New authority for notary publics in respect to the sales of real estate properties

A new law, which includes a significant amendment to the Notary Public Law, introduces a new authority to conclude real property sales agreements. This was an authority that was previously exclusively given to the land registry offices.

As per the Law, beginning from 1 January 2023 (provided that the relevant electronic systems are established by the relevant authorities by the said time), real property sale agreements can also be executed before the notary publics. Some of the notable provisions of this new authority can be summarized as follows:

• Notary publics will issue an application document upon receiving an application for the sale of a real property and take into account all kinds of restrictions on the real property, and observe the limitations, procedures and principles in other laws regarding the sale of real property.
• General Directorate of Land Registry and Cadastre will share the land registry records and other relevant documents with the notary publics through the land registry informatics system.
• Notary publics will conclude the real property sales agreement only after determining the owner by ensuring that there is no legal obstacle with respect to the sales of the real property.
• Land registry duties applicable for real property sales/purchase will be collected by the notary publics.
• Real property sales agreements are exempt from stamp tax and valuable paper fees.
• Notary public fee that will be charged for these agreements will not be less than TRY 500  and more than TRY 4,000, based on the value of the real property. These fees will be subject to increase each year as per the Tax Procedural Law.
• Notary publics are also responsible for the damages caused by the arrangement of the real property sales agreement.

According to the Law, a separate implementation regulation outlining the procedures and principles applicable to this new amendment will be issued by the Ministry of Justice.