Real Estate Agents in Turkey: Licence, Fee and Contract
What a real estate agent (emlakçı) in Türkiye needs to hold and may charge: the licence, the written contract, the fee limit and the listing check.
Table of Contents
An emlakçı (a real estate agent) in Türkiye works under a yetki belgesi, a trade licence that belongs to the business. The regulation caps the service fee at 4 % of a sale and one month’s rent for a rental, before KDV (value added tax), and asks for the terms in writing.
In short · checked 29.10.2026
Check the licence, read the fee line.
- Licence: only a business with a yetki belgesi may broker property sales and rentals. Anyone can look a business up on TTBS (Taşınmaz Ticareti Bilgi Sistemi), the Ministry of Trade’s property-trade information system.
- Papers: the services and the fee go into a written yetkilendirme sözleşmesi (authorisation contract), in at least two copies.
- Fee: at most 4 % of the sale price, or one month’s rent for a rental, before KDV. Both sides share it equally unless the contract sets a different split. Nothing may be charged for showing a property.
- Ads: an agent’s online ilan (listing) shows the licence number. EİDS (Elektronik İlan Doğrulama Sistemi), the Ministry’s ad-verification system, checks who may post it.
- Dated notice: a Safe Payment System for sales is coming. On 28.09.2026 the Ministry said a regulation change will set its mandatory start to 01.12.2026 (chapter 6).
The agent’s desk
Pick sale or rental, type a price, and the tape shows the most a fee can be.
The amounts open on example figures. Try your own: nothing you type is sent anywhere.
Sale · example amount, not a price level
- Both sides equally (the rule)
- Buyer only
- Seller only
- Sale price in the contract1,000,000 TL
- Fee: at most 4 % of it40,000 TL
- KDV, 20 %, added on top8,000 TL
- Fee and KDV, at most48,000 TL
- Buyer pays24,000 TL
- Seller pays24,000 TL
Yetkilendirme sözleşmesiAuthorisation contract · a sample page, not a real form
- Yetki belgesi nolicence number
- Taraflarthe parties
- Hizmetlerthe services
Shared equally by buyer and seller: the rule, unless the contract sets a different split.The contract makes the buyer pay the whole fee.The contract makes the seller pay the whole fee.
En az iki nüshaat least two copies
Clipboard · ask for it in Turkish
- Yetki belgesi numaranızı alabilir miyim?May I have your licence number?
- Hizmet bedelini ve KDV’yi yetkilendirme sözleşmesine yazar mısınız?Will you write the fee and KDV into the authorisation contract?
- Hizmet bedeli satış bedelinin yüzde dördünden fazla mı?Is the fee more than four per cent of the sale price?
- Hizmet bedelini alıcı ve satıcı nasıl paylaşıyor?How do the buyer and the seller share the fee?
- İmzaladığım her belgenin bir suretini alabilir miyim?May I have a copy of every paper I sign?
The rule: the fee is at most 4 % of the sale price written in the contract, before KDV. Buyer and seller share it equally unless the contract sets a different split.
Rental · example amount, not a price level
- Both sides equally (the rule)
- Tenant only
- Landlord only
- Rent for one month20,000 TL
- Fee: at most one month’s rent20,000 TL
- KDV, 20 %, added on top4,000 TL
- Fee and KDV, at most24,000 TL
- Tenant pays12,000 TL
- Landlord pays12,000 TL
Yetkilendirme sözleşmesiAuthorisation contract · a sample page, not a real form
- Yetki belgesi nolicence number
- Taraflarthe parties
- Hizmetlerthe services
Shared equally by tenant and landlord: the rule, unless the contract sets a different split.The contract makes the tenant pay the whole fee.The contract makes the landlord pay the whole fee.
En az iki nüshaat least two copies
Clipboard · ask for it in Turkish
- Yetki belgesi numaranızı alabilir miyim?May I have your licence number?
- Hizmet bedelini ve KDV’yi yetkilendirme sözleşmesine yazar mısınız?Will you write the fee and KDV into the authorisation contract?
- Hizmet bedeli bir aylık kiradan fazla mı?Is the fee more than one month’s rent?
- Hizmet bedelini kiracı ve ev sahibi nasıl paylaşıyor?How do the tenant and the landlord share the fee?
- İmzaladığım her belgenin bir suretini alabilir miyim?May I have a copy of every paper I sign?
