Bill on foreign property sale ‘to pass soon’
After a decision by the Constitutional Court went into effect on Wednesday, effectively freezing all property sales to foreigners, the government swiftly completed a new bill regulating such sales, which sources close to the government said yesterday will soon be passed in Parliament.
All sales to foreigners across the country were frozen under the directive issued by the Land Registry General Directorate of the Public Works Ministry since the Constitutional Court ruling went into effect on Wednesday. The Constitutional Court canceled a single article of the law that gave authority to the Cabinet to remove limits on property sales to foreigners -- set at 2.5 hectares -- as long as the total area sold to foreigners does not exceed 30 hectares and is not more than 0.5 percent of the area of a province.
Under the directive, sales to foreign nationals and foreign companies will remain frozen unless a second directive stating otherwise is issued. The directive sent shockwaves through the investment world in Turkey, but the government said the Cabinet had already drafted and opened for signature a new bill on property sales that would swiftly end the chaos.
The new bill proposes taking the area of districts, instead of provinces, as a reference for determining the limit of land sales to foreigners. Later, the Cabinet will still have the right to review and allow purchase of more land in special cases, as long as the total area sold to a foreigner does not exceed this upper limit.
The draft was finished yesterday by the Land Registry General Directorate. Areas that will not be available for sale to foreigners based on their strategic location will be decided by the Cabinet based on proposals and opinions submitted by the relevant agencies. The Cabinet will assess the strategic importance of a location based on infrastructure, economy, energy resources, environmental conditions, cultural properties, security and agriculture.
State Minister for the Treasury Mehmet ?im?ek, currently on a visit to New York, had said on Wednesday evening that the government was working on passing a new draft to replace the law annulled by the Constitutional Court. “A new draft in harmony with the ruling of the court is under way, and we hope to pass it in Parliament in the near future,” he said, speaking to the Anatolia news agency.
Those in the real estate sector had warned that the suspension of property sales was a major threat to foreign investment Turkey, calling on the government to fix the problem as quickly as possible. 18.04.2008 Today’s Zaman