Attention those who sign blank paper: A ruling from the Court of Cassation that will upset tenants!

According to the decision of the 3rd Civil Chamber of the Court of Cassation, an official of an institution that rented a workplace in Ankara in 2012 signed and gave a blank sheet of paper to the property owner as an eviction undertaking. In 2020, the property owner filled out the paper to state that the tenant committed to vacating the premises on February 28, 2021, and filed an eviction request.

Following an objection to the enforcement proceedings initiated after the property was not vacated, the property owner filed an eviction lawsuit. The local court hearing the case determined that the signature on the undertaking belonged to the official of the tenant institution and issued an eviction order.

The 15th Civil Chamber of the Ankara Regional Court of Justice, which conducted the appellate review of the file, found the local court's decision to be in accordance with the law, reasoning that the person who signed the blank paper is considered to have accepted how it would be filled out by the lessor.

The tenant appealed the decision, stating that the date on the eviction undertaking was filled in by the lessor and that their objections regarding this were not evaluated by the courts.

The 3rd Civil Chamber of the Court of Cassation, which conducted the appeal review, also found the eviction decision to be in accordance with the law and upheld it.

FROM THE RATIONALE OF THE DECISION

In the chamber's decision, it was stated that according to the Turkish Code of Obligations, if a tenant does not comply with an eviction undertaking, the lessor may apply for enforcement or file a lawsuit to have the property vacated within one month.

In the decision, which noted that expert reports confirmed the signature on the eviction undertaking in question belonged to the tenant company official, it was stated that the General Assembly of Civil Chambers of the Court of Cassation had also previously ruled that "a signature on a blank paper is accepted as a document."

The decision reported that there was no inaccuracy in the rulings given by the lower courts and that it was decided by unanimous vote to uphold the eviction order in accordance with the Code of Civil Procedure No. 6100.

News Source: AA