22 million lira statement from the Tuzla KİPTAŞ complex board chairman: 'Rotten and worn out'

According to the allegations, while a fee of 13 thousand 602 TL per apartment was requested from property owners for expenses such as fiber infrastructure, camera systems, intercoms, and booster pump renewals without a board decision at the Tuzla KİPTAŞ Hilal Residences, 640 property owners were faced with a total debt of 22 million TL.

On the other hand, it was claimed that the complex management only provided information to the property owners via WhatsApp, contrary to the procedure of "notifying property owners of decisions taken via formal notice." Faced with this situation, some property owners objected to the debt and took steps to take the case to the Civil Court of First Instance with the signatures they collected.

Emrah Boztepe, Chairman of the Board of the Tuzla KİPTAŞ Hilal Residences, who was accused of threats and irregularities by the property owners, made statements regarding the process.

"NO PROPER RENEWAL HAS BEEN DONE IN OUR COMPLEX FOR 18 YEARS, MANY MATERIALS ARE ROTTEN AND WORN OUT"

Tuzla KİPTAŞ Hilal Residences Board Chairman Emrah Boztepe stated that the expenses in question were necessary and affordable services for the complex, and expressed that the resulting dispute caused grievances for the property owners by hindering the needed renovations. Regarding the work carried out, Boztepe stated the following:

"Our complex was built in 2007. At that time, materials were used in accordance with all regulations, but no proper renewal has been done for 18 years. Many of its materials are rotten and worn out, and we wanted to take responsibility to fix them. Our complex is managed by a representative board. There are 30 blocks in total, and each block has a representative. First of all, we decided to replace our 18-year-old, rusted, and very poorly conditioned booster pumps with new ones. Afterwards, we decided to create a fiber cable infrastructure for the intercom and camera system. In addition, there are too many blind spots in our complex, the cameras in the elevators do not work, and the image quality of our existing cameras is very poor. When the residents of the complex are in need, especially when we receive a letter from the courthouse, we have to answer by saying, 'We do not have the footage.' Also, our intercoms are very old and spare parts cannot be found. We want to replace all of these with the latest technologies, just like in newly built complexes."

"THERE IS NOT EVEN ONE PERSON LEFT"

Boztepe emphasized that he was slandered regarding the insults he was alleged to have made to the property owners who were aggrieved by this situation, stating, "The mentioned 22 million lira is being collected for these four major items. Since there are 1,332 apartments, the figure seems large, but it is actually very cheap. After we created the budget, we shared it with all our property owners and said, 'These are the materials, these are the labor costs. You can get quotes if you want.' More than 10 property owners researched, got quotes, and came back to us, saying that they couldn't even come close to the prices we received. There is not even one person left in our complex who says these are not needed. Despite this, there is an opposition group that wants to do these themselves, does not want the current management to do them, and therefore risks the property owners suffering great damage. Their numbers are high, but unfortunately, they are trying to lead some of the property owners to think that these works will not happen and make them hesitate about payment. They also slandered me greatly in the previous news. They portrayed it as if I had said, 'those who pay are moral and honorable, those who do not pay are immoral and dishonorable.' The whole complex knows that I did not say such a thing, and all the correspondence is there," he said.

Explaining that they made the notification via WhatsApp rather than formal notice, Boztepe said, "The financial burden and postage cost of sending formal notices to everyone from the very beginning was 250 thousand liras. We asked, 'Do we have to do this immediately, is it mandatory?' Our lawyers said, 'No, you are not that obligated, you announce it first. Those who pay, pay; you send formal notices to those who do not pay, and thus your postage costs decrease.' Property owners who pay their debts ask us, 'What will happen to those who do not pay?' And we say, 'Enforcement proceedings are being initiated against those who do not pay their debts.' According to the country's laws, saying 'Enforcement proceedings will be initiated against those who do not pay their debts' is not a threat," he said.