Action for Determination of Rent is an action brought to have the rent payable in a new rental period determined by the court (Turkish Code of Obligations art. 345). The action may be brought at any time; however, for the amount determined to apply from the start of the new rental period, the action must be brought no later than thirty days before that period begins, or the lessor must have notified the tenant in writing by that date that an increase will be requested and must bring the action by the end of the new period; if the contract contains an increase clause, an action brought by the end of the period is also sufficient (Turkish Code of Obligations art. 345).
The action addresses two separate questions: what the rent will be if the parties cannot agree on an increase rate, and what applies if the increase clause in the contract exceeds the statutory cap. The statutory scheme has three tiers:
| Situation | What determines the rent |
|---|---|
| Parties have agreed on an increase | The agreement is valid, but may not exceed the rate of change in the consumer price index based on twelve-month averages |
| Parties have not agreed | The judge determines it, again subject to the same cap |
| Five years have elapsed | The judge determines it; here the CPI rate is not the only criterion, and comparable rents are also taken into account |
These rules concern residential premises and roofed workplaces; they do not apply to leases of properties intended for temporary use for six months or less (Turkish Code of Obligations art. 339). The general framework of tenancy relationships is explained on the Tenancy and Real Estate Law page.
What is the upper limit on rent increases?
The law sets the limit directly: the parties’ agreements on the rent payable in renewed rental periods are valid only to the extent that they do not exceed the rate of change in the consumer price index based on twelve-month averages for the preceding rental year. This rule also applies to lease agreements of more than one year (Turkish Code of Obligations art. 344/1).
Three details matter:
- The measure is not annual inflation, but the rate of change in the consumer price index based on twelve-month averages. These two figures are not the same. The rate is published by the Turkish Statistical Institute.
- The measure relates to the preceding rental year; the reference is the contract’s own year, not the calendar year.
- The consequence of an increase clause exceeding the cap is not separately stated in the article. In practice, such a clause is treated as invalid as to the excess, and the increase is confined to the rate permitted by law; the remainder of the contract survives (partial invalidity, Turkish Code of Obligations art. 27/2).
This page does not state the current value of the rate. The rate changes every month; a figure that is correct on the day it is written will be wrong the following month.
What happens if the contract contains no increase rate?
If the parties have not made an agreement on this matter, the rent is determined by the judge, in accordance with equity and taking into account the condition of the leased property, without exceeding the same rate (Turkish Code of Obligations art. 344/2).
In other words, the absence of an increase clause in the contract does not mean that the lessor may impose any increase it wishes, nor that the tenant will pay no increase at all. If the parties cannot agree for the new period either, the determination is left to the court, and the ceiling available to the court is the same.
The five-year rule: why does the cap change?
Irrespective of whether the parties have reached an agreement on this matter, in lease agreements lasting more than five years or renewed after five years, and at the end of each subsequent five-year period, the rent payable in the new rental year is determined by the judge, taking into account the rate of change in the twelve-month averages of the consumer price index, the condition of the leased property and comparable rents, in accordance with equity. The rent so determined for each rental year after every five-year period may be varied in accordance with the principles set out in the preceding paragraphs (Turkish Code of Obligations art. 344/3).
The difference between the two paragraphs lies in the wording of the article. In the first and second paragraphs, the law says “without exceeding”; there, the index is a ceiling. That wording is absent from the third paragraph; there, the index is one of three criteria, and comparable rents have been added alongside it.
The practical consequence is this: once five years have elapsed, the rent may be brought closer to comparable rents even if it has been limited by the index for many years. Benefiting from this rule from the beginning of the new rental year in which the five years elapse is also subject to one of the conditions in Turkish Code of Obligations art. 345, described below.
If the rent is in a foreign currency
If the rent has been agreed in a foreign currency, two questions must be considered separately: is the clause valid, and, if so, how does the rent change?
Is the clause valid? Turkish Code of Obligations art. 344/4 reserves the provisions of the Law on the Protection of the Value of the Turkish Currency No. 1567. Under the regulations based on that Law, persons resident in Turkey may not agree a rent in a foreign currency or indexed to a foreign currency in real-property lease agreements they conclude among themselves, including residential and roofed workplace premises (Decision No. 32 art. 4/g; Communiqué No. 2008-32/34 art. 8/2). One of the exceptions is agreements to which persons who are not Turkish citizens and are resident in Turkey are parties as tenants (Communiqué art. 8/3). In other words, the fact that the property owner is a foreigner does not by itself create an exception; what matters is whether the parties are resident in Turkey and the tenant’s status. The details are governed by a ministerial communiqué and may change; whether a particular agreement complies with these rules must be assessed separately.
If the clause is valid, the law provides as follows: the rent may not be varied before five years have elapsed; however, the provisions on excessive hardship of performance are reserved. After five years have elapsed, in determining the rent, the third paragraph applies, taking into account changes in the value of the foreign currency as well (Turkish Code of Obligations art. 344/4). In other words, the rent cannot be varied for five years; an increase at the index rate is included in this. Once five years have elapsed, the five-year rule applies and the change in the exchange rate is also taken into account.
The reserved provision is this: if an extraordinary situation that was not foreseen at the time the contract was made and could not reasonably have been expected to be foreseen arises for a reason not attributable to the obligor, and changes the circumstances to the obligor’s disadvantage to such an extent that demanding performance would be contrary to the requirements of good faith, and the obligor has not yet performed, or has performed while reserving its rights arising from the excessive difficulty of performance, the obligor may ask the judge to adapt the contract to the new circumstances or, if that is not possible, to rescind the contract; in contracts for continuing performance, the obligor as a rule exercises the right to terminate instead of rescission. This provision also applies to foreign-currency debts (Turkish Code of Obligations art. 138).
The provision grants this right to the debtor. In a lease agreement, both parties owe a performance: the lessor undertakes to allow the leased property to be used, and the lessee undertakes to pay the rent (TCO Art. 299). Which party may request adaptation and whether the exchange-rate change alone satisfies these conditions must be assessed in the light of the specific facts; the details are set out in the adaptation section of the Contract Law page. A lessee who continues to pay rent denominated in a foreign currency without stating a reservation may not have satisfied this condition for the periods already paid.
When can an action for determination of rent be filed, and from when does the judgment take effect?
The law does not restrict when the action may be filed, but it ties the period from which the judgment will bind the parties to a specific time.
An action for determination of the rent may be filed at any time (TCO Art. 345/1). However, for the rent determined by the court to bind the lessee from the beginning of the new lease period, one of the following conditions must be met (TCO Art. 345/2):
- The action must have been filed no later than thirty days before the beginning of the new period; or
- The lessor must have given the lessee written notice no later than the same date, that is, no later than thirty days before the new period, that the rent would be increased, and the action must be filed before the end of the subsequent new lease period.
Furthermore, if the contract contains a provision that the rent will be increased in the new lease period, the rent determined by the court in an action filed before the end of the new lease period also takes effect from the beginning of that new period (TCO Art. 345/3).
The practical result is this: written notice given no later than thirty days before the new period begins ensures that the judgment applies retroactively from the beginning of the period, even if the action is filed within the new period. To prove that the notice reached the lessee by that date, a method whose receipt can be documented (for example, a formal notice served through a notary public) should be chosen. The thirty-day period is not a condition for filing the action but for the judgment to apply from the beginning of the period; even if that date is missed, the action may still be filed. If none of the conditions is met, in practice the determined rent takes effect from the first lease period beginning after the action is filed.
Before filing the action, it is mandatory to apply to a mediator, and mediation may take a few weeks (Law No. 6325 Art. 18/A/9). Whether applying to a mediator instead of filing the action affects the calculation of the thirty-day period is not expressly regulated by law; the written-notice route is unaffected by this uncertainty.
Is the “25 per cent ceiling” still in force?
No. The twenty-five per cent upper limit introduced for residential leases was imposed by temporary articles and for specific date ranges:
| Provision | Covered renewal period |
|---|---|
| TCO Temporary Art. 1 (added by Law No. 7409 dated 8/6/2022) | 11/6/2022 (the date the article entered into force) – 1/7/2023 (this date inclusive) |
| TCO Temporary Art. 2 (added by Law No. 7456 dated 14/7/2023) | 2/7/2023 – 1/7/2024 (these dates inclusive) |
Both articles limited increases in residential lease periods renewed between those dates to twenty-five per cent of the previous lease year’s rent; if the index change rate was lower, the change rate applied instead. The rule also applied to decisions rendered by the judge under TCO Art. 344/2. Contracts exceeding these rates are invalid only in respect of the excess amount, not in their entirety.
The last date covered by the second temporary article is 1/7/2024. For lease periods renewed after this date, the applicable rule is the Turkish Code of Obligations, Art. 344, itself, not the temporary articles.
Two provisions of the law that protect the lessee
The law provides that, in lease agreements, no change may be made to the lessee’s detriment other than in relation to the determination of the rent (the Turkish Code of Obligations, Art. 343).
No payment obligation may be imposed other than the rent and ancillary costs. The law names two examples: agreements providing that a penalty clause will be payable if the rent is not paid on time, or that subsequent rent payments will become immediately due and payable, are invalid (the Turkish Code of Obligations, Art. 346). A clause sometimes seen in contracts stating that “if one month’s rent is not paid, the entire remaining rent for the year becomes due and payable” is caught by this article.
Conditions for an action for determination of rent and how it is filed
- Scope: the rules concern residential and roofed workplace leases (the Turkish Code of Obligations, Art. 339).
- Mediation: applying to a mediator before bringing the action is a condition of bringing the action; the only statutory exception is eviction through enforcement without a judgment, and an action for determination of rent does not fall within this exception (Law No. 6325 Art. 18/B/1-a).
- Court with subject-matter jurisdiction: the Civil Court of Peace; it hears all disputes arising from the lease relationship, irrespective of the value or amount in dispute (the Turkish Code of Civil Procedure, Art. 4/1-a).
- Time: the action may be filed at any time; for the judgment to apply from the beginning of the period, one of the conditions in the Turkish Code of Obligations, Art. 345, must be met.
- Five years: in contracts that have lasted for more than five years or are renewed after five years, the judge also considers comparable rents (the Turkish Code of Obligations, Art. 344/3).
The consequence of skipping the mediation stage is severe. If it is established that the action was filed without any application to a mediator, the action is dismissed on procedural grounds without any procedural steps being taken. If an application was made but the final report stating that no agreement was reached is not attached to the petition, the court grants a final one-week period; if that period also expires, the action is dismissed on procedural grounds (Art. 18/A/2). The details of the process are set out in the article on eviction and mediation in lease disputes.
Jurisdiction. The court of general jurisdiction is the court of the defendant’s domicile (the Turkish Code of Civil Procedure, Art. 6); actions arising from a contract may also be filed in the court of the place where the contract is to be performed (the Turkish Code of Civil Procedure, Art. 10). In an action against the lessee of a dwelling in Alanya, the lessee’s domicile may be the place where the leased property is located; but the domicile of a workplace lessee or of the defendant owner may be elsewhere. Against a defendant who has no domicile in Türkiye, the action may be filed at the place of their habitual residence in Türkiye and, in actions concerning rights over assets, also at the place where the asset in dispute is located (the Turkish Code of Civil Procedure, Art. 9). Since the determination of rent is not listed among the cases of exclusive jurisdiction in the Turkish Code of Civil Procedure, Art. 12, if the defendant does not raise a jurisdictional objection in the statement of defence, the court where the action was filed becomes competent (the Turkish Code of Civil Procedure, Art. 19). A jurisdiction clause written into a lease agreement is not a valid jurisdiction agreement unless the parties are merchants or public legal entities (the Turkish Code of Civil Procedure, Art. 17).
Proceedings. The simple trial procedure applies; the parties must submit all their evidence, such as comparable lease agreements, with their pleadings (the Turkish Code of Civil Procedure, Art. 316, Art. 318).
Is the judgment enforceable before it becomes final? Legal remedies
A decision of the Civil Court of Peace may be challenged by appeal before the Regional Court of Appeal within two weeks of service of the decision, unless the decision is final because it falls below the monetary threshold (Turkish Code of Civil Procedure art 341, art 345). Appeal on points of law before the Court of Cassation against a decision of the Regional Court of Appeal is limited in cases arising from a tenancy relationship; the law looks at whether three months’ rent exceeds the appeal threshold (Turkish Code of Civil Procedure art 362/1-b). No figures are given here because the thresholds are re-determined annually and the amount at the date the claim was brought is decisive (Turkish Code of Civil Procedure Additional Article 1).
In practice, a rent determination decision cannot be enforced before it becomes final; the difference between the determined amount and the amount paid may be claimed after the decision becomes final. While the proceedings are pending, the tenant must continue to pay the current rent; the law’s default provisions apply separately to unpaid rent (Turkish Code of Obligations art 315).
Frequently asked questions
What is the maximum rent increase?
In renewed rental periods for residential and roofed workplace leases, any agreement between the parties may not exceed the rate of change in the twelve-month averages of the consumer price index in the previous rental year (Turkish Code of Obligations art 344/1). The Turkish Statistical Institute publishes the rate and it changes monthly; for that reason no figure is given on this page.
How much does the rent increase after five years?