The rule: the fee is at most one month’s rent written in the contract, before KDV. Tenant and landlord share it equally unless the contract sets a different split.
Caps and rules: the regulation text as the Ministry’s provincial pages print it (page of 28.01.2026). The Ministry names a later change of 29.04.2026 (safe payment, licence fees). Example amounts are not price levels.
A licence belongs to the business
Property brokerage in Türkiye is done by businesses that hold a yetki belgesi: a trade licence for taşınmaz ticareti, which means brokering the sale and rental of land and buildings. The Ticaret İl Müdürlüğü (the Ministry’s provincial trade directorate) issues it. The agent behind the desk is an employee of that business.
Brokering for others
A business that brokers the sale or rental of property, markets it or provides the linked services needs a licence. It is issued for one business and one address, and it cannot be handed to another.
Your own property
A person who sells or rents out their own registered property needs none. Neither does a developer selling its own units; it needs one to broker someone else’s.
Sözleşmeli işletme
A business that works under a main business’s licence, on a written contract with it. It has its own licence, which names the main business’s licence number.
The advisors
The agent (emlak danışmanı) is an employee. The responsible advisor holds a level 5 vocational qualification certificate; staff who sell hold level 4.
What a licence names
- The business
- Its registered title and its address. The licence is issued for that address.
- Registry number
- The MERSİS number (the central trade-registry number); for a sole trader, the name and ID number.
- Issued by
- The Ticaret İl Müdürlüğü of the province, through TTBS, within 10 days of a complete application.
Source: regulation on property trade, arts. 4 to 7 and 10; its text on a provincial page (art. 5, fifth paragraph); Ministry questions on sector trade (23.01.2024).
Check a licence in a minute
Anyone can look a business up. The Ministry runs TTBS, and its public page Yetki Belgesi Sorgula (look up a licence) answers whether a business holds one. The Ministry also publishes the list of licensed businesses on its website.
- Ask for the number. It is printed on the contract and in every agent’s ad. The business can say it; the lookup also has fields for the business title and the province.Yetki belgesi numaranızı alabilir miyim?May I have your licence number?
- Open the lookup. Yetki Belgesi Sorgula on TTBS has three search fields: the licence number, the business title (unvan) and the province (il). Under them is a short security question; then press Ara (search).
- Compare. The business title and the province should match the contract, the ad and the sign on the door.
- If nothing fits, write to the Ticaret İl Müdürlüğü of the province (chapter 7).
Source: TTBS, licence lookup and TTBS questions; regulation on property trade, arts. 11, 14 and 15; Aydın provincial page; Ministry, 14.10.2020.
The three papers
Three written papers carry the deal. Before each signature the agent has to give you time to read, explain the clauses, and hand you a copy of every signed paper.
Authorisation contract
Owner and business sign it (yetkilendirme sözleşmesi). It names the licence number, the responsible advisor, the services and the fee, each side’s rights and duties, how long it runs and where notices go.
Showing slip
The buyer or tenant signs a taşınmaz gösterme belgesi for each property, one slip per person. It carries the fee rate or amount. Nothing may be charged for showing.
Brokerage contract
A sale contract states the price, how it is paid, the fee, and how buyer and seller share the tapu (title deed) fee and the revolving-fund fee. A rental contract states the rent, its yearly increase and the fee.
What the agent has to do with the papers
- Time: enough time to read each paper before you sign it.
- Explanation: what the clauses say.
- Copies: a copy of every signed paper.
- Offers: every offer and counter-offer, in writing or electronically.
If the owner is dealt with directly
If you were shown a property on a showing slip and then buy or rent it straight from the owner while the authorisation contract still runs, the agent who issued the slip still earns the fee. A contract may also carry a withdrawal fee or a penalty only if both sides agree to it, and not higher than the agent’s total fee.
Source: regulation on property trade, arts. 14 to 17, 19 and 20.
The fee and what it can be
The fee is the hizmet bedeli (service fee; shops often say komisyon). The agent earns it when the service named in the authorisation contract is given. The regulation caps it, and the contracts have to state it.
Regulation on property trade
At most 4 % of a sale, one month’s rent for a rental.
Before KDV. The cap is counted on the price or rent written in the contract, without KDV. KDV (katma değer vergisi, value added tax) is added on top; the general rate is 20 % (since 10.07.2023).
One fee. One property, one fee: even with separate contracts for each side, or an added service, only one fee may be taken, and it stays within the cap.
Shared. Both sides pay it equally unless the sale or rental contract sets a different split. At the full 4 %, that is 2 % each, plus the KDV on each share.
Regulation on property trade, art. 20; Ministry, 14.10.2020; KDV rates list.
Can the agent ask for more than the cap?
No. The Ministry has said that fees over the caps bring an administrative sanction, and that a business that insists loses its licence (14.10.2020).
Can the agent charge for showing a property?
No. Nothing may be asked for showing.
Who pays the fee?
Both sides, equally, unless the sale or rental contract sets a different split. The desk shows each case.
Is the tapu fee part of the agent’s fee?
No. The tapu harcı is a state fee. The sale contract states how buyer and seller share it. For the amounts, see House Prices in Turkey.
Can a contract carry a withdrawal fee?
Only if both sides agree to it in the contract, and it cannot be higher than the agent’s total fee.
Caps and rules: the regulation text as the Ministry’s provincial pages print it (page of 28.01.2026). The Ministry names a later change of 29.04.2026 (safe payment, licence fees).
Online listings and who may post them
An ilan on a property website has two checks behind it: what the agent has to print in it, and who the state lets post it.
What an agent’s ad shows
- The business: licence number, business title and contact details.
- The property: province, district, neighbourhood, block (ada) and parcel (parsel), and the energy certificate data if there is one.
- Taken down within 3 days after the sale, the rental, a withdrawal or the end of the contract.
- Not allowed: an ad for a property the business has no authority for.
- The owner finds the property number (taşınmaz numarası) in the e-Devlet service Tapu Bilgileri Sorgulama (e-Devlet is the state’s online public-services portal), or on a new-type title deed.
- The owner authorises the business in e-Devlet under EİDS Taşınmaz İlanı Yetkilendirme İşlemleri: picks the property, enters the business’s licence number and an end date at least 3 months away.
- The business posts the ad. The listing site enters the property number, and EİDS checks the authority on the spot.
Who may post (EİDS)
- The owner
- Or the owner’s spouse.
- Relatives
- Mother, father, child, grandparents, grandchild and sibling.
- A licensed business
- One the owner has authorised in e-Devlet. A business without a licence cannot be authorised.
Since when
- 01.11.2023
- Identity of the poster checked.
- 15.09.2024
- Authority checked; ads that passed show the EİDS logo.
- 01.01.2025
- No ad without the check.
What the authority covers
The authority is for posting the ad only. It does not cover any tapu transaction, and it does not replace the authorisation contract, the showing slip or the brokerage contract.
Since 30.05.2025 · price rises in listings
A change to the regulation, in force on 30.05.2025, bans price rises in online listings that do not match general economic data and have no justified reason. Businesses may not broker such listings. Owners, too, can face an administrative sanction (Ministry statement of 30.05.2025).
Source: regulation on property trade, arts. 12 and 14; its text on a provincial page (art. 12, third paragraph); Ministry, EİDS, 17.09.2024; Aydın provincial page; Ministry, 30.05.2025.
At the tapu office
The tapu (title deed) is the state’s record of who owns a property. It is kept at the tapu müdürlüğü, the land registry office of the Tapu ve Kadastro Genel Müdürlüğü (TKGM). The agent works there only as far as the authorisation contract allows.
What the agent may do there
- Errands: at the tapu and tax offices only if the authorisation contract names them.
- Shared costs: the sale contract states how buyer and seller share the tapu fee and the revolving-fund fee (döner sermaye).
- An EİDS authority covers the ad only, not a tapu transaction.
Dated notice · Safe Payment System
The system is for sales paid in whole or in part by cash, bank transfer or electronic funds transfer. It makes the transfer of ownership and the payment happen at the same moment.
- 28.09.2026
- A regulation change will set the mandatory start to 01.12.2026. A pilot is foreseen once the banks’ systems are ready.
- 26.06.2026
- The start was moved from 01.07.2026 to 01.10.2026.
The steps at the office, and the fees
The steps at the tapu office, the title deed fee and the rules for foreign buyers are on House Prices in Turkey. A sale can also be made at a notary; see Notary in Turkey for that and for a power of attorney when the buyer is abroad.
Source: regulation on property trade, arts. 13 and 16; Ministry, EİDS, 17.09.2024; Safe Payment: Ministry, 28.09.2026, 26.06.2026 and 29.04.2026.
If something goes wrong
The Ministry of Trade supervises property trade, and it takes complaints through its provincial trade directorates.
