THE LAND REGISTER IN TURKISH LAW

The registration of a mortgage in the land register is - beside further liens – an appropriate way to secure a claim. Therefore it is reasonable to be familiar with the main features of the Turkish land register system and the mortgage. The most important information is summarized below.

THE TURKISH LAND REGISTER SYSTEM

CADASTRAL OFFICE
For 70 years cadastre works have been conducted in Turkey. Since the enactment of the Cadastre Law Nr. 3402 from June 21st, 1987 the Cadastral Office is in charge of this duty.

The Cadastral Office describes the borders and areas of the cadastral units on the real estate map and registers this data in the land register in the names of their owners.

The following cadastre documents exist:

The land register

All written information concerning the property is recorded in the land register. The Turkish land register system follows the in rem system. This means that every property has its own land register folio and registration in this folio is mandatory for being allowed to purchase a real property right. Registration in the land register is the condition for acquiring a title; without registration a real property right can not be Purchased. (Art. 1021 of the Turkish Civil Code).

Attention should be paid to the fact that a valid legal ground for the registration has to exist. Otherwise the registration is invalid according to Art.1024 II of the Turkish BGB. Art. 1023 of the Turkish BGB provides the exception that the purchase of a third party acting in good faith is protected even in the case that the requirement of Art. 1024 II of the Turkish Civil Code for the registration in the land register was not met.

The land register is composed of the following records:

In general a land register is held in every village of Turkey. In places without a land register so called “recording books” exist. Different from the land register these recording books are not held in each village but only in each district of Turkey. The registrations in the recording books are made in chronological order.

The Land Register Index
The land register index as the basis of the land register system settles the private legal relationships of real property and contains all registrations concerning the property. Each property has two pages next to each other in the land register. Every page has four sections, in which the legal and geographical data of the concerned property is listed as follows:

According to the principle of the publicity of the land register, all rights over real property must be recorded in the land register. This requirement clarifies the sense and the main function of the land register.

The principle of the publicity of the land register defined in Art.1020 of the Turkish Civil Code does not give a general right to inspect the land register. Only persons with a legitimate interest have the right of access to the register.

The publicity of the land register is also effective for third parties. Thus nobody can cite to his lack of knowledge about a registration in the land register (compare Art.1020 Abs. 3 of the Turkish Civil Code).
In the areas where only recording books exist the regulation in Article 1020 III of the Turkish Civil Code is not valid. In these books the registrations for real estate are not summarized on two pages as they are in the land register. They are spread in the book and thus more difficult to find.