tourism, industry and storage purposes, and sales by compulsory enforcement fall outside this prohibition.

In Antalya, sales made on land without a zoning plan under labels such as "a house with a garden in exchange for a share" or "an investment share" fall within this prohibition, particularly in areas of intense tourism and housing demand. Even though the buyer becomes a registered co-owner, no right arises to build on the particular portion shown to them, and any structures erected remain unauthorised.

Minimum Size Rules for Agricultural Land

Under Article 8 of the Soil Conservation and Land Use Act (Law No. 5403), agricultural land may not be subdivided or divided into shares below the sufficient-income agricultural land sizes determined for it. This rule frequently makes the physical separation of a share impossible on the greenhouse and citrus-growing land around Antalya, leaving a partition action and sale as the only route. On the status of structures on agricultural land, see our guide to Law No. 5403.

Points to Watch in Antalya

Identifying the correct court is decisive in avoiding loss of time. Partition actions are heard by the magistrate's court, while pre-emption claims and title cancellation and registration actions are heard by the civil court of first instance. In actions concerning title to immovable property the court of the place where the property is situated has exclusive jurisdiction, so a claim relating to a property within Antalya cannot be brought before a court in another province.

Three types of dispute predominate locally. The first concerns agricultural land inherited and registered under joint ownership where an heir wishes to sell. The second concerns transactions on land without a zoning plan where development is promised in exchange for a share. The third concerns foreign investors in Antalya who acquire shared property without adequately examining the ownership regime and subsequently face a partition action.

Forfeiture periods in these proceedings are short and irremediable. Missing the three-month period running from the date of notarial notification extinguishes the pre-emption right entirely. A co-owner wishing to sell should likewise perform the notification duty properly, so that the sale is not exposed to litigation for two years.