The Turkish Union of Notaries announced on its website that a seller's guarantee declaration is sufficient for preliminary pre-paid sale contracts which are executed before notaries. The Turkish Union of Notaries sought the opinion of the Ministry of Customs and Commerce on the topic, before making its website announcement on 5 August 2015 (numbered 67).
Certain content must be included in preliminary pre-paid sales contracts for houses, executed with consumers before notaries. However, in practice some notaries also request demonstrative guarantee documents. Therefore, the Turkish Union of Notaries sought information from the Ministry of Customs and Commerce.
For projects with 30 or more houses, pre-paid contracts for sale of the houses must include information about the seller's guarantees (Article 7 of the Regulation regarding Pre-paid Contracts for Sale of Houses, published in Official Gazette number 29188 on 27 November 2014; "Regulation").
Within this context, the Turkish Union of Notaries sought to clarify whether for preliminary pre-paid contracts regarding sale of houses, notaries must either:
- Issue the contract's guarantee terms in line with the parties' declaration, or
- Request demonstrative guarantee documents from the parties.
The Ministry of Customs and Commerce advised that for projects of 30 or more houses, the seller must provide:
- The mandatory content (stipulated under the Regulation) to the consumer at least one day before execution of the contract, and
- At least one of the guarantee types outlined in Article 12 and subsequent articles of the Regulation.
The Ministry of Customs and Commerce advised that notaries do not need to seek demonstrative documents for such guarantees. However, it noted that notaries should complete the contract's mandatory content, as outlined by Article 7 of the Regulation, including the guarantee information.
The Turkish Union of Notaries' announcement is in line with the opinion given by the Ministry of Customs and Commerce. Accordingly, it announced that notaries do not need to request substitutive guarantee documents in such transactions. Rather, notaries should simply complete the preliminary pre-paid contract by filling in the necessary information, including the guarantee information.
Please see this link to see the full text of the ruling (only available in Turkish).
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