As far as I am aware, there has been due process over the last 3 yrs and it is because the due process has ended that the Mugla Governor took to demolishing. The Tapus are for the land only and do not have the houses added I think, which means the taxes and such have not been paid and they probably do not have a habitation certificate. far be it for me to even mention bribes having being paid. The services in some of these houses are not even legal, because some are using water that is meant for watering the land and is not deemed domestic supply, and others are using wells not the council supply. The electric has been put on the land to power the pump for the well and is not domestic supply or is installed for construction and the owners are paying construction rates for electric. How can I know I have not got proper services connected and I know fines have been issued and then be surprised when after the enquiry or whatever that took place came to an end I was told to demolish.
Most people in Turkey do not use a solicitor, that is why a Turk can see a house and have a Tapu in his hand the same morning and if it was not for the military check, so could a foreigner.
If a fine has been incurred then common sense says that a legal problem exists/existed. If you park your car illegally then you get a fine, you do not then think that is ok I will leave my car there now because I have paid my fine. You can by all means listen to people telling you it is ok now and not worry, but it is not and while your car is parked illegally they can keep fining you and eventually tow it away.
In Turkey if you want to challenge something or someone or even the government itself you take them to court and as it takes 3 or 4 years to sort out in court you have a period with nothing happening. If the builders were in fact negligent then the house holders who were fined should have taken the builders to court 3 or more years ago, not wait until now. If I had been fined 3 years ago then I would have had the builder in court asking why he built my property and can I have all money paid to be given back. The reason some people did not is because they bought cheaply and thought once things were sorted then they would make a killing and one of the people that did this and knew that he had bought cheaply is a member of this forum. When I came here a lot of people were saying do not buy in certain areas because the houses were illegal but others were saying that in a few years all will be sorted and the values would rocket and this is the way things are done in turkey so do not worry.
I know this is not a nice thing to say, but people are reading this post and getting the wrong ideas on turkey, because the full story has not been told and if it was then turkey is not as bad as this post suggests. If someone wants to stand up and say that they did not honestly think the house they incurred a fine on was now somehow legal, although they did not have a tapu issued that made them legal by including the house on the tapu and all the services such as water and electricity companies know that you have a domestic supply attached to your house and they are billing you as such, then all so and good.
So if utility companies do not give you supplies because you do not have a habitation certificate, which means your building taxes and things are not in order therefore you are not supposed to habit it, then how can you somehow suggest that what is now happening is a surprise. For those that do not understand the habitation certificate then just do a search on this site for 'habitation certificate' or 'living permission' the living permission or "habitation certificate" is issued on a new build once the property had been passed as habitable by the municipality and it has complied with building control and earthquake regulations.
I am sorry if this offends because I really do not mean it to and tha last thing people in the situation they are want to read this, but you can not go on somehow suggesting that turkey is somehow in the backwards age totally. Turkey is now trying to sort things out with tapu registrations and house purchase laws, but it takes time. The shoddy building contractors and the blatent overlooking of construction rules have been tightened already and are being enforced more and more. Rome was not built in a day so to speak.
I have to ask if a Tapu is isued to an illegal house by the government and someone or other buys it afterwards, then finds out it breaches construction rules because it is built dangerously or does not conform to earthquake regulations, will they still be happy that a tapu was issued, because lets face it if a tapu is issued to some of the houses that are built illegally in turkey, then the day after they will be on the market and sold as quick as the owner can do so and quite a lot would not be a good buy. The new owners would be then on forums saying how dodgy tapus were given out to illegal builds as a political excercise or whatever and they now had homes they wished they had not bought and the tapus should never have been issued to illegal homes, not necessarily my thoughts but how can the government win and it would also set a presedent for other illegal buildings, or I should say unapproved buildings.
Lucinda makes a good point and I would say to Twin Bee that I agree 'Lucinda makes a fair point but loosing ones house under any circumstances is a tragedy for the persons involved' but sometimes the circumstances protect a person from buying the illegal house in the future. albaman says 'If deeds (tapus) have been issued to state that these properties are legal & this is not the case then surely whoever was responsible for issuing the papers is guilty of serious fraud & deception?' The tapus do not state anything is legal they state that you have title to the land and if it has a dwelling on it then the dwelling is included, if it has a dwelling on the land and the tapu only says land then make your own conclusions and find out why the house is not included. Turkey does have a council office and land registry office where you can ask questions before you purchase or it you have issued a power of attorney the person holding that power could have asked for you. Houses here are taxed like in the uk, even though it does not amount to a great deal so a visit to the belediye and a few questions would highlight problems. What people seem to miss is that in the uk you pay for searches etc before you buy, you have a solicitor in uk normally, so why not do the searches here even though it is not obligatory and get a solicitor even though that is not obligatory. I am not about to sit here defending turkey because a lot needs to be done but a lot of information has been available locally about areas with no permissions for a very long time.
John H you are only wrong because you assumed wrong and is largely the problem because people come here and just assume something without checking, but I am not meaning that to be insulting to you because I presume you have not bought here by what you said. I think scunner has said a lot of advice amongst others and given warnings about the buying process and may be one of the reasons he started this forum, I do not know, but it is there. I do not normally post in forums I just read them but I felt I had to post this because what is being expressed by some is not the correct situation and people in other countries will read it and think 'oh my god, I will never buy there' even though I know there are horror stories on here there are horror stories about a lot of countries including uk.
I will say to the original poster and others affected that I most sincerely hope things work out for you because I for one will be sad if demolitions do take place, not only for you but family members as well and hope that inspections can take place to make sure that your houses were built to a safe standard and such then issue tapus so that whoever buys from you eventually will know the building is safe and complies to whatever building regulations. I will also say I do not know the situation of how the original poster bought his property or what knowledge he had when he bought, so my words are not aimed at him or any one person.
Good luck to you all and hopefully 2009 is the year you can all relax and enjoy your home and surroundings without worry.
Sorry if this is a bit long.
