Kat İrtifakı vs. Kat Mülkiyeti: Why Your Turkish Holiday Home Title Deed Type Matters for Danish Buyers
You signed the reservation form for a bright off-plan apartment near the Mediterranean, paid your instalments from Denmark, and at handover the developer handed you a TAPU — the official Turkish title deed. It has your name on it. It looks final. But if the Cins (property type) field on that deed reads Arsa (land), you do not yet own an apartment in the legal sense. You own a share of a plot. That single word decides whether you can rent your feriebolig to other Danes, whether a bank will ever lend against it, and how easily you can sell it later.
This guide explains the difference between Kat İrtifakı (floor easement) and Kat Mülkiyeti (full condominium ownership) specifically for a Danish holiday-home buyer, and what you must demand in your contract before you sign anything.
The off-plan handover surprise
Most Danish buyers of new Turkish coastal apartments are buying off-plan — paying in stages while the building goes up. Turkish developers almost always deliver the keys before the municipality has issued the iskan, the occupancy permit that certifies the finished building is lawfully fit to live in. Without an iskan, the land registry (TKGM) cannot yet issue a full condominium deed. So the developer registers what it legally can: a Kat İrtifakı deed, a "construction servitude" governed by Turkey's Condominium Ownership Law No. 634, Articles 5–10.
This is not necessarily fraud or a scam — it is normal Turkish practice. The problem is that the developer is legally obliged to pursue the iskan and convert your deed to Kat Mülkiyeti (Law No. 634, Article 12), but standard pre-sale contracts often leave the deadline undefined. Documented delays of one to five years past handover are common. Many Danish owners only discover the gap when they try to take out insurance, arrange a rental licence, or sell — and the buyer's bank or lawyer flags the deed as "land, not a flat."
What each title type actually means
Kat İrtifakı (floor easement / construction servitude). Issued on the basis of the building permit, before the iskan exists. You hold a proportional share of the land plot tied to your future apartment. On the TAPU the Cins field reads Arsa. The unit legally exists only as a promise of a flat.
Kat Mülkiyeti (condominium ownership). Issued only after the municipality grants the iskan. Your land share is converted into full, independent ownership of one specific apartment, with its block, floor, and floor-area legally fixed. The Cins field changes to Mesken (residential flat) or Bina (building). This is the deed you ultimately want.
The conversion is a two-stage process: (1) the developer or owners apply to the municipality for the iskan once construction is complete and pass inspection; (2) the TKGM updates the registry and issues new Kat Mülkiyeti deeds. The required documents under TKGM Circular 2021/4 include the building permit, the iskan, approved architectural floor plans, and the building management plan (yönetim planı).
Danish-buyer impact table
How the two deed types affect the things a Danish holiday-home owner actually cares about:
| Dimension (Danish buyer view) | Kat İrtifakı (Arsa) | Kat Mülkiyeti (Mesken/Bina) |
|---|---|---|
| Feriebolig short-term rental licence (Law 7464) | Not possible — no iskan means no Tourism Purpose Rental Permit | Possible, but still requires unanimous written consent of all building owners |
| Danish bank refinancing / mortgage against the property | Refused by Turkish banks for standard loans; only high-rate "land loans" (arsa kredisi) at 50–60% LTV exist; Danish banks treat unconverted title as weak collateral | Recognised residential collateral; standard Turkish konut kredisi available, clearer basis for Danish refinancing |
| Resale to other Danish buyers | Cash buyers only — incoming buyer cannot get a mortgage, depressing price and liquidity | Full buyer pool including mortgage-financed buyers; stronger resale value |
| Legal verification for your Danish lawyer | Cins = Arsa; lawyer must confirm developer's iskan obligation and deadline | Cins = Mesken/Bina; independent, clean ownership easier to verify and insure |
| Turkish Citizenship by Investment eligibility | Not eligible — CBI requires full Kat Mülkiyeti + iskan | Eligible (subject to USD 400,000 valuation threshold) |
Rental implications under Law 7464 (the "Airbnb Law")
If part of your plan is to offset costs by renting the apartment to other Danish or Scandinavian holidaymakers, the deed type is decisive. Under Law No. 7464, effective 1 January 2024, any short-term tourism rental (stays under 100 days) requires a Tourism Purpose Rental Permit (Turizm Amaçlı Kiralama İzin Belgesi). That permit can only be granted where the building holds a valid iskan. A Kat İrtifakı unit, by definition, has no iskan — so it is ineligible for an STR licence. Renting it short-term anyway exposes you to fines that can reach into the hundreds of thousands of lira.
Important: even after your deed converts to Kat Mülkiyeti, Law 7464 adds a second hurdle — you need unanimous written consent from every other owner in the building before you can be licensed for tourism-purpose rentals. So a Danish owner planning rental income should treat both the iskan and neighbour consent as live conditions, not afterthoughts. Long-term residential letting (to a tenant who lives there) is a different regime and is not blocked the same way, but the holiday-let model that most Danish buyers have in mind depends entirely on the licence.
