A power of attorney for buying property in Turkey is a notarial document that lists the acts a named representative may perform in your name, and Turkish law decides how much of that list has to appear in express words. Article 504 of the Turkish Code of Obligations requires special authority before an attorney may transfer immovable property or restrict it with a right, which is why a general power of attorney drawn for banking will not move a title deed. Form carries equal weight, since a deed used in a land registry transaction must carry the grantor's photograph and must be issued in the notary's declaratory form rather than as a certified signature, a pair of requirements that deeds drawn before foreign notaries routinely fail. Cancelling the document became faster in December 2025, when the Land Registry and Cadastre General Directorate introduced a national revocation record under its circular numbered 2025/6, allowing revocation through a notary, a consulate, any land registry office or WebTapu, while refusing revocations sent by fax, e-mail or post. That revocation reaches less far than it appears, because the circular states that a revocation made through WebTapu or at a registry counter covers land registry transactions only, and article 514 leaves the grantor liable for acts the representative performed before learning the mandate had ended. Death, loss of capacity or bankruptcy of either party ends the mandate automatically under article 513, so a deed that names no expiry date is not the same as a deed that lasts forever. The tools built to monitor and revoke these documents sit behind an e-Devlet login, which a buyer who has never held a Turkish residence permit cannot obtain, and that gap shapes what a foreign buyer should ask the notary to write down in the first place.
What a vekaletname is, and what it does not give your representative
A vekaletname (power of attorney) is a notarial document that authorises a named person to perform specified acts in your name, and the property still registers in your name rather than in your representative's. The document transfers authority, not ownership. An attorney who signs the transfer at the Tapu Müdürlüğü (Land Registry Directorate) in Alanya acquires nothing; the tapu (title deed) is issued to the person who granted the authority.
Turkish law treats the scope of that authority as a question of drafting rather than of trust. Article 504 of the Turkish Code of Obligations sets the default rule, which is that the scope of a mandate is determined by the contract, and where the contract says nothing, by the nature of the work to be done. A document that names no acts leaves the registry officer reading intentions out of context, and registry officers do not read intentions.
The deed is drawn in Turkish. A grantor who does not speak Turkish signs before a sworn translator at the notary, and the same requirement follows the transaction into the registry, where the Regulation on Official Deeds Issued by Land Registry Directorates requires a sworn translator for any party who does not speak Turkish and makes that translator a signatory of the deed.
Ownership passes by registration in Turkey, so the presence of the buyer or the buyer's notarised representative at the registry counter is the operative act. Nothing in the process converts the representative into an owner, and nothing in a private side agreement changes what the register says.
Which powers Turkish law makes you spell out word for word
Article 504 of the Turkish Code of Obligations states that an attorney may not, unless specially authorised, transfer immovable property or restrict it with a right. The same sentence covers filing a lawsuit, settling, going to arbitration, requesting bankruptcy or composition, undertaking bill of exchange obligations, making gifts and standing surety. A genel vekaletname (general power of attorney) drawn for banking or for representation before public offices therefore does not move a title deed, however broadly it is worded.
That article binds the selling side most directly, since the act it names is the transfer. A buyer's document faces a different problem, which is that the purchase involves at least five acts performed in five different places, and a branch, a notary and a registry officer each look for the specific authority that concerns them. Six powers account for most of the failures, and they fail for the same reason, which is that the drafting stayed general where the counterparty needed something specific.
| Power | Why express wording is needed | What happens without it |
|---|---|---|
| Transferring the property or encumbering it with a mortgage | Article 504 of the Turkish Code of Obligations requires special authority | The registry refuses the application |
| Signing the official deed and accepting the acquisition at the Land Registry Directorate | Registry officers verify the deed against the act requested | The appointment cannot proceed |
| Selling the foreign currency that produces the DAB (döviz alım belgesi, the foreign currency purchase document) | The Central Bank's implementation instruction limits that sale to the buyer, the seller, or an attorney or representative of either | A third party such as an agency cannot convert the funds in its own name |
| Opening a bank account in the buyer's name | Branches apply in-person identification rules and look for a named authority | The account is not opened and the transfer chain stalls |
| Obtaining an e-Devlet password | PTT (Posta ve Telgraf Teşkilatı, the national postal operator) requires the deed to state that the attorney is authorised to obtain an e-Devlet password and to give undertakings for that purpose | The password is refused even though the deed is otherwise valid |
| Taking out the DASK (Doğal Afet Sigortaları Kurumu) earthquake policy and registering utilities | Administrative counterparties ask for written authority | Each step waits for a second document |
The e-Devlet clause shows how literal the requirement can be. PTT does not accept a general authority to handle the purchase and instead looks for the sentence itself, which means a deed drafted six weeks earlier by a notary who was not told about the password will send the representative back to a second notary appointment.
