A new era begins for rental agreements!

The countdown has begun for a new regulation that concerns millions of tenants and landlords. Having completed its work on rental agreements, the Ministry of Treasury and Finance has finished the procedures for executing rental agreements via e-Devlet; Minister of Treasury and Finance Mehmet Şimşek had also stated, "We are starting an important application that is reformist in nature." The integration of the new rental agreements, which are planned to be implemented in 2025, into e-Devlet will be in two stages.

So, how will the new system work?

Speaking to Milliyet, Real Estate Expert Mustafa Hakan Özelmacıklı made the following statements:

“The fact that rental contracts will be transferred to the e-Devlet system is truly a reformist application. We saw the first example of this in the Strategy Action Plan. Vice President Cevdet Yılmaz had made statements. In particular, the transfer of rental contracts to the e-Devlet system was among the stages in the action plan to combat the informal economy.

With the new system, many processes, such as those involving people avoiding filing rental income tax returns or problems with documents during the submission of rental contracts, will be able to be carried out in a more integrated manner.

‘THERE ARE TWO STAGES IN THE PLANNED SYSTEM’

There are two stages in the planned system. One of these will be activated in the first phase, and property owners will be able to present the contracts they have prepared for the tenant's review. There will be standard-based rental agreements, and essential clauses in the agreements will be entered into the system by the landlord via e-Devlet. Basic information such as the rent amount, the landlord's bank account information, the clause agreed upon by the parties regarding rent increases, the rental period, the start date, and deposit information will be able to be written into the rental agreements.

‘THE DOCUMENT WILL BE SENT FOR THE TENANT'S APPROVAL’

After this document, which then falls to the tenant's approval, