6 replies to this topic

[annebutterworth]

There is a PROPERTY SCANDAL along the coast from Kadriye eastwards caused by an unscrupulous developer called HASSAN OZDEMIR from Manavgat/Side.
For years he has been buying properties (mainly in co-operatives) in need of renovation and selling them on to British people I believe . He got his customers by an intermediary advertising in British golf magazines, and so it is the British people living here who are affected by his fraudulent activities.
He tricked people by saying foreigners could not buy from original Turkish owners. People paid him for their homes and have been living in them for years waiting trustingly for their tapus, unaware that it was necessary to apply with a lawyer. My own tapu was cleared last April but Hassan has been evasive about going to the tapu office.
Now some homeowners are suing him,UNAWARE that having won their cases against Hassan ,other people's houses (maybe neighbours) are being auctioned to satisfy the claims. At auction they achieve less than half the value Hassan sold them for, and appear to be purchased by lawyers. The poor people living in the houses have no prior warning of the auction, then they are served eviction notices. Most of them are part-time occupiers and presumably will not get the letter. It is possible they could arrive for their holiday and find strangers in their houses and their belongings gone.
The consequences of this situation will affect co-operative owners in general as their properties will lose value once it is widely known that similar houses can be bought for so little at auction.
On behalf of all the people involved I would like all lawsuits and auctions STOPPED immediately until this matter has been investigated by the authorities.
When this news reaches the Turkish and British media it is going to have a very detrimental effect on house sales and tourism. I also believe Turkey's reputation will be tarnished.
As an interested party I await your prompt reply.


Yours faithfully,
Anne Butterworth (living in Kadriye)


Copied to
Prime Minister
Minister for Housing
Minister for Tourism
Mayors of
Kadriye
Belek
Manavgat
Side

No replies! If you know anyone having probs with this man please contact me

[sunny]

Thank you for this information Ms Butterworth. This is indeed a terrible situation for the people involved. Please keep us posted as to the outcome of your letter.

[Ken]

Hi Anne and welcome! Firstly thanks very much for alerting everyone to this. I'm particularly interested in these property scams, and it sounds like this is a mixture of some others.

Please understand I don't mean to pick this apart, but I don't quite understand what crime or civil offense might have been committed, so if I may I'd like to ask some questions.

It sounds like yet another iteration of the "who really owns the property" scam which is probably the most common in Turkey. It also sounds like the price inflation scam where the agent marks it up above what it's actually being sold for, then pockets a huge windfall.

Let me go through this in my head and see if I've got this right.

The developer buys houses and fixes them up and re-sells them at a higher price. Foreigners give their money in trust to the developer and move in with no tapu, assuming that the developer will take care of everything, without a lawyer involved, presumably because the developer says it isn't necessary (I've heard that one a lot). The developer doesn't transfer the tapu and does something else that I'm not clear on here.

My own tapu was cleared last April but Hassan has been evasive about going to the tapu office.

When you say "cleared," do you mean the military clearance, and that it's ready to be transferred? Did he tell you that or do you know this for sure from the tapu office?

For years he has been buying properties (mainly in co-operatives) in need of renovation and selling them on to British people I believe .

Okay so he's buying them, so the titles first transfer to him as the owner. Then he's selling them to British people, so the titles pass to the British people. Everything seems to be okay so far.

He tricked people by saying foreigners could not buy from original Turkish owners.

So he lied about the procedure...

People paid him for their homes and have been living in them for years waiting trustingly for their tapus, unaware that it was necessary to apply with a lawyer.

So far I'm only seeing that people don't have their tapus yet. Nobody has checked with the tapu office? Was anything signed to transfer the properties or to document that money was paid for the properties?

Now some homeowners are suing him,

suing him for what? That is, how were they harmed by this?

other people's houses (maybe neighbours) are being auctioned to satisfy the claims.

So the tapus, at least on the properties being auctioned and sold, are still in his name. But why aren't the plaintiffs suing to get their own houses? How is it that they are being awarded other houses as well?

Thanks for your patience on this, I'm trying to wrap my head around this whole thing.

[tedinturkey]

Hi Anne
Please send me a copy of your tapu you cant get a tapu unless you sign at the office
My wife is a Turkish Architect she will tell you more details if she can see it.
You may only have a share it may be a counterfeit or something else.
You cant own property in Turkey unless you have a police station serving your area
You all must visit the kaymakam office
Where are you
Ted

[sunandsea]

Hi Anne,

I am one of them who have bought from Hassan in early2005. It brought back memories so much of uncertainties in your mind. I like many others have succumb to the thought that it is going to be many years before I get my Tapu. I really don't know what to think of him. Spoke to him last week, to get some money that was suppose to be paid to head office but was shock that payment has not been made and has risen to 6,000Lira!! which I had to pay to avoid further interest.

He said he will return me the money back as soon as his money is cleared by Tax Office. As at the moment he is on a Tax investigation but he is still as arrogant as before. No solicitors can touch him.

To be fair to him, it was our own kind the British people who ripped us off!! HIs partner a so called ex policeman and son and few others British who were all there when I bought the house.

My stupid assumption, was "Oh, we have an ex cop here and all this British here, they must know what they are doing". I asked alot of questions and all seems to be like a push of the button!! And once it was bought their attitude changes so quickly they don't want to know us.

But in no time, my husband got a great shock when we had to pay 1200ytl the next month for security a month!!! Unbelivevable!!

and Tapu is not going to come neither is the swimming pool!!

At one stage during the years, the augument became so heated the son Tracy of the ex cop tried to throw me out of the office or lock me up and leave the office, I refused to bulge and said if he did that i will just ring the police.


I belive there are around 8 British families in my complex. Most bought from Home Sweet Home. Unfortunately I myself would not like to talk openly as I am trying to sell my property.

It is a painful lesson we have all learned, we should always, remember as we are an older generation looking for some kind of quality of life. We tend to switch off to holiday mode which we don't do it when we are back home buying a house or large investment!!

Regards, Hope things goes better for you.

[janeb]

Hi Anne,
I know it is from sometime ago but I have just seen your story about Hasan Ozdemir.
We gave money to Hasan end of 2006 to buy a property for us which we eventually found out he had never done.
Our case has been with solicitors for 2 years now and we are getting no information except that we have a case and the police are looking for him.
We are coming out to Side in 2 weeks time and have been told we should make a statement with prosecutor in Manavgat but that is as much help as we seem to be able to get.
Do you have any further information that might help us.
Thanking you in anticipation.
janeb

[Abi]

Hi Jane and welcome to our forum I see you managed to add a reply, well done.

I am hoping one of our lawyer members will see this post and maybe be able to give you some advice.

Hope you manage to sort something out.