Money and reporting
- Escrow account: rent is paid not directly to the owner but into a separate account held by the manager; expenses are paid from it and the balance is passed to the owner. Under Turkish law it is an account held within an agency relationship; every item shows on the statement.
- Owner statement: the document that lists, line by line, rent collected in a month, expenses paid, the management fee deducted and the net amount passed to the owner.
- Accrual: the moment a receivable or debt arises on the books, as distinct from collection, the moment payment is actually made. A management fee that “does not accrue in a month without collection” means no debt arises for that month at all.
- Foreign-exchange purchase document (DAB): the bank’s record that it bought foreign currency from a customer or converted lira to foreign currency on the customer’s behalf. Used in transfers abroad and in foreigners’ land-registry transactions.
- Pass-through: a cost paid to a third party (notary, court fee, contractor invoice) charged to the owner at exactly the same amount, with nothing added.
- E-invoice / e-archive invoice: an invoice issued electronically under the Tax Procedure Law; it has the same legal value as a paper invoice and is stored in the Revenue Administration system.
Lease and tenant
- Deposit (security): the tenant’s security against unpaid rent and damage; at most three months’ rent for homes (TBK Art. 342).
- Guarantor: a third party who undertakes to pay if the tenant does not; validity requires the maximum amount, the date and the joint-and-several wording in handwriting (TBK Art. 583).
- Eviction undertaking: a document executed after delivery of the premises in which the tenant undertakes in writing to vacate on a specific date (TBK Art. 352/1).
- Move-in inventory: a record drawn up just before the tenant moves in, fixing the property’s condition, the list of contents and meter readings with photographs. Compared with the same record at move-out; the basis for damage claims and deposit set-off.
- CPI (consumer price index): the price index published monthly by TurkStat; the ceiling for the annual rent increase in residential leases is the change in its twelve-month averages (TBK Art. 344).
- Default: failure to pay on the due date; in residential leases the landlord grants a written period of at least thirty days (TBK Art. 315).
- Mediation (procedural requirement): the mandatory attempt, before filing suit in a lease dispute, to reach agreement before a mediator (Law No. 6325, Art. 18/B).
Tax and insurance
- Income from immovable property (GMSİ): the Income Tax Law’s name for rental income (GVK Art. 70).
- Lump-sum expense: deducting 15 percent of post-exemption revenue as expense without documentation (GVK Art. 74).
- Withholding: the payer deducts the tax at source and pays it to the tax office; 20 percent for workplace rent (GVK Art. 94). An individual tenant of a home does not withhold.
- Limited taxpayer: a person not resident in Turkey, taxed only on income earned in Turkey (GVK Art. 6).
- DASK (compulsory earthquake insurance): the annual policy made compulsory by Law No. 6305 that insures the building against earthquake damage up to a set cover.
- Dues (share of common expenses): the unit owners’ contribution to operating, maintenance and repair of common areas under condominium ownership (Law No. 634, Art. 20).
Sources
To see how these terms appear on a statement, with an example: Monthly flow
Related guides
This is not legal advice. The guides are for general information; legislation and amounts change. Consult a lawyer or a certified accountant for your own situation.