Goreme1990

Thank you for your faith in me Ken!

Hi Eddie, According to Turkish law you will need to use a Turkish accredited guide. I can put you in touch with someone who might be able to help if you like.

Yes they do. They knock the old building down and dig a new hole and pour new foundations. The question is whether the concrete is any good.

The developer always builds a new building with more apartments than in the original building. For example, in my building (still not finished) there were originally 10 apartments and 2 shops. The new building will have 18 apartments and 2 shops. The extra 8 apartments belong to the developer. This is how they make a profit.

And my answer was the short version too!

Interesting is not the word I would use! Initial talks were held about three years ago and the building was only just been knocked down in March of this year. In between we had numerous arguments (I have written a 3000 word essay on this I can't get published - I don't think anyone believes what I've written can possibly be true) and delays, including waiting for the son of one owner to get a POA. This process was initially held up because of summer court hiatus, then a first POA was granted but it was another 6 months before the son had permission to sign the contract on his mother's behalf. Just when that was about to happen, she died, so we had to wait for the inheritance to be sorted out (also delayed because of summer court hiatus). Just when everything seemed set to go, another owner died. In the meantime, we had to pay out our kapici who was retiring after 23 odd years (no one is exactly sure how long which led to, you guessed it, delays). As many of the owners were waiting to sign the redevelopment contract to get their rent and moving expenses money from the developer which they would then use to pay the kapici, that too was delayed. The poor man was living on nothing and naturally threatened to sue us. I paid him all the money on time and even now don't know what is happening with his court case and whether I'll be in trouble too even though I haven't done anything wrong. In theory our building will take 9-12 months to build but insallah, I will believe it when I see it.

I don't think any of us can tell you the average age of buildings in Istanbul. Maybe the IBB has that information. As to your other questions, provided a person legally owns (has a tapu in their name) an apartment in a building that is to be knocked down and rebuilt, they will be paid an agreed amount by the developer for moving expenses and rent for the period it takes to rebuild. How much and for how long will be determined in negotiations made and specified in the contract. Usually owners don't need to pay more money for the new apartment, unless of course this is negotiated with the developer because, for example. the new apartments will be bigger. However, if an owner doesn't agree to having the building knocked down and redeveloped, and they are in the minority, their apartment will be offered for sale to the other owners. If the other owners don't want to buy it, TOKI takes it over and auctions it off. This only happens if a person absolutely refuses to agree to the redevelopment but the majority of home owners want it.

If you haven't already bought one of my books, now's the time. During the month of April 2017, I will donate AUD$1 of the purchase price of my books about my life in Turkey (and my husband's book about Sydney in the 1960s). The money will go to Small Projects Istanbul, an NGO doing great things to help refugees living in Istanbul. Click on the link for more information and help me help others. Please share my post too! http://www.insideoutinistanbul.com/donation-to-small-projects-istanbul/

It's always frustrated me how little is included about the Kadikoy area, but then again it has provided me with the opportunity to fill the gap. When you do the tour let me know what you think.

At the risk of sounding boastful, you'll get a lot out of my audio tour. There's not much written about Kadikoy in guidebooks in English, and what there is is pretty standard. I put together information on all the places I really love, by asking lots of questions in Turkish and doing lots of research of websites written by Turkish historians and bloggers. Once you've done the tour, I'll be interested to know what you think.

If you're planning to visit Istanbul soon and are looking for something new to do, check out my new audio tour of Kadikoy. Called "Stepping back through Chalcedon", I've combined my love of the area with my fascination for history to create a unique walk which tells you things about the area you'd find hard to discover on your own. Here's what Wandering Educators have to say about it. https://www.wanderingeducators.com/best/traveling/stepping-back-through-chalcedon-kadikoy-walk-audio-tour.html

As long as you are here on an official resident permit, now called a Short Term Resident Permit (STRP), and you have no breaks between your residence permits, those years are all counted towards citizenship applications. It doesn't matter that it is a STRP for touristic purposes, it is still a RP, and not a tourist visa. You don't mention which office you have applied to or whether you are speaking in English or Turkish. Is it possible they are confused about the difference between a Residence Permit for tourism purposes (1 year duration), and a tourist visa (90/180 days)? Also, you mention you shouldn't accrue more than 6 months with the wrong status. As things stand there can't be ANY breaks in your residence status if you want to apply for citizenship. Finally, unless the law has changed very recently, owning property does not give you the right to citizenship.

Once again thanks for your compliment. You can click the follow button on my blog and receive automatic notifications of my new posts if you like. FYI I've also written 3 books about Turkey. If you buy a copy of any of them (paperback or ebook) though Amazon before the end of March, I'll donate AUD$1 per book to Small Projects Istanbul. They're a great NGO helping Syrians in Istanbul. Here's a story I wrote about them last month. http://www.yourmiddleeast.com/culture/small-projects-istanbul-little-things-make-big-things-happen-in-syrian-community_38647

Are you sure that is what the articale is about. The last part talks about "the taxation of income derived from the renting of immovable properties by foreigners", ie paying tax on income derived from property owned in Turkey.. Isn't this just about paying tax on any rent earned on a property you own here?

Thanks for sharing my post Daniel!