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Finding housing and rent in Turkey is one of the most difficult things for newcomers due to several factors. In this article, we will explain how to find a house or apartment for rent in Turkey, what are the difficulties and obstacles that we may face, and how to find solutions to them, in addition to the most important things that you must study before coming to Turkey.
What are the difficulties of housing and rent in Türkiye?
There are many difficulties facing foreign newcomers to Turkey of all nationalities, including the following:
1- The Turkish language barrier in finding housing and renting in Türkiye
The Turkish language barrier to finding housing in Turkey is the first and most important obstacle, given that most Turks do not speak any other foreign languages, including English. But certainly this obstacle is variable according to the place where you want to find housing, such as tourist cities, in which the percentage of Turks who speak foreign languages is more than in other Turkish cities, due to tourism.
2- Long distances to travel between regions in large Turkish cities
Turkey occupies the thirty-seventh place in the world in terms of area, according to Wikipedia , so the distances for moving between regions are among the things that must be studied well before determining the place of residence and rent in Turkey. In it, in order to avoid the use of costly and stressful transportation for the person during the movement, which can reach 4 hours within the large Turkish cities.
3- Obstacle to housing and renting in Türkiye for foreigners
Unfortunately, one of the most important problems in finding an apartment for rent in Turkey is citizenship. When you want to communicate with one of the landlords, his first question at the beginning of communication will be: “Where are you from?” Because there are many landlords who do not accept renting their apartments to foreigners for many reasons (certainly not all Turks are the same). Article supplement.
What is the average price of housing rent and rent in Türkiye?
We will give an example of the city of Istanbul, as it is the most beautiful Turkish city and the first destination for tourism. The price of renting an apartment in Istanbul ranges from 5000 TL to 20,000 TL. Of course, the difference between the two numbers is very large, but this is due to several reasons, some of which we will mention
1- The location of the apartment in Al-Nabasa, to be far from the tourist places
Istanbul is the largest city in Turkey with an area of 1,830.92 km2, which makes the first difficulty in this city the distances between the city center and its outskirts, which can reach 4 hours of internal transportation through transportation. Some choose the leasing solution in remote places, so that the apartment rent price is gradually lower as you move away from the city center. Some names of neighborhoods within the city center, Taksim, Sisli, Osmanbey, Mecidiakoy, Gara Tepe, Levent. In these areas, prices often start from 1,500 to 4,000 pounds within residential buildings and reach 10,000 in high-end residential complexes in these areas.
2- The price difference between renting a furnished or unfurnished apartment
When renting an apartment in Istanbul, you must choose between an unfurnished or furnished apartment. The price of renting a furnished apartment is usually an additional 500 pounds, on average, over the price of the same apartment if it is unfurnished (for basic furniture only). And this number may rise more as the furniture increases and becomes more luxurious.
3- The difference in the price of renting an apartment in terms of distance from express transportation
Surely you have heard about rapid transportation in Istanbul, the subway, the single-line express bus (Metrobus) and the tramway. It is one of the main transportations in Istanbul to overcome the issue of long distances within the city, and here the price of renting an apartment decreases as the distance from express transportation is greater.
4- Renting an apartment within safe areas
Unfortunately, there are some areas that are less safe in Istanbul because of thefts or the presence of many nationalities in the region, so that problems abound or other things. In these areas, the price of renting an apartment is definitely much lower than in other areas.
How can I find an apartment for rent in Türkiye?
At the beginning of the article, we talked about many obstacles in finding housing and renting in Turkey, but we can certainly overcome these obstacles by following the following methods:
1- Finding an apartment for rent through a real estate office
Finding an apartment for rent through a real estate office is the first and safest thing that we resort to when searching for an apartment. Of course, when choosing this solution, we will not face the language barrier that we talked about previously, and we will also be safe in terms of handing over the apartment rent to an office that guarantees the rights of both parties. Instead of giving sums of money to someone you do not know, and we will also save effort and time instead of searching ourselves. But also here, the office commission must be calculated, which we will talk about at the end of the article.
2- Finding an apartment for rent through social media
This is the second option that we resort to in the event that we encounter problems communicating with homeowners or real estate offices because of the language, which is that we search through Facebook through groups or pages for apartments for rent in Arabic or English, and we will find many people who work in this field and speak more than one language of course in exchange for material wages
3- Finding an apartment for rent through real estate websites
Here, we will show you the first and largest Turkish real estate site, through which you can search for everything you want regarding buying, selling and renting throughout Turkey.
The name of the site is in Arabic (from the owner) or in Turkish, Sahibinden. Through this site, you can rent an apartment from the owner without paying commission to the real estate offices, or you can also find all the services of the real estate offices before going to their offices and reviewing everything that is available.
Unfortunately, the site is in Turkish or English only, there is no Arabic. Website link here
Follow the video within the article to explain all the advantages of the site.
Things to pay attention to in housing and rent in Türkiye
There is a special system for renting apartments in Türkiye that does not exist in most Arab countries, including:
1- The insurance system
The tenant must pay a cash insurance to the lessor, and this insurance is to preserve the right of the lessor in the event that the tenant does not pay the rent for the house in one of the months, or in the event that the tenant damages any furniture in the house. The insurance is the same as the value of renting the house for a month, that is, if the house rent is 1,500 Turkish liras, you will have to pay 1,500 liras for the rent and 1,500 liras for the insurance = 3,000 liras when signing the house contract.
2- Commission system
Commission system for real estate offices or for anyone who helps you find the apartment that you will rent.
And here, as we talked about previously, it will be the same value as the house rent for a month given to the person who helped you find the house, that is, supposing the price of the house rent is 1500 pounds, you will have to pay 1500 pounds rent, 1500 pounds insurance and 1500 pounds commission = 4500 pounds upon signing the contract.
3- Increasing the rental value
The landlord has the right to raise the value of the house rent after the end of the contract (for a period of one year) by 12%, or he can ask you to move out if you do not agree.
4- Evicting the landlord from the house
The landlord does not have the right to evict you from the house if the contract has not expired. In the event that you do not agree with the tenant or there are problems between you, in the worst case, the Turkish government will give you a month to vacate the house, to guarantee your right not to remain without housing.
5- If the tenant leaves the house before the expiry of the contract
The landlord has the right, according to the law, if you leave the house before the end of the contract period, to file a lawsuit against you for compensation for the term of the contract, but at a reduced rate, and in the event that you left the house 3 months before the end of the contract period, he has no right to demand anything from you.
Important note: No. 5 does not occur at all, given that the landlord has no problem if you leave the house, because he can bring another person at a higher price and more benefit to him.
If you have any questions or inquiries about rent or real estate in Turkey, you can leave a comment or contact us to answer your questions.
Read also real estate investment in Turkey,
may you always be in God’s care