What to check before you sign (TKGM + TAPU verification)
You can verify the title type before committing — and you should, ideally with your Danish lawyer reviewing the evidence:
1. Pull the deed records. Request the property's Tapu records via the Turkish e-Devlet (e-Government) portal or TKGM's Parsel Sorgulama (parcel inquiry) system. Both show the Cins classification.
2. Read the Cins field. Arsa = Kat İrtifakı (land share). Mesken or Bina = Kat Mülkiyeti (converted condominium).
3. Confirm the iskan status separately. The TAPU and the iskan are different documents from different authorities; a deed can exist with no iskan. Ask to see the municipality-issued iskan, or confirm in writing that it has not yet been obtained.
4. Check for encumbrances. The same records reveal any mortgage (ipotek) or annotation (şerh) recorded against the unit.
Confirming the occupancy permit is so central that it deserves its own checklist — see No İskan, No Safe Purchase: Check the Occupancy Permit Before Buying a Turkish Holiday Home for the full iskan verification routine. Fold this into the wider developer review covered in the Off-Plan Property in Turkey: A Danish Buyer's Developer Due-Diligence Checklist before you release any instalment.
Contract clauses to demand in the sözleşme
If you are buying off-plan and will receive Kat İrtifakı at handover, your protection lives in the contract. The strongest tool is a notarised Preliminary Sales Contract (Satış Vaadi Sözleşmesi) annotated on the title registry — this lets you compel transfer or seek damages through the Turkish courts. Insist that it contains:
- A hard iskan deadline. A specific date by which the developer must obtain and deliver the iskan, not a vague "after completion."
- A conversion obligation. Explicit language requiring the developer to complete the Kat Mülkiyeti conversion within a defined period after the iskan is issued.
- Penalties and rescission rights. Financial penalties or the right to walk away and recover paid instalments if deadlines are missed.
- A clear definition of "delivery." Wording that the developer's obligation is satisfied only on transfer of full Kat Mülkiyeti — not Kat İrtifakı.
Under the Law on Consumer Protection No. 6502, Article 47, developers of projects with 30 or more units must already provide a payment guarantee covering your instalments against non-delivery — but the conversion obligation is often missing from boilerplate contracts unless you insert it. Budget for the conversion fees too: a municipal iskan inspection fee plus a TKGM deed-amendment fee of roughly 0.2% of declared value per party. These and every other line item are mapped in the The All-In Closing-Cost Budget: Every Kroner a Danish Buyer Pays on Top of a Turkish Property Price.
FAQ
Can I rent my Turkish apartment as a feriebolig with Kat İrtifakı?
No. Under Law No. 7464 (in force since 1 January 2024), a short-term Tourism Purpose Rental Permit requires a valid iskan covering the building. A Kat İrtifakı property has no iskan and is therefore ineligible for the licence. Even after the deed converts to Kat Mülkiyeti, you also need unanimous written consent from all other owners in the building before you can be licensed for holiday lets.
Can I use a Kat İrtifakı apartment as collateral for a Danish mortgage or refinancing?
It is very weak collateral. Turkish banks classify Kat İrtifakı units as land (arsa) and refuse standard housing loans against them; only higher-rate "land loans" at lower loan-to-value exist. A Danish bank assessing the asset for refinancing will see an unconverted, land-classified title with no occupancy permit, which undermines its value as security. Full Kat Mülkiyeti gives you a recognised residential asset and a far stronger refinancing position.
What does my Danish lawyer need to verify on the TAPU?
Have them confirm the Cins field (Arsa vs. Mesken/Bina), the presence or absence of the municipal iskan, the developer's contractual obligation and deadline to convert to Kat Mülkiyeti, and any registered mortgage (ipotek) or annotation (şerh). They should treat a notarised Satış Vaadi Sözleşmesi with an iskan deadline as the minimum protection for an off-plan purchase.
How long does conversion from Kat İrtifakı to Kat Mülkiyeti take?
Once the iskan application is filed, municipal inspection and approval typically takes one to three months, and TKGM then registers the new deeds within a few weeks. The real variable is obtaining the iskan itself — developer-side delays of one to five years after handover are common, which is exactly why a contractual deadline matters.
Does a Kat İrtifakı deed hurt resale value?
Yes. Because an incoming buyer cannot get standard mortgage financing on a Kat İrtifakı unit, your resale market shrinks to cash buyers only. That structural liquidity gap usually means a lower achievable price than an equivalent Kat Mülkiyeti apartment, and many foreign-buyer advisories flag Kat İrtifakı as higher risk.
Sources
- Condominium Ownership Law No. 634 (Articles 5–12) — Kat İrtifakı and Kat Mülkiyeti definitions.
- TKGM official portal and Circular 2021/4 — conversion process and required documents.
- Law No. 7464 (effective 1 January 2024) — Tourism Purpose Rental Permit and unanimous-consent requirement.
- Law on Consumer Protection No. 6502, Article 47 — off-plan payment guarantee for 30+ unit projects.
- Turkish bank lending practice (Ziraat, VakıfBank, Halkbank) — mortgage refusal on Kat İrtifakı / land loans.