The currency clause matters for a different reason. A buyer purchasing an apartment in Oba, a neighbourhood in the Alanya district of Antalya province, who transfers funds to an agency and asks the agency to convert them, produces a DAB in the wrong name, and the registry needs that document in the buyer's name.
The two form requirements that decide whether the land registry accepts it
A power of attorney whose nature requires a land registry transaction must carry the grantor's photograph and must be issued in the notary's declaratory form, which Turkish practice calls düzenleme şekli, rather than as a signature certification. The Ministry of Justice inspection guide for notaries sets out both requirements, resting on article 80 of the Notaries Act and article 93 of the Notaries Act Regulation. Copies drawn from the original carry the photograph as well, and where the grantor is a legal entity, the photographs of the representatives who sign are attached.
Both requirements are frequently misdescribed as applying only to a power of sale. They apply by the nature of the transaction, which means a deed drawn for a purchase falls under the same rule as a deed drawn for a sale. A buyer whose foreign notary attached no photograph holds a document that reads correctly and works nowhere.
The declaratory form is the requirement that catches European buyers most often, because a notary in Sweden, the Netherlands or Germany typically certifies a signature on a text the client brings. Certification proves who signed. The Turkish declaratory form requires the notary to draw the deed itself, record the grantor's identity and declaration, and issue the document as the notary's own instrument. The two are different acts, and only one of them satisfies the registry.
The practical consequence is a matter of sequence. A defect in form does not surface when the deed is signed abroad, nor when it is couriered, nor when it is translated. It surfaces at the registry counter on the appointment day, at which point the currency has usually already been converted.
Turkish notary, Turkish consulate or a notary in your own country
A deed drawn before a Turkish notary or a Turkish consulate satisfies the Turkish form rules directly, while a deed drawn before a notary in the buyer's own country needs an apostille and a sworn Turkish translation and still has to clear the photograph and declaratory-form requirements. The three routes are legal. They differ in how many places the document can fail.
| Where the deed is drawn | Extra steps it creates | Turkish form requirements | Language of the deed |
|---|---|---|---|
| Turkish notary, during a visit to Turkey | None beyond the notary's own procedure | Met by the notary as a matter of course | Turkish, with a sworn translator present |
| Turkish consulate abroad | Consular appointment | Met, because the consulate draws the deed itself | Turkish |
| Notary in the buyer's own country | Apostille or consular legalisation, sworn Turkish translation, courier | Often unmet, since the photograph is omitted and the act is a certification | The buyer's own language, then translated |
The consulate route is the one most buyers underuse. It removes the apostille chain and the translation, and it produces a Turkish declaratory deed, which is the same instrument a Turkish notary would produce. Buyers weighing a viewing trip against a local notary are really answering a wider question, which is how much of a Turkish purchase can be completed without coming to Turkey at all.
Costs sit outside this comparison because they move annually and vary by country. What does not vary is the number of failure points, which is one for the Turkish notary route, one for the consular route, and four for the local notary route.
Which powers to leave out of the document
A buyer's power of attorney needs no authority to sell the property, to mortgage it or to give it away, and striking those three lines removes most of what can go wrong with the document. A power granted is a power somebody can exercise, and the list of things a buyer's deed does not need is longer than most drafts assume. Article 504 of the Turkish Code of Obligations helps here in an unexpected way, because it forces gifts, sureties, bill of exchange obligations and property transfers to appear in express words. Their presence in a draft is therefore never accidental.
- Remove the authority to sell or transfer the property, since a buyer acquires rather than disposes.
- Remove the authority to mortgage the property or to restrict it with any other right.
- Remove the authority to make gifts, stand surety or undertake bill of exchange obligations, none of which belongs in a purchase.
