7 replies to this topic

[mummybear]

Hi, don't know where to put this so if its wrong will someone move to the right section. We have owned an apartment in Tosmur, Alanya for a year, the first year we paid service charge to guy who we bought it through and all was fine. Then in September this year now that we thought we trusted our agent, we arrived in alanya and decided rather than leave the money in apartment we would give it to our agent for the next year. I know stupid move really as we had no agreement for this year, but assumed we could trust him, so just paid up. Paid him for service, property tax, maintenance charge, electric bill, water bill etc etc. Supposedly he was so busy on this visit he didnt have time to bring the bill copies etc. But would email them, this was 4th september, nothing followed despite various reminders. Have just returned from 5 day break and despite asking no sign of our agent or the bill copies etc. My daughter stayed on for another 5 days and yet again was supposed to be given the bills, but when she finally saw him last night they were supposedly locked in the office and he couldnt get them!!! In the meantime my daughter had to give him20 euros for the laundry of 3 bed sheets, 4 towels, 4 pillowcases, 2 tea towels, which he was quite stroppy about. Why is this not in our original agreement as there was not a charge mentioned he just said they did it. Also how much does it actually cost for the list of items to be laundered. I have been told only about 15 lira, by a resident is this true. Finally he was supposed to sort out our earthquake insurance in september and said it was 45 lira, he now reckons it cost 100 lira and he had to use some of the money we paid him. I am getting the feeling that he is a con artist, but am very worried that I dont know that the bills have been paid and will then find out we are in debt. I also suspect that when we were unable to get there due to illness in the summer he had rented the place out on the sly, as there was a cup broken and gone, sofa bed was not how we left it and 6 toilet rolls had been used. Obviously I cant prove it but it seems to be too obvious.

Is there anyone who can advise me the cost of earthquake insurance and how I can find out wether all the bills have been paid.. Plus what do i do next to stop this?

[sunny]

I agree it sounds as if you are being taken for a ride. I'm not sure without visiting the offices of the various utilities in person how you can find out if the bills have been paid. Perhaps, if you are in contact with someone who lives in the area they could make enquiries.
The laundry bill does sound very expensive too. Turks often use aggression as part of defence to prevent people asking awkward questions.
For the future, the next time you are out here, open a Turkish lira bank account (you need to go to the tax office first and get a number), take along your utility bills and they will set up automatic payment for you, direct debit.
You can pay the council tax yourself when you visit any time between February and May.

[Cukurbagli]

If he has taken out earthquake insurance for you he will have the policy and the receipt for the money. If not he hasn't done it and you will need to do it yourself. Visit any insurance office, they will be happy to help.

[JANSTER]

If he has taken out earthquake insurance for you he will have the policy and the receipt for the money. If not he hasn't done it and you will need to do it yourself. Visit any insurance office, they will be happy to help.

If you think he has been renting the place out then just change the locks it very easy to do all hardwear shops sell lock barrels just unscrew the lock and replace bottom lock. About £10.00
That will stop him electric and water is easy just ask where to pay that's what we did take the numbers off the metre and all the diffrent tarift and the same for the water number and metre reading.
They will tell yo if the bills have been paid or not then you can nail his ass.

[benhalterci]

I would completely agree with Sunny.
By the way folks, being ripped off regarding utilities doesn't just happen in Turkey. My German landlord kept my phone bill in his name, kept asking for money to 'top it up' and never showed me the bills. Stupidly I was intimidated by him and never challenged him. The bills were not outlandishly high but I always felt higher than the low telephone usage I had there.
I would immediately get all the utilities put in your name. You don't say if you have the tapu but this is not necessary. Get the tapu holder to make out a rental contract to you and this will enable the utilities to be put in your name. This is what I did since I don't have my tapu. Additionally, you have to show the utility people your passport and ikamet.

[Mur]

We just bought an apartment in tosmur as well and we have found out that the property management agent (agent)was never elected by anybody, he bought some of the unsold properties from the developer 5 years ago before the site was completed, other people had already bought their apartments as well. The agent called the first AGM the week after we bought our apartment we were not invited, only 5 apartments out of 21 showed up at the meeting but they did not follow the law and just elected a board from the people at the meeting. It is all very dodgy and I am trying to find the contact details of other apartment owners without much success as they mostly use the apartments for holidays not to live in.

I understand how you feel and unless people stand together and put pressure on the authorities nothing will change.
Mur

[Abi]

As you say Mur it does sound very dodgy indeed especially as you weren't invited and totally agree that you do need to stand together. I wish you luck trying to locate other owners because you do need to sort it out. Apart from the apartments the Property Management Agent brought do you think the rest of the owners would be British?. Also do you know if some of them may rent out their apartments in the holiday period as I was thinking you they may advertise them on the internet and you might pick up some owners that way.

Good luck

[saffron]

For the electricty bill, you can go to the local electricty distributor, tell the name of the person who is the addressee of the bills. With that reference they will tell you if the bill was paid or not. If the same person is liable for paying bills of more than one counter, then take the respective number with you, to guarantee to get the right information. You can follow a similar process for water bills, but this time you have to go to the municipality - belediye.
For property tax, you have to go to the tax office : maliye.