Karen, myself & the site manager wrote 2 x chase letters, which we had translated into Turkish. The first letter we send is a 30 day warning letter, this is followed by a 7 day warning. We send them by the equivalent of recorded delivery, so there can be no arguement that they weren't sent or received & we keep photocopies of the letters on file.
If these don't do the trick, we take the photocopies & the postage receipts to the solicitor (he was most impressed!). Serving court papers cost 50tl 18 months ago, but may have increased since. In addition, once court papers have been served, even if the matter does not go to court, the solicitor charges 17% of the debt recovered & this is a set tariff, so you will need to add this to the amount you need to recover.
We have only got as far as the solicitor regarding the one Turkish owner (twice), as even the slower ones pay up either on letter 1 or letter 2. Clearly he's now decided to tow the line, since this year he paid on letter 1.
Our financial year ends 31st March & by the end of April, we had arrears of just 45tl; as this is split between 2 owners, we have decided to write it off. This is in marked contrast to 6 years ago, when we first went "legal", when arears ran into several 000 tl
