If you have owned an ejerlejlighed in Denmark, you already know the principle behind a Turkish aidat. Every month, owners in a shared building pool money to keep the common areas running. In Denmark you call it fællesudgifter; in Turkey it is aidat. The idea is familiar, but the legal mechanism, the typical costs, and especially the enforcement are different enough that you should understand aidat before you sign anything.
What aidat is
Aidat is a mandatory monthly maintenance fee paid by every unit owner in a Turkish apartment complex (a site). It is required by the Kat Mülkiyeti Kanunu (Condominium Ownership Law No. 634), Article 20. Just like Danish fællesudgifter, the obligation is tied to ownership rather than residence: you pay aidat whether or not you actually live in the apartment, and whether or not you rent it out.
The key structural difference from Denmark is how your share is calculated. Your aidat is proportional to your arsa payı — the land share recorded on your TAPU (title deed). A larger apartment with a bigger land share pays proportionally more. The calculation method is fixed in the yönetim planı (management plan), which is registered at the land registry along with the building's title deeds.
What aidat covers
In a standard Turkish resort complex, your monthly aidat typically pays for:
- 24-hour security staff (güvenlik)
- Swimming pool and spa cleaning and chemical treatment
- Elevator maintenance and mandatory annual safety inspections
- Generator fuel and servicing
- Landscaping, garden irrigation and common-area cleaning
- Building-level DASK earthquake insurance (a site-wide policy, separate from your unit's own DASK)
- The salary of the yönetici (site manager) or a professional management company
Larger complexes built since 2023 increasingly add CCTV maintenance contracts, smart-meter utility management and fibre internet infrastructure, which pushes costs toward the upper end of the range.
Typical ranges in 2024-2025 — and what that means in DKK
Costs depend heavily on the facilities:
- Budget complex, no pool: roughly TRY 500-1,500/month
- Standard resort complex (pool, security, garden): roughly TRY 1,500-4,000/month, which works out to about DKK 370-1,000/month at mid-2025 exchange rates
- Luxury gated community (multiple pools, gym, spa, concierge): TRY 4,000-12,000/month
For a typical coastal apartment in areas like Mahmutlar, Oba or Kestel, budget for the standard band. The lira figure will drift upward each year with inflation, but the DKK equivalent has stayed relatively contained because the exchange rate moves in step. When you build your annual ownership budget, treat aidat as a fixed monthly line item alongside property tax (emlak vergisi), unit DASK insurance and utilities. For most Danish owners of a holiday apartment, aidat is the single largest recurring cost after the purchase, so it is worth pinning down the exact figure in writing before you commit rather than relying on a verbal estimate from the seller or agent.
How it is set and how you vote
The aidat rate for the coming year is approved once a year at the annual general meeting (olağan genel kurul). Owners vote on the operating budget, and a simple majority of land shares decides. As a foreign owner you have exactly the same voting rights as a Turkish citizen.
If you cannot fly to Turkey for the meeting, you can appoint a proxy through a notarised vekaletname (power of attorney — a fuldmagt). A notarised Turkish PoA, or a foreign PoA carrying an apostille and a certified Turkish translation, is accepted. Your proxy can then vote on the budget and the management contract on your behalf.
Non-payment: stricter than in Denmark
This is where aidat departs sharply from Danish ejerlejlighed practice. Two mechanisms make falling behind in Turkey genuinely risky:
1. A 5% monthly late fee under Article 20/3 — one of the steepest statutory penalties in Turkish civil law. Arrears compound quickly.
2. A şerh (title encumbrance). After roughly three months of non-payment, site management can register a legal annotation directly on your TAPU. This is visible to any future buyer or lender, and it can make the apartment difficult to sell. The HOA can also file an icra (enforcement) action, which in extreme cases can lead to a forced sale.
A Danish ejerforening can also pursue arrears, but the direct title annotation makes the Turkish path faster and harder to ignore. A buyer can even inherit a previous owner's annotated aidat debt — which is why due diligence matters so much.
What to check before you buy
- Request a written borç yoktur belgesi (no-debt certificate) from the site management before signing the purchase contract. It is not issued automatically; you must ask for it.
- Have your lawyer run a TAPU records check to confirm no şerh has been placed on the title.
- Ask for the current aidat figure in writing, plus the reserve fund (bakım fonu) contribution. The reserve fund is a separate advance fund for major repairs — roof, façade, elevator replacement — and is legally distinct from your monthly operational aidat.
- Ask whether a professional management company runs the site. In coastal complexes these increasingly report in English, which is a real convenience for Danish owners.
A note on Danish taxes
One important difference: aidat is not tax-deductible in Denmark. Danish fællesudgifter on a rented-out property can reduce your taxable rental income, but a Turkish aidat is a foreign expense on a foreign property and does not give you the same Danish deduction. Treat it as a pure cost of ownership when you budget.
FAQ
See the questions below for the points Danish buyers ask most often.