Title Deed Translation

At first sight the document looks plain enough to translate: a name, a place, a share ratio. In practice the Turkish land registry runs on concepts of its own, and most of them have no exact counterpart in the destination country. The real work of the translation is to make that conceptual map legible.

Block, parcel and map sheet: the identity of the property

In Türkiye immovable property is identified not by its address but by cadastral data. The block number (ada) refers to a building block, the parcel number to the individual piece of land within that block, and the map sheet number (pafta) to the sheet on the cadastral map. Taken together, these three items identify the property uniquely throughout the country.

These numbers are never altered in translation and never turned into an address. The field headings are rendered into the target language, with a short explanation added where needed, because in many countries cadastral identity is built on a different system. A foreign notary or court will look the property up using precisely these numbers.

Alongside them come the volume, page and journal numbers. Volume and page give the position in the land register, while the journal number gives the sequence of the transaction in the register. These are carried across exactly as well; once they are mixed up, tracing the record becomes impossible.

Construction servitude, condominium ownership and the independent unit

In blocks of flats, ownership is established not over the whole plot but over a particular independent unit (bağımsız bölüm). Condominium ownership (kat mülkiyeti) is the full form of ownership, established once the building is finished and the occupancy permit has been issued. A construction servitude (kat irtifakı) is a provisional right established over a share in the land while the building is still unfinished.

This distinction matters to a bank or a court abroad, because the two offer different levels of security. Rendering a construction servitude as though it were condominium ownership presents the property as more complete than it is, and that misleads a lending assessment.

The land share is likewise written on the deed as a fraction, 24/1000 for example. It shows the flat’s share in the plot and should not be confused with co-ownership. The independent unit number, the block name and the floor are also carried over in full.

Shares, co-ownership and inheritance

The field most often missed on a title deed is the share ratio. Where a property belongs to more than one person, each owner’s share is written as a fraction. If that ratio is not plainly visible in the translation submitted to a foreign authority, the impression created is that the person owns the whole property.

Where property has passed by inheritance the picture becomes more complicated still. The shares set out in the certificate of inheritance are entered in the land registry and more than one owner appears on the deed. In inheritance proceedings conducted abroad the title deed is submitted together with the certificate of inheritance and the civil registry extract; the shares in all three must agree with one another.

The deed also has a section for annotations and declarations: mortgage, attachment, usufruct, the family residence annotation, a lease annotation. These lines show the encumbrances on the property and are the most critical information there is for a buyer or a lender. An empty annotations section is information too, and should be stated in the translation.

Property transactions by foreign nationals

For foreign nationals buying property in Türkiye, the registry procedure calls for a separate set of documents. A certified translation of the buyer’s passport, a tax identification number and, in most cases, dealing with the matter before a sworn translator at the land registry directorate all come into play; where a party does not speak Turkish, the translator is required to attend.

In this scenario translation is not something done afterwards, it is part of the transaction itself. The translator conveys the sale price, the description of the property and the declarations of the parties orally, and his or her name appears on the documents that are signed. The name must be spelled exactly as it is in the passport, and that spelling governs everything that follows.

Where an attorney acts on behalf of a foreign buyer, the power of attorney has to contain express authority relating to the sale of immovable property; general wording is not treated as sufficient. A power of attorney drawn up abroad is authenticated in the country of origin, then translated in Türkiye by a sworn translator and put through notarisation.

In the other direction, when someone who owns property in Türkiye has to present the deed to a bank or a court abroad, a certified translation and an apostille are asked for together. In that situation a current registry extract obtained from the land registry directorate is a stronger document than a deed of old date.

Older deed formats

Title deeds issued many years ago look nothing like today’s format. Handwriting is common on the old deed books, some entries were kept in the old script, and place names were written according to the administrative divisions of the period. Village and neighbourhood names may well have changed since.

Translating these documents calls for expertise of its own. The path to follow is to convey what the document says as it stands and to mark the passages that cannot be read; no “updating” to present-day administrative names is carried out. Where necessary, a current registry extract is obtained from the land registry directorate and submitted together with the old deed.

Units of measurement call for care as well. Old records may use dönüm and similar traditional units; these are not converted into square metres, they are left as they stand and explained where necessary. Every figure in the surface area field is preserved exactly.

On old deeds the nature of the property is also described in the language of its day: terms such as garden, field, vineyard or dwelling may not match today’s zoning classifications. These descriptions are carried over as they are; an attempt to fit them into present-day categories damages the historical accuracy of the document and creates room for argument in inheritance cases.

Purpose and level of approval

Purpose of use	Document needed alongside	Level of approval
Assets in a visa file	Property tax declaration	Sworn translation
Loan security abroad	Valuation report	Notarisation + apostille
Inheritance and transfer proceedings	Certificate of inheritance + civil registry extract	Notarisation + apostille
Division of property in a divorce	Court judgment	Notarisation + apostille
Investor programme application	Statement of assets	Notarised

Differences by country

In Germany land records rest on a detailed register, so the official reading your file will interpret the Turkish deed by analogy with that system; setting the annotations section out clearly makes the task easier. In Switzerland the process is cantonal, and which official language the document is translated into varies from canton to canton. In the United Arab Emirates only licensed translators may produce the translation, and consular legalisation may come into play. You can look at our countries page for the details.

Common mistakes in title deed translation

• Leaving out the share ratio and creating the impression of ownership of the whole property.
• Conveying a construction servitude as though it were condominium ownership.
• Trying to turn block and parcel numbers into address details.
• Leaving the annotations and declarations section out of the translation.
• “Updating” the place names on old deeds to their present-day forms.
• Spelling the owner’s name differently from the passport.

Let us put your property file together

A title deed is almost never submitted on its own; with the property tax declaration, the certificate of inheritance or a court judgment beside it, it forms a single whole. Within that whole, consistency in the spelling of names, in the share ratios and in the description of the property is what decides the outcome. Languages are set out on our languages page and provincial details on our provinces page; you can send your documents through the quote form.

The process described here is common practice; the current document list of the institution concerned is what counts. It is worth putting any point you are unsure about to that institution before you apply.