Turkey Faces Rental Crisis: Landlords Flood Courts with Lawsuits

Turkey is seeing a surge in rental disputes as the expiration of five-year lease contracts prompts landlords to seek rent revisions through the courts. The number of cases is growing, especially in major cities, where the gap between rates in older contracts and current market prices is most pronounced. Türkiye Today notes that this process is shifting market dynamics and affecting both landlords and tenants.

The Turkish Code of Obligations grants landlords the right to request a rent adjustment if a lease has been in place for five years and no agreement has been reached. In such cases, the court sets a new rate based on prevailing market conditions. Lawsuits must be filed before the start of the new rental period; otherwise, the decision takes effect only the following year. Lawyer Selin Akiner says such cases have increased, especially in major cities, and typically take six to eight months to resolve. Experts advise both landlords and tenants to closely follow the procedure to protect their rights.

Housing market imbalances have pushed rental rates in Turkey to record highs. According to TÜİK, annual consumer inflation stood at 33.52%, while rent payments rose 78.94%.

Makbule Yonel Maya, head of TSKB Real Estate Valuation, cites two main drivers: slow delivery of new housing and strong demand. Landlords increasingly view rentals as a key source of income. She expects that slowing inflation will eventually ease these trends, but rental prices will decline later than overall consumer prices.

Mehmet Ali Hartavi, Deputy General Manager of Denge Valuation, also notes a shift in property investment priorities from capital appreciation to rental income. Hakan Akdogan, Chairman of the Real Estate Committee at the Istanbul Chamber of Commerce, stressed that rental demand is at its peak. He reminded that the legal cap on annual rent increases, calculated from the 12-month average CPI, is 41.13%. However, for tenants who have lived in a property for five years or more, landlords can demand market-level rates, fueling the rise in lawsuits.

The main source of disputes is the gap between pre-pandemic lease terms and current market rents. Contracts signed before the end of 2020 allowed increases only within annual indexation limits. At the time, tenants paid TRY 5,000 a month; now the same units rent for TRY 12,000–15,000. If re-let today, rates could reach TRY 30,000.

For foreign investors, it is worth noting that in 2020 one US dollar was worth about TRY 5.85, making a TRY 5,000 rent equal to $855. By 2025, the rate had shifted to TRY 40.54, so TRY 5,000 equals just $123, TRY 12,000–15,000 equals $296–$370, and TRY 30,000 equals around $735. This shows that in dollar terms, rent has actually fallen over the past five years despite sharp increases in lira.

Analysts add that in major cities, especially Istanbul, average monthly rent is around TRY 30,000, while in Anatolian cities it ranges from TRY 20,000 to 22,000 ($490–$538). Sherif Varli, head of Vartur Real Estate, says most interest is in units priced from TRY 20,000 to 35,000 ($490–$857) per month.

Many landlords believe CPI-based indexation does not reflect the true market value of rentals. Realtor Mehmet Celik says more clients are now commissioning market rent analyses for occupied units and seeking court precedents to justify claims. Previously, the main focus was finding new tenants for vacant properties; now the emphasis has shifted to raising rents for current occupants. For contracts over five years old, the court sets the new rate based on market valuation. As awareness grows, both sides are acting more cautiously.

High rates are driving many tenants to relocate from central areas to suburbs, where rents are cheaper. According to Celik, demand in these peripheral zones is growing fastest, while central apartments are often vacated due to unaffordable rent hikes. This shift is changing the market structure: suburbs are gaining strength, while in prime districts rents are increasingly set through court rulings.