When you buy a holiday home in Alanya or along the Turkish coast, the title deed (tapu) is only half the story. The document that tells you whether the building is actually finished, legal and safe to live in is the İskan, or Yapı Kullanma İzin Belgesi — the occupancy permit. For a Danish buyer who will only visit a few weeks a year, a missing İskan is not a paperwork detail. It is the difference between a safe purchase and inheriting someone else's problem.
This guide explains, in plain terms, what İskan certifies, why a holiday home without it can be a trap, and exactly how to check its status before you sign.
İskan is not the tapu — and that catches buyers out
The tapu proves who owns the unit. The İskan proves the building was completed correctly and may legally be used. You can hold a perfectly valid title deed for an apartment in a building that has never received its occupancy permit.
That happens because there are two stages of title:
| Stage | Turkish term | What it means | İskan issued? |
|-------|--------------|---------------|---------------|
| Construction servitude | Kat irtifakı | Unit registered while the block is still being built | No |
| Full ownership | Kat mülkiyeti | Building finished, state-approved, occupancy granted | Yes |
Under Condominium Ownership Law No. 634, a kat irtifakı title is only upgraded to full kat mülkiyeti once the İskan is issued. If the building never gets its occupancy permit, your holiday home can be stuck on construction-servitude title indefinitely.
What the İskan actually certifies
The İskan is issued by the local municipality (belediye) after construction is complete. It confirms the building was constructed in line with its approved project and complies with:
- structural and earthquake-resistance rules,
- fire-safety regulations,
- the area's zoning master plan, and
- the technical standards required for permanent utility connection.
There are also two levels of İskan, and a Danish buyer must check both: the building İskan (bina iskanı) for the whole block, and the unit İskan (ferdi iskan) for your specific apartment. A block can have its building İskan while an individual unit still lacks its own.
Why "no İskan" ruins a holiday home
For a property you will leave empty most of the year, the practical consequences are severe.
- No utilities in your name. Without unit İskan you cannot open electricity, water or gas subscriptions yourself. You are stuck on the developer's temporary construction (şantiye) connection, billed at construction tariffs that can be nearly double residential rates — and that supply can be legally cut off if İskan is never obtained.
- The DASK link. Permanent residential subscriptions require a valid DASK compulsory earthquake policy, which sits alongside the occupancy step. Our guide to Managing DASK Earthquake Insurance From Abroad: A Scandinavian Holiday-Home Owner's Guide explains how that insurance is renewed remotely from Denmark.
- Hard to resell. Banks rarely lend on a unit without İskan, so financed buyers vanish from your future buyer pool. That lengthens selling time and forces discounts — a real cost when you later plan your exit, as covered in our note on Selling Your Turkish Holiday Home as a Danish Owner: Turkish Capital Gains Tax Meets Danish Reporting.
- Inherited defects. Buy without İskan and you absorb whatever the developer left unresolved — illegal extra floors, code violations — that you may have to fix at your own cost.
How to check İskan status before you sign
You do not need to be in Turkey to do this. As a foreign buyer you have three reliable routes:
1. Web-Tapu (webtapu.tkgm.gov.tr) — the official online title system has a dedicated section for foreigners without a Turkish kimlik; you register with an email and mobile number.
2. e-Devlet (turkiye.gov.tr) — if you hold a Turkish ID and account, the occupancy record is visible there.
3. The municipality (belediye) — your lawyer can request the İskan document directly from the imar / yapı kontrol department.
Pair this with an independent valuation so price and legal status are checked together — see our walkthrough of the The Mandatory Property Appraisal in Turkey: What Danish Holiday-Home Buyers Pay and How It Protects You. Never rely on a verbal "the İskan is coming soon." Get the document, or a written, dated developer guarantee, before money changes hands.
The bottom line for Danish buyers
A holiday home you visit twice a year must be low-maintenance and easy to resell. A unit without İskan is neither. Treat the occupancy permit as a non-negotiable: confirm building and unit İskan in writing before you sign, and walk away from any "kat irtifakı only" deal that cannot show a credible path to full ownership.