Kat İrtifakı vs Kat Mülkiyeti: Two Types of Turkish Tapu

Anyone who reads the title deed of an apartment in Turkey soon meets two long Turkish terms: Kat İrtifakı and Kat Mülkiyeti. They sound similar, and brochures rarely stop to explain them, yet they describe two different stages in the life of a building and of your ownership. This guide explains what each one means, why a building usually moves from one to the other, and what a buyer should check on the deed.

What Kat İrtifakı means

Kat İrtifakı is the type of title deed usually issued while a building is still under construction or has not yet received its occupancy permit. The land is registered in shared ownership, and each buyer holds a share of it together with the right to build and own a specific apartment in the future building. In other words, you are registered as the owner of a defined home that does not yet exist in its final form. This is the normal route for projects sold during construction, and it gives the buyer a recorded legal right to a particular unit rather than a mere promise.

What Kat Mülkiyeti means

Kat Mülkiyeti, often translated as condominium ownership, is the full title deed for an individual apartment in a completed building. Here the apartment itself is the registered property, together with its share of the land and of the common parts of the building. It is the type of deed that most people have in mind when they say they own a flat. It is also the form that is normally expected when a home is being sold on, rented out or presented for any official procedure that asks for a completed property.

Why the deed changes after the İskan

The step between the two types is the occupancy permit, the İskan, which we explain in a separate article on this blog. When construction is finished and the municipality has inspected the building and issued the İskan, the units can be converted from Kat İrtifakı to Kat Mülkiyeti at the Land Registry. This is why a project under construction normally carries the first type, while a completed building with its occupancy permit carries the second. The change of type does not change who owns the home; it records that the building now exists as approved and that your apartment is a finished, separately registered unit.

What to check on the deed

Ask which type of title deed the home has today and what has to happen before it changes. For a home under construction, ask when the conversion to Kat Mülkiyeti is expected and who is responsible for the procedure. For a completed home, ask to see the İskan and confirm that the deed refers to the same building, block and apartment number that you are buying. Check also that the area, the floor and the share of the land match the sales documents, and ask whether there is any mortgage or lien registered on the property. A careful buyer asks for these documents before paying, not after.

On this site, CasaBlu Vadi in Beylikdüzü is an ongoing project, so the questions above are exactly the ones to put to our team about its title deed stage. Marmara Haven Villa in Büyükçekmece shows its documents on a Verified Project Card confirmed by the HADARA team, with an independent title deed (Müstakil Tapu), a building permit and an occupancy permit shown as issued. Lotus Yalı is a completed project that is ready to move in, and you can ask us for its documents before you decide. The conditions are per current law and may change.

HADARA, your real estate partner in Istanbul, is happy to explain the documents of any project and to tell you which ones to request. Contact us or book a private video tour to choose the homes that interest you, then visit Istanbul to see them in person.