Court rules 'bad faith compensation' against landlord who raised rent above legal limit

Landlord K.K., who rented their house in İzmir's Karabağlar district to İbrahim Çetin 2 years ago, informed the tenant that they had set the rent at 1,400 liras, an increase of approximately 55.5 percent from the previous year's 900 liras, citing the CPI rate.

Çetin, a construction worker, paid the 1,400 lira rent for 3 months because he could not find another house. Facing financial difficulties, Çetin later continued to pay the rent at 1,250 liras, which was an increase above the legally determined upper limit of 25 percent.

LANDLORD APPLIED TO COURT

Landlord K.K. applied to the 4th Enforcement Court with a request for the payment of rent arrears and eviction.

Determining through an expert report that the tenant had no debt and had made payments exceeding the legal limit, the court rejected the landlord's eviction request and ordered them to pay "bad faith compensation" for the 3 months of excess rent.

In its ruling, the court stated, "Since the principal debt regarding the months subject to the enforcement proceedings was paid to the creditor's account within the legal period, it has been decided to reject the eviction request, and since the necessary conditions have been met, it has been ruled that bad faith compensation at a rate of 20 percent of the principal debt subject to the proceedings be taken from the plaintiff and given to the defendant."

"THE PROPERTY OWNER INITIATED ENFORCEMENT PROCEEDINGS IN BAD FAITH"

Tenant İbrahim Çetin's lawyer, Mustafa Tunç, stated that by law, rent can be increased by a maximum of 25 percent, and therefore they objected to the landlord's enforcement proceedings.

Stating that the landlord filed a lawsuit with the request for the cancellation of their objection and the eviction of the tenant, Tunç said:

"During the course of the case, an expert report was obtained. As a result of the report, stating that a 25 percent increase was appropriate and that the mandatory provisions of the law could not be violated, they both rejected the lawsuit for the cancellation of the objection against the enforcement proceedings and ruled that the other party pay 'bad faith compensation'. Bad faith compensation is a compensation awarded in enforcement proceedings when creditors initiate proceedings in bad faith. Here, too, it was ruled that the property owner pay bad faith compensation at a rate of 20 percent of the debt subject to the proceedings because they initiated the enforcement proceedings in bad faith."

News Source: AA