- Limit the deed to one property, identified by its ada and parsel numbers, instead of granting authority over property in general.
- Set an expiry date, so the authority lapses without any further act.
- Prohibit substitution, which stops the attorney from appointing a second attorney.
- Drop the authority to obtain a tax number, which the Revenue Administration now issues through an online application form for foreign nationals.
The tax number is the clearest example of scope that has quietly become unnecessary. The Revenue Administration's digital channel takes the applicant's name, identity details, passport number, address and a copy of the passport identity page, and a buyer who completes it before the notary appointment can have the deed drawn without that authority in it at all.
Reading the special-authority sentence out loud is a two-minute check that most buyers skip. A draft that grants authority to sell the property the buyer is about to purchase is not a drafting slip; it is a different document.
Can your representative buy the property from himself?
No, because an attorney who has not been expressly authorised to do so cannot contract with himself, and an attorney who registers the property in his own name exposes the transaction to a tapu iptal ve tescil claim, the action for cancellation of the title and re-registration. Turkish courts treat the mandate as carrying duties of loyalty and care, and the Court of Cassation has long taken the view that an attorney who uses the authority against the principal's interest can be unwound.
The rule matters most where the representative sits on the other side of the deal. An estate agency that holds the buyer's power of attorney and also earns its fee from the seller is not automatically acting improperly, and Turkish law does not forbid the arrangement. It does mean the buyer's protection has to come from the drafting rather than from the relationship.
A related restriction applies to lawyers. Article 38 of the Advocacy Act requires an advocate to decline instructions where the advocate has acted or advised for a party with opposing interests in the same matter, and the restriction extends to the advocate's partners and employed advocates. A developer's lawyer holding the buyer's power of attorney in the same transaction runs directly into that provision, and moving the file to a colleague in the same office does not cure it.
Four drafting choices carry most of the protection. Name the single property. Set an expiry date. Prohibit substitution. Omit any authority to sell, which is the authority that makes self-dealing possible in the first place.
How to cancel a power of attorney in Turkey
Article 512 of the Turkish Code of Obligations lets either party end the mandate at any time and unilaterally, so revoking a power of attorney needs no consent from the representative. Since 5 December 2025, the Land Registry and Cadastre General Directorate has also run a single national revocation record, introduced by its circular numbered 2025/6, under which revocations entered in the register are visible to and searchable by every land registry office in the country.
The circular sets out which channels work. A grantor may revoke a power of attorney requiring a land registry transaction through a notary or a consulate, or by applying in person to any land registry office, and revocations issued by notaries and consulates are sent by those institutions to a registry office. The WebTapu system carries the third route, and a revocation made there covers every power of attorney issued before the date of the request.
The circular is equally specific about what does not work. Revocation requests sent by fax, e-mail or post are not accepted, and requests made in person to the General Directorate or to regional directorates are not processed either. Identity verification is the stated reason.
| Channel | What it reaches | Who can use it |
|---|---|---|
| Notarised azilname (revocation deed) at a Turkish notary or consulate | The mandate itself under general law, and the land registry once the deed is sent on | Any grantor, including one who has never held a Turkish residence permit |
| In-person application to any land registry office | Land registry transactions only | Any grantor able to attend a counter in Turkey |
| WebTapu | Land registry transactions only, covering all powers of attorney issued before the request | Grantors with an e-Devlet login |
Two details in the circular concern foreign buyers directly. The first is a scope limit stated in terms, which is that the intention to revoke expressed through WebTapu or at a registry counter covers land registry transactions only. That revocation does not reach the bank, the tax office or the utility company. The second is a verification rule specific to foreign nationals, under which requests made by representatives of foreign individuals and foreign legal entities are checked both electronically, by foreigner identity number, passport number and name, and against the physical revocation register held by the registry office.
Timing carries a cost but not a veto. Article 512 makes the party who ends the mandate at an inappropriate moment liable for the resulting loss, which is a damages question rather than a validity question. The revocation itself stands.
Does cancelling it undo what your representative already did?
No. Article 514 of the Turkish Code of Obligations makes the principal and the principal's heirs liable for acts the attorney performed before learning that the mandate had ended, exactly as if it had continued. Revocation is therefore an event of knowledge rather than an event of signature, and the gap between the two is where losses occur.
