The issue of rent/eviction and what is being overlooked

In my first article for 12 Punto, I wanted to discuss the rent/eviction issue that has affected the vast majority of us over the last 2 years, as well as the aspects of urban transformation that are generally overlooked. I hope to raise awareness among readers who are not legal professionals.

In recent years, after the high cost of food, we have been dealing most with the housing problem. At the point we have reached, there is no one who has not been touched by this problem in some way. A homeless generation is coming, and tenants naturally tend not to leave the property they have rented unless a decisive event occurs.

For this reason, the subject has long since moved beyond the dimension of right or wrong; economic, not legal, justifications guide the decisions made, and the law is now seen only as a means of enforcement.

A landlord who earns little return from a property worth millions can get what they want by pressing all the legal buttons, leaving the tenant, who is wary of this litigation burden, with no choice but to vacate.

While there are many ways to evict under different laws, a strategy of exhausting the other party—like Putin—proves successful. Conversely, tenants have no public support other than legal aid financed by the Ministry.

Under these circumstances, if housing loan interest rates are lowered as they are before every general election, we may see these cases conclude with settlements as tenants purchase the homes they live in at a relatively reasonable value. Of course, in this scenario, there is also the possibility that a tenant who does not let a real estate agent inside could sit at the bargaining table with a 1-0 advantage, and a landlord who enters this period without a tenant could make a significant profit.

In the second part of the article, I want to enter the subject of urban transformation.

In our country, zoning legislation and practice are generally far from helping the citizen. And unfortunately, Istanbul's February 6 is approaching.

Turkey's heart is about to have a crisis, and we are not even 1% ready. At worst, the country faces a loss of independence, and at best, a loss of qualified labor. Therefore, I am of the opinion that resorting to extraordinary measures in the current situation would not be an exaggeration.

As of November 9, 2024, the decision quorum in urban transformation was reduced from 2/3 to 51%. We will now see that rapid decisions made by a simple majority will naturally bring more irregularities, injustices, and lawlessness.

Without allowing for these, I would prefer public interventions rather than enduring economic necessities individually. It is very clear that we must save Istanbul with a completely different method and immediately.

Forcing citizens who have been unable to renovate their dilapidated buildings for so many years for a thousand and one reasons to make sudden and rapid decisions cannot transform Istanbul. We would only have conducted an experiment in failing to transform urban areas and created a new, domestic, and national problem.

Istanbul is too special to be left only to Istanbulites and is a vital place for our country; the renewal of this historic city could be the reason for us to settle in Istanbul in a planned and orderly manner for the first time in 500 years.

Our city, which will always carry the risk of an earthquake, needs to transform freely as if an earthquake has already occurred.

Istanbul needs to be renewed on a block/neighborhood basis under public protection, not on the parcel/citizen-contractor axis as it is now. The path should be taken to redraw streets and avenues in their most contemporary form, renew infrastructure, build collectively according to vertical architecture to leave as much empty/green space as possible on the ground, and support the budget with the extra properties produced.

The city's aging population could also be ensured to leave the city permanently in this way. In fact, Paris was also organized this way 150 years ago for different reasons, so we have a world-famous example at hand.

I hope someone's political agenda includes such public approaches. Likewise, the past decades and centuries show that we cannot transform urban areas; central or local administrations need to transform us urbanly.