Renting out a flat in Şişli: from Nişantaşı to Bomonti.

01

Character of the district

Şişli is one of Istanbul’s most densely settled central districts; retail and commerce to the south, office towers to the north. Cumhuriyet and Halaskargazi avenues cut through it end to end, with the M2 metro running beneath. The daytime population rises markedly with office and hospital traffic; for tenants, transport and walking distance are the first criteria.

Demand for rental homes is continuous through the year and picks up in summer with the academic calendar and corporate relocations.

02

Neighbourhoods and housing stock

• —Nişantaşı, Teşvikiye: high-ceilinged, generously planned apartment buildings from the 1930s–1970s; mostly condominium-owned, some without a lift. Walkable shops and schools; families and long-term tenants.
• —Osmanbey, Harbiye, Pangaltı: buildings of the same period with smaller flats; the neighbourhoods closest to the metro; young professionals and single households.
• —Bomonti: post-2010 residences and converted factory sites; mostly one- and two-bedroom; visible demand for furnished mid-term lets; high complex dues.
• —Kurtuluş, Feriköy, Bozkurt: apartment buildings from the 1950s–1980s at more moderate levels; families and long-term tenants; walking distance to Osmanbey metro. (All three are in Şişli, though they are often taken for Beyoğlu.)
• —Mecidiyeköy, Fulya, Esentepe: post-2000 blocks and mixed-use towers; walking or one-stop distance to the Levent–Zincirlikuyu offices.
• —Kuştepe, Mahmut Şevket Paşa, Halide Edip Adıvar: older, low-rise stock; urban regeneration projects; title and zoning status deserve a separate check before an investment purchase.

03

Who rents in Şişli

White-collar employees working along the Levent–Maslak axis, staff of the district’s public and private hospitals, long-term families and corporate housing tenants in Nişantaşı. In Bomonti and Nişantaşı, foreign employees and academics renting furnished for three to twelve months are common. Student demand is lighter than in Beşiktaş; it shows up in Osmanbey and Pangaltı.

04

Transport and daily life

M2 metro (Osmanbey and Şişli–Mecidiyeköy stations; Gayrettepe sits on the district boundary), M7 (Mecidiyeköy interchange), the Metrobüs (Mecidiyeköy) and buses to Taksim. Parking is scarce across the district; most old apartment buildings have no garage, and it is the first thing tenants ask about. Shopping at Cevahir, along the Nişantaşı avenues and around Bomonti.

05

What a landlord needs to know

• —In old buildings, plumbing, heating (heat-cost allocators if central) and thermal insulation are the recurring maintenance items; photograph them in the move-in inventory.
• —In centrally heated buildings the fuel share may be inside the dues; the lease should state clearly what the dues cover.
• —In new complexes the dues include concierge and security; the amount changes yearly with the operating budget and must be notified to the tenant.
• —Some buildings in Nişantaşı and Teşvikiye are listed; in a listed building even repairs that need no building permit require consent, given by an authority with a KUDEB conservation office or, where there is none, by the regional conservation board directorate; substantial repair, facade changes and demolition need the board’s own consent (Law No. 2863, Arts. 9 and 57).
• —A letting of up to one hundred days counts as tourism letting under Law No. 7464 and needs a permit from the Ministry of Culture and Tourism, the unanimous consent of every unit owner in the building, and a plaque at the entrance (Arts. 2 and 3). Lettings of more than one hundred days at a time fall outside the Law (Art. 1(3)), but that is not a blanket exemption: if the same home is let more than four times within a year of the first contract, an administrative fine applies (Art. 4(1)(g)). This guide covers long-term letting.