- Gather the papers. The authorisation contract, the showing slip, the brokerage contract and the ad: the regulation requires each of them.
- Write to the Ticaret İl Müdürlüğü of the province where the office stands.
- Or ask by phone. The Ministry’s call centre is 444 8 482 (printed on TTBS), and ALO 175 is its consumer information line.
What the rules say can follow a breach
- The licence
- It is cancelled if a breach is not put right within the period the Ministry sets (at least 10 days), or is repeated in the same calendar year. No new licence is given for a year.
- Listing sites
- They have to offer a phone line and at least one online way to send requests and complaints about ads.
Source: regulation on property trade, arts. 9, 12 and 22; TTBS; Ministry of Trade.
Questions to ask in Turkish
The lines ask for what the rules already require. A press on Copy puts a line on the clipboard, ready to paste into a message.
Questions to ask in Turkish
Copy a line, or the whole sheet, and send it.
Each line is a plain question. Its meaning is under it. They follow what the regulation asks of the papers and of the agent.
For any deal
- Yetki belgesi numaranızı alabilir miyim?May I have your licence number?
- Hizmet bedeli ve KDV sözleşmede yazıyor mu?Are the fee and KDV written in the contract?
- Hizmet bedelini kim ödüyor, nasıl paylaşılıyor?Who pays the fee, and how is it shared?
- İmzaladığım her belgenin bir suretini alabilir miyim?May I have a copy of every paper I sign?
- Taşınmaz gösterme belgesinde hizmet bedeli yazıyor mu?Does the showing slip state the fee?
- İlan için EİDS yetkisi verilmiş mi?Has an EİDS authority been given for the ad?
For a sale
- Hizmet bedeli satış bedelinin yüzde dördünden fazla mı?Is the fee more than four per cent of the sale price?
- Satış bedeli ve ödeme yöntemi sözleşmede yazıyor mu?Are the sale price and the way it is paid written in the contract?
- Tapu harcını ve döner sermaye bedelini alıcı ile satıcı nasıl paylaşıyor?How do buyer and seller share the tapu fee and the revolving-fund fee?
- Tapu müdürlüğündeki işlemleri siz mi yapacaksınız, sözleşmede yazıyor mu?Will you do the errands at the tapu office, and is that written in the contract?
For a rental
- Hizmet bedeli bir aylık kiradan fazla mı?Is the fee more than one month’s rent?
- Kira bedeli ve yıllık artış oranı sözleşmede yazıyor mu?Are the rent and its yearly increase written in the contract?
- Hizmet bedelini kiracı ve ev sahibi nasıl paylaşıyor?How do the tenant and the landlord share the fee?
Sources and limits
Everything here comes from the regulation on property trade and the Ministry of Trade’s pages. Nothing here judges a particular contract or agent, and nothing here is advice on prices, areas or purchases.
- Taşınmaz Ticareti Hakkında Yönetmelik, published 05.06.2018, consolidated through the change of 31.08.2023 — Ministry of Trade, Mersin provincial directorate, checked 29.10.2026
- Taşınmaz ticareti yetki belgesi verilmesi, the regulation text, page of 28.01.2026 — Ministry of Trade, Antalya provincial directorate, checked 29.10.2026
- Taşınmaz ticareti yetki belgesi işlemleri — Ministry of Trade, Aydın provincial directorate, checked 29.10.2026
- Sektörel ticaret, questions on the regulation, 23.01.2024 — Ministry of Trade, checked 29.10.2026
- Emlakçılık faaliyetlerinde yeni düzen, 14.10.2020 — Ministry of Trade, checked 29.10.2026
- Yetki Belgesi Sorgula and questions — TTBS, Ministry of Trade, checked 29.10.2026
- EİDS Yetki Doğrulama Uygulaması Hayata Geçirildi, 17.09.2024 — Ministry of Trade, checked 29.10.2026
- Taşınmaz Ticareti Hakkında Yönetmelikte yapılan değişikliğe ilişkin basın açıklaması, 30.05.2025 — Ministry of Trade, checked 29.10.2026
- Yetki belgelerindeki yenileme ve tadil işlemlerine yönelik yönetmelik değişiklikleri, 29.04.2026, Safe Payment, 26.06.2026, press statement, 28.09.2026 — Ministry of Trade, checked 29.10.2026
- Güncel KDV oranları, general rate 20 % since 10.07.2023 — Revenue Administration (GİB), checked 29.10.2026