The national revocation record closes that gap in one direction. A revocation entered at any registry office becomes visible to all of them, so a representative who arrives at a counter with a revoked deed is stopped by the register rather than by the buyer's warning letter. That is a genuine improvement on the position before December 2025, when a revocation filed in one province could be invisible in another.
The gap stays open everywhere else, and the circular says so. Consider a buyer who granted a single deed covering the transfer, the bank account and the utility subscriptions, and who then revokes it through WebTapu after a dispute with the representative. The registry is now closed to that representative. The bank is not, because the registry revocation covers land registry transactions only, and the branch has been told nothing. Closing the second door requires a notarised azilname and a written notice to the bank.
Three steps make a revocation complete rather than merely filed. Notify the representative through a channel that produces a delivery record, since article 514 turns on knowledge rather than on intention. Send the azilname to every institution where the deed was used, naming the bank, the tax office and the utility providers. Ask for the certified copies of the original deed to be returned, because copies drawn from a notarial deed circulate independently of it.
The choice of channel decides what a grantor can later prove. Turkish practice relies on three routes that leave a record, which are service through a notary, registered post with acknowledgement of receipt through PTT, and the state electronic delivery systems UETS (Ulusal Elektronik Tebligat Sistemi, the national electronic notification system) and KEP (kayıtlı elektronik posta, registered electronic mail). A message sent by ordinary e-mail or by a messaging application leaves the grantor arguing about screenshots at exactly the moment article 514 asks for a delivery date.
How long a Turkish power of attorney stays valid
A Turkish power of attorney carries no statutory expiry date, so it runs until it is revoked, until the work it covers is finished, or until one of the events in article 513 of the Turkish Code of Obligations ends it automatically. A deed signed for a purchase three years ago may still be live today if nobody revoked it and if the text set no end date.
Article 513 lists the automatic endings. Unless the contract or the nature of the work indicates otherwise, the mandate ends by itself on the death, loss of capacity or bankruptcy of either the attorney or the grantor, and the same rule applies where one of them is a legal entity that ceases to exist. The second paragraph adds a duty to continue: where ending the mandate would endanger the grantor's interests, the attorney or the attorney's heirs must carry on until the grantor, the heirs or a representative can take over.
The seller's side of a transaction is where this bites hardest. An elderly owner living abroad grants a power of attorney to an agency, the appointment is set for six weeks later, and the owner dies in the meantime. The authority has ended by operation of law, whether or not the agency knows, and a transfer signed on that deed is defective at its root. A buyer who checks the seller's identity but not the seller's continued existence has checked half the question.
Setting an expiry date in the deed converts an open-ended risk into a dated one. A purchase that realistically completes within three months does not need a document that survives for a decade.
What you can check yourself, and what you cannot
Turkey publishes a self-service record of the powers of attorney a person has granted, but the record sits behind an e-Devlet login that a buyer who has never held a Turkish residence permit cannot obtain. The Union of Turkish Notaries runs the service on the state's e-government portal, and access requires an e-Devlet password, a mobile signature, an electronic signature, a Turkish identity card or internet banking credentials.
The obstacle is one step further back. PTT issues e-Devlet passwords to foreign nationals only against an identity number issued in Turkey beginning 98 or 99, presented together with a residence permit, a work permit, a Turquoise Card or one of the protection-status documents, and the passport as well. Every document on that list records a residence, work or protection status. An investor who has visited Alanya on a tourist stamp, bought an apartment and flown home holds none of them.
The result is an asymmetry worth stating plainly. The buyer most exposed to a power of attorney, the one who is not in the country and cannot watch what happens, is the buyer least able to use the online tools built to monitor and cancel one. Four substitutes cover most of the gap.
- Ask the notary for a certified copy of the deed at the moment it is drawn, and read the special-authority sentence in translation before leaving the office.
- Keep the azilname and its delivery evidence, since article 514 turns on when the representative learned of the revocation.
- Use the notarised revocation route rather than WebTapu, because a notarial azilname reaches the mandate itself and not only the land registry.
- Ask a land registry office to confirm the revocation is recorded, which is worth doing for foreign nationals because registry officers check both the electronic system and the physical revocation register for transactions carried out by representatives of foreign parties.