Iskan

Iskan and full information for 2022

Iskan is a technical passport, which is issued for each property. This is the second most important document that you need to get immediately after issuing a Certificate of Ownership (TAPU).

In Turkish, the technical passport is now called “Yapi kullanma izin belgesi”. Iskan is an obsolete name, but it is used in everyday speech.

Iskan in Turkey: the history of the document

Until 2014, little attention was paid to the design of technical passports for real estate. It was normal that developers simply did not receive all the documentation for the house, since taxes on objects that were not commissioned were much lower than on objects that were commissioned.

But in 2014, the state introduced a permit document and obligated developers to receive it.

Until 2020, there were 2 types of technical passports for real estate in Turkey:

• Genel Iskan (general document that the developer receives)
• Ferdi Iskan (individual document that the first owner receives)

Projects put into operation after 2020 already have one technical passport – Toplu Iskan (or yapi kullanma izin belgesi), which the developer receives for all apartments or villas. In other words, if you now buy an apartment or a villa from a developer during the construction phase, then you will not need to draw up an individual document for your property by yourself.

Let’s tell you more.

So, there were two types of technical passports: Genel Iskan and Ferdi Iskan.

Genel Iskan

Genel Iskan is a general technical passport for the entire residential complex. If the complex has a common registration certificate, then most likely there are no problems with private permits for specific villas or apartments either. The Turkish state strictly controls the procedure for obtaining this document.

Developers received a general technical passport (Genel Iskan) after construction was completed or at its final stage.

Ferdi Iskan

When the buyer received a certificate of ownership, he also had to issue an individual registration certificate (Ferdi Iskan) for his property. A real estate passport for developments until 2020 is issued for each apartment and each mansion.

The following is written on the individual paper:

• address
• number of rooms
• square
• information about the owner
• information about the builder
• technical characteristics of the real estate project

The owner can obtain an individual technical passport from the administration of the city where his housing is located. A Certificate of Ownership (TAPU) is required for registration.

Toplu Iskan

For real estate that was put into operation after 2020, all information about the general and individual registration certificates is irrelevant. There the developer receives one document for everything at once – Toplu Iskan.

If the developer has received such a document in Turkey, then this means that all state construction standards, regulations and technical rules for development have been met.

• The building is safe and commissioned
• The building complies with the requirements fixed in the project
• The building complies with international construction requirements
• Seismically resistant construction
• There is everything you need to prevent fires
• The roads around the complex are in order, there are no difficulties when approaching
• Communications are officially connected.
• Engineering networks are connected.

The presence of a technical passport means that the house is fully commissioned. All developers are now interested in quickly obtaining permits in Turkey. The fact is that a building permit is issued for 5 years and during this time it is necessary to hand over the complex and obtain a technical passport. Registration of a technical passport is an important thing for a contractor: if they do not meet, then lose a building permit. A home without an Iskan is considered illegally built and in some cases it may even be demolished or transferred to another developer.

What does it mean in practice?

If you are buying an apartment in a building that was commissioned after 2020 or has not yet been commissioned, but is just under construction, then you do not need to receive anything additional: the developer will transfer all documents along with a technical passport.

If the developer has not handed over the technical passport, but this paper is available, you can request a document from the city administration.

If you are buying an apartment on the secondary market in a house that was commissioned before 2020, then you need to issue an individual technical passport. Iskan registration in Turkey takes approximately 10 days and costs about 2,000 lira. The exact cost depends on the characteristics of your property.

There can be no technical passport at the construction stage. However, there is a document that you can ask to provide, this is a building permit. And in the contract it is necessary to state that the house has not yet been commissioned and indicate the approximate time when the developer plans to receive all the technical documentation.

And what if there is no iskan?

In rare cases, if you buy property from an unreliable developer, you may find that a certificate of commissioning is not issued. That is why we recommend that you do not buy real estate from developers on your own, but contact a competent real estate agency, where managers understand where reliable developers are and where it is not worth buying apartments.

Documents may not be issued in two cases:

• If the developer has not paid taxes.
• If the developer grossly violated construction standards.

If the apartment does not have a technical passport, then some things become inaccessible to the owner.

• It is impossible to register the water and light meters for the owner. There is a workaround – to register the meters not as a residential building, but as a construction site. But the tariffs will be unprofitable for the owner.
• You can not legally rent out housing for short or long term.
• If you need to repair something in the building (for example, wiring), the lack of the necessary document can create insurmountable difficulties.
• The real estate tax will be higher – 1 percent instead of 0.2 percent.

Choose a trusted real estate agency!

It is impossible to overestimate the importance of working with a realtor in the process of buying an apartment or villa. Registration of Iskan in Turkey will be calm with competent realtors. Only professional real estate agents will track down any red flags that indicate that a development will not receive Iskan. In order not to make a mistake with the purchase, be sure to work with a competent licensed agency.

In our Project Home agency, we check all documents for real estate and work only with trusted developers who are known for the quality of construction and interior decoration, do not miss deadlines and always receive technical documentation on time.