In leases lasting longer than five years or renewed after five years, and at the end of each subsequent five-year period, the judge determines the rent; in doing so the judge takes into account not only the index rate but also the condition of the leased premises and comparable market rents (Turkish Code of Obligations art 344/3). The third paragraph does not contain the phrase “provided that they do not exceed” found in the first and second paragraphs.
Can I increase the rent annually because my rent is in US dollars?
First, whether it is possible under your contract to stipulate rent in foreign currency must be examined: as a rule, persons resident in Turkey may not stipulate the rent in foreign currency in residential and roofed workplace leases between themselves (Communiqué No 2008-32/34 art 8). If the provision is valid, no change may be made to the rent until five years have passed; after five years the third paragraph applies, also taking into account changes in the value of the foreign currency (Turkish Code of Obligations art 344/4). The provision on hardship is reserved (Turkish Code of Obligations art 138).
When may a rent determination action be brought?
The action may be brought at any time (Turkish Code of Obligations art 345/1). For the determined rent to apply from the start of the new rental period, one of the following three routes is required: the action must have been brought no later than thirty days before the start of the new period; or the lessor must have notified the tenant in writing by that date that an increase will be requested and brought the action by the end of the new period; or the contract must contain a term that the rent will be increased in the new period and the action must be brought by the end of the new period (Turkish Code of Obligations art 345/2, art 345/3).
Is a formal notice required for a rent determination action?
No formal notice is required to bring the action; it may be brought at any time (Turkish Code of Obligations art 345/1). Written notification is one of the routes that allows the decision to apply from the start of the new period (Turkish Code of Obligations art 345/2).
May the tenant also bring a rent determination action?
The statute refers to an “action for determination of the rent” and does not restrict the party who may bring it (Turkish Code of Obligations art 345/1); for example, once five years have elapsed, the tenant may also request determination of the rent. The written notification that enables the decision to take effect from the start of the period, however, is provided for the lessor in the statute (Turkish Code of Obligations art 345/2); in an action brought by the tenant, the period from which the decision will apply is disputed in practice. In this action too, it is first necessary to apply to a mediator.
How long does a rent determination action take?
The statute does not prescribe a period for issuing a decision. The action is conducted under the simplified procedure (Turkish Code of Civil Procedure art 316). Where possible, the court decides on the basis of the case file; if it cannot do so, it completes the examination in two hearings after the first hearing, and the interval between hearings may not exceed one month. In compulsory situations, such as where the expert examination is prolonged, the judge may set a longer period (Turkish Code of Civil Procedure art 320). The mediation stage and appeals are added to this period.
Governing legislation
Turkish Code of Obligations No 6098 — art 27 (partial invalidity), art 138 (excessive difficulty in performance), art 299 (definition of a lease agreement), art 315 (tenant’s default), art 339 (scope of application to residential leases and leases of roofed workplaces), art 343 (prohibition of changes to the tenant’s detriment other than changes to the rent), art 344 (determination of rent), art 345 (time limit for bringing the action and effect of the decision), art 346 (prohibition of terms to the tenant’s detriment), temporary art 1 and temporary art 2 (twenty-five per cent cap for residential rents) — mevzuat.gov.tr
Turkish Code of Civil Procedure No 6100 — art 4 (jurisdiction of the Civil Court of Peace), art 6, art 9, art 10, art 12, art 17 and art 19 (jurisdiction), art 316, art 318 and art 320 (simplified procedure), art 341, art 345, art 362 and additional art 1 (appeals) — mevzuat.gov.tr
Law on Mediation in Civil Disputes No 6325 — art 18/A (mediation as a condition precedent to bringing an action), art 18/B (tenancy disputes) — mevzuat.gov.tr
Law No 1567 on the Protection of the Value of the Turkish Currency — mevzuat.gov.tr
Decision No 32 on the Protection of the Value of the Turkish Currency — art 4/g — mevzuat.gov.tr
Communiqué Relating to Decision No 32 (Communiqué No: 2008-32/34) — art 8 (contracts denominated in and indexed to foreign currency) — mevzuat.gov.tr
Related pages
- Tenancy and Real Estate Law — parent page
- Eviction and mediation in tenancy disputes
- Eviction action based on the landlord’s need
- What is a written undertaking to vacate and when is it valid?
- Compensation for Unlawful Occupation (mesne profits) action
This text is for general legal information only and does not constitute legal advice. As the circumstances of each case differ, it is recommended that you obtain legal assistance from your attorney at law for your specific situation.