No payer on complex

[bob w]

hi we are on a small complex we have one villa who will not pay maintenance dispite all others paying. have others had this problem ? is it poss to take to court in turkey if so how much and how long will it take or is there a small claims court etc.

[Liz 101]

You can only take someone to court if you are have a legally recognised site committee & then it's only the Manager (Baskan) that can authorise proceedings. Yes we did have problems in the very early days, but not no more, we've just taken the same owner to court for the 3rd time, I don't get it, he pays what we're owed & all the legal fees too - pointless! Contact me if you want more details

[micky mouse]

We have at least three on our site,infact one was gifted to a turkish mp when the place was built and its never been lived in from day one.So now its in dis repair and looks a mess.I do beleave that one no payer has been taken to court and that the house has been siezed to pay off the debts.Although we are no longer a cooperative we do have a managed committe.So i guess the above comments are right.How ever,it takes a long time to go through the courts to obtain a judgement.

[Liz 101]

If you're a legal site, as we are, it doesn't take a long time. We started proceedings at the end of June & had the judgement & the dosh around 6 weeks later - probably quicker than using small claims back in the UK

[karenr]

we have one non payer and our committee will be set up and legal in 2 weeks time. Our other friends on another site have just started the process to get the bailifs in on there site, Its a pretty slick operation regarding non payers in Turkey. Ive been impressed. Ournon payer is turkish and rents there property out. He is attending the meeting. Ill be letting him know the consiquences and wont hesitate in taking the matter to court for bailiffs and or his property.gooducj

[Liz 101]

Hope you've got your decision book up & running & it needs to be signed by all attendees at the meeting. Without it you're back at square one

[gooner59]

Liz you seem very knowledgeable, I wonder if you could help me? I am the manager (all legal, decision book etc) of our complex and a new owner on the site hasn't paid their maintenance (first occurrence since I've been manager). Can I sign Power of Attorney to our solicitor, and she can file court papers on my instruction? The reason being is I live in the UK

[Liz 101]

In short, you shouldn't need to assign a POA to a solicitor that generally does work for your complex, you would just need to intruct them to take the legal action on your behalf. You would, however, need to provide evidence to show that you had made reasonable attempts to collect the outstanding debt.

We drafted a couple of letters, one gives 30 days to cough up (or provide reasons why the debt isn't due) & if that doesn't work, we follow up with another giving 7 days (again giving option of providing reasons why the debt isn't due). Both of these letters we had translated & are sent the equivalent of recorded delivery, which I believe is called "mutlu post", so we have certificates of posting. An emails trail may suffice, but we have never used this method.

The last time we needed to use court action was about 2.5years ago when the court fee was 50tl & the solicitor's costs, which are listed in their "bible", were 17% of the amount being pursued

[Rimms]

Liz, what happens if the court rule in your favour but then the owners still don't pay, we have a couple of English on our site, both waiting to sell who now feel the correct thing to do is forget their responsibilities.

[Liz 101]

You can get the court judgement / debt lodged with the tapu office, that should show when they come to sell / exchange tapu. It'll take a while longer, but eventually you will get the debt paid.

Alternatively, you may wish to let them know that the area around their properties won't be maintained, so there's always the possibility that a buyer would knock the price down to compensate