When Can You Actually Evict a Tenant in Turkey? A Landlord's 2026 Guide

The rules come from the Code of Obligations

Residential and roofed-workplace tenancies are governed by the Turkish Code of Obligations No. 6098, in Articles 299 to 356. The important point for a landlord is that these provisions are largely mandatory and tenant-protective: you cannot contract your way around them, and a clause in the lease that gives the landlord broader rights than the Code allows will not be enforced. Ending a tenancy therefore means fitting your situation into one of the specific grounds the Code recognises, rather than relying on the lease alone. The acquisition side — title, taxes and due diligence — is covered in our guide to buying property in Turkey; this guide picks up once you are the owner and letting.

A lease does not simply expire

A common and expensive misunderstanding is that a fixed-term lease ends automatically when its term runs out. It does not. Under Article 347, if the tenant stays on, the tenancy renews for a further year, and it keeps renewing; the landlord cannot end it merely because the original term has passed. Only after ten years of extension does a distinct right to end the tenancy by notice arise. In practice this means that, short of a recognised ground, a landlord who wants the property back before that point has to establish one of the eviction grounds below — the calendar alone will not do it.

The lawful grounds for eviction

The Code sets out a limited list of reasons, which fall into two groups. Grounds arising from the landlord include genuine personal need — where the landlord, their spouse, children, parents or dependants genuinely need to use the property as a home or workplace (Article 350) — and reconstruction or substantial renovation that makes the property unusable during the works. A person who later acquires the property can rely on their own need under Article 351, either by notifying the tenant in writing within one month of acquisition and suing six months later, or by acting within one month of the end of the lease term.

Grounds arising from the tenant are set out in Article 352: a written undertaking to vacate that the tenant then breaks; two justified written warnings for unpaid rent within a rental year; and the tenant (or their spouse) already owning a suitable home in the same district that the landlord did not know about when the lease was made. Each of these has its own conditions and, crucially, its own short deadline for bringing the case.

Personal-need eviction, and the three-year rule

Personal need is one of the most used grounds, and one of the most scrutinised. The need must be genuine, sincere and compelling; a temporary or manufactured need, or one that could be met another way, will not support an eviction. The Code also guards against abuse after the tenant leaves: under Article 355, a property recovered on the ground of need generally cannot be re-let to someone other than the former tenant for three years without a just cause, and a landlord who breaks that rule can be ordered to pay compensation of no less than the last year's rent. A foreign owner planning to recover a flat "for family use" and then re-let it at a higher rent should understand that this is exactly what the three-year rule is designed to prevent.

The termination undertaking: powerful but easy to get wrong

A written undertaking to vacate — the tenant's signed promise to leave on a stated date — is the landlord's strongest and fastest tool under Article 352, but its validity depends on strict conditions that catch many owners out. It must be in writing and signed by the tenant or an authorised representative; it must state a definite vacating date; and, most importantly, it must be given after the property has been handed over, on a date later than the lease itself. The settled position of the Court of Cassation is that an undertaking signed on the same day as the lease is treated as given under pressure and is invalid, because the tenant's free will is not present at signing.

There is a well-known trap on the other side too. Where a tenant signs an undertaking with the dates left blank, and later claims the landlord filled them in improperly, the courts place the burden of proving that on the tenant; absent such proof, the undertaking stands. If the tenant does not leave on the promised date, the landlord must act within one month of that date — by starting enforcement proceedings or filing an eviction case — or lose the right to rely on that undertaking. A 2026 Court of Cassation ruling added a critical caveat here: signing a new lease after the undertaking renews the tenancy and voids it — see our analysis of the ruling.

Non-payment: why one missed month is not enough

Landlords are often surprised that a single unpaid month does not, by itself, support eviction of a residential tenant. Under Article 352, the ground of "two justified warnings" requires that the tenant fail to pay within a rental year and that the landlord serve two separate written warnings for different months' rent. Separately, a landlord can pursue a defaulting tenant through enforcement with a payment order giving thirty days to pay; if the tenant pays within that period the eviction cannot proceed. The recurring theme is that unpaid rent is dealt with through proper notices and deadlines, not self-help.

