Turkey rental contracts: what you sign and why residency needs it

A rental contract in Turkey is not a formality. Three things hang on it: whether you get a residence permit, whether you can put the electricity and water in your own name, and whether the deposit comes back when you leave. Here is what the contract should contain, where the law already protects you, and what to check before signing rather than after.

In short: what you should end up holding

• Kira sözleşmesi — a written contract with the owner: parties, address, term, amount, deposit
• Notarisation — if you plan to apply for a residence permit
• A DASK policy for the apartment — needed to put the electricity in your name
• Meter readings on the day you move in, written down or, better, photographed

What a kira sözleşmesi is

An ordinary written rental agreement. It needs no notary to be valid — the signatures of both parties are enough.

What belongs in it: full details of both sides, the exact address including the apartment number, the term, the monthly amount and its currency, the deposit and the conditions for returning it, and who pays the aidat and the utilities.

Check separately that your name is spelled exactly as in your passport. This contract is what you will use to open utility accounts, and a one-letter mismatch turns into its own errand.

The notary: if you need residency, plan ahead

A residence permit application (ikamet) needs the contract notarised, not merely signed. One detail matters here: a one-sided notarisation is no longer accepted — both parties sign in front of the notary, you and the owner or their representative holding a power of attorney.

On our apartments the owner does come to the notary and signs alongside you. The day has to be agreed in advance, though: the owner needs to be in Turkey and to find the time, so this is not something arranged on move-in day. If residency is part of the plan, say so before you book.

The deposit: the law is on your side

• The ceiling is three months’ rent. More cannot be demanded — that is article 342 of the Turkish Code of Obligations. A clause setting a larger deposit is void even if you signed it.
• The money must sit in a term deposit account, and the owner cannot withdraw it without your consent.

On our apartments the deposit is usually one month’s rent — how it is calculated, and what the full budget consists of, is covered in the article on what renting actually costs.

The address decides: closed neighbourhoods

Since 2022 the migration authority has been closing individual mahalle — neighbourhoods — to new foreign registration. Where the share of foreign residents is high, an address there will not support a residence permit, however correct the contract.

The list is not fixed: neighbourhoods get closed and reopened. In June 2026 applications were opened again for Mahmutlar and the coastal neighbourhoods next to it — Kestel, Avsallar, Kargıcak. For long stays in Alanya that is real news: most of the supply sits at those addresses, and for several years they were closed for residency.

The status is still worth re-checking before you sign, rather than trusting an article or a friend’s advice: official announcements are published by the Presidency of Migration Management at goc.gov.tr under “Mahalle kapatma duyurusu”. We give you the address of the apartment before you book — checking it against the current announcement is worth doing either way.

Electricity and water: whose name

Utility accounts can be transferred to you, so the bills arrive in your name and you pay for exactly what you use.

• Electricity: ID, the original rental contract and a valid DASK policy for the apartment
• Water: the contract and ID; DASK is not asked for here

The name on the contract and on the application has to match.

The other arrangement is also common: the accounts stay with the owner and you reimburse by the meter. That works fine — just put the arrangement in the contract so it isn’t a verbal understanding later.

Raising the rent on renewal

When the contract renews for another year, the rent cannot be raised at will. The ceiling is the change in the twelve-month average of the consumer price index (TÜFE), under article 344 of the same code. A clause allowing more than that is void.

What to record at check-in

• meter readings — electricity, water, gas — on the day you arrive
• the condition of appliances and furniture, photographed that day
• what the inventory includes

This is the same list you will be measured against when the deposit is returned. Fifteen minutes at check-in saves the conversation at check-out.

Why the term starts at 100 days

Letting an apartment in an ordinary residential building for a short stay requires a tourism licence — that is how law no. 7464 works. The full story is in the article on rental costs; what matters here is that a long-stay contract and a two-week booking are legally different things, and only the first one is of any use for residency.

If questions remain

At ForBuddy we rent out our own apartments and those of friends, so you discuss the contract directly with the owner, with no agent in the middle. If you are planning a residence permit application, tell us before booking: it determines which contract you need and what will be required from the owner. You can see what is currently free in the catalogue, and other common questions are collected here.