How much — and how often — you can raise the rent

The rent is not freely adjustable either. For residential and roofed-workplace tenancies, the annual increase on renewal is capped by law: under Article 344 it cannot exceed the twelve-month average change in the consumer price index (TÜFE) published for the month before renewal. An increase demanded above that ceiling is invalid to the extent it exceeds the cap. Where a lease runs for several years and conditions have changed dramatically, a separate "rent-adjustment" claim can ask the court to reset the rent to current conditions, but that is an exceptional remedy with its own strict requirements — not a substitute for the annual cap. The rent you collect also feeds the wider set of taxes foreign owners pay on Turkish property, which is worth planning alongside the increase.

Mediation now comes before the courtroom

Since 1 September 2023, mediation is a mandatory first step in residential and roofed-workplace tenancy disputes, including eviction and rent-determination claims. You cannot go straight to court: an application to a mediator comes first, and only if no settlement is reached does the final mediation record open the door to a lawsuit. Eviction and rent cases are then heard by the Civil Court of Peace for the place where the property is located. Building this step into the timeline matters, because the strict one-month deadlines attached to several eviction grounds run alongside it.

Self-help eviction is a criminal risk

Whatever the provocation, a landlord cannot take the law into their own hands. Changing the locks, cutting utilities or removing the tenant's belongings is not a shortcut; it can amount to the offence of taking the law into one's own hands under Article 150 of the Turkish Penal Code, and it exposes the landlord to liability. A tenant can only be removed through a court judgment or an enforcement order, carried out with official support. For an owner abroad, the safe and effective route is the formal one, run on the correct notices and deadlines.

Handling it from abroad

Most of what a landlord has to do here — serving notarised notices, applying for mediation, filing and running an eviction or rent case, and providing sworn translations of the lease and correspondence — can be handled from outside Turkey through a power of attorney. The friction for a foreign owner is rarely the law itself; it is meeting Turkish-language deadlines and formalities at a distance. Handling the legal steps and the certified translation through one point of contact is what keeps a lawful eviction or rent adjustment on track.

Frequently Asked Questions

Can I evict my tenant just because the lease term ended? No. The tenancy renews year by year under Article 347; you need one of the recognised eviction grounds, not merely the end of the term.

What are the main grounds to end a tenancy? Genuine personal need, reconstruction, a new owner's need, a valid termination undertaking, two justified warnings for unpaid rent, and the tenant owning a suitable home in the same district.

I need the flat for my family. Is that enough? It can be, if the need is genuine, sincere and compelling. A temporary or pretextual need will not support eviction, and the case must be brought within the deadline.

Can I re-let at a higher rent after evicting for personal need? Not freely. Under Article 355 the property generally cannot be re-let to someone else for three years without just cause, or you risk compensation of at least the last year's rent.

Is a termination undertaking signed with the lease valid? No. The settled case law treats an undertaking signed on the same day as the lease as invalid. It must be given after handover, on a later date.

My tenant signed an undertaking with blank dates. Is it usable? The courts place the burden on the tenant to prove it was improperly completed; absent that proof, it stands. But act within one month of the vacating date.

My tenant missed one month's rent. Can I evict? Not on that alone for a residence. The "two justified warnings" ground needs two separate written warnings for unpaid rent within a rental year, or a thirty-day payment order through enforcement.

How much can I raise the rent each year? No more than the twelve-month average change in the consumer price index (TÜFE) for the month before renewal. Anything above that cap is invalid to that extent.

Do I have to try mediation first? Yes. Since 1 September 2023 mediation is a mandatory step before an eviction or rent-determination case.

Which court hears an eviction case? The Civil Court of Peace for the place where the property is located.

Can I change the locks if the tenant won't leave? No. Self-help eviction can be a criminal offence under Article 150 of the Penal Code. Removal requires a court judgment or enforcement order.

How long does eviction take? It varies. It runs through mandatory mediation and then a court case, and the strict one-month deadlines on several grounds have to be observed.

Can I handle all this from abroad? Yes, through a power of attorney authorising notices, mediation, court steps and the sworn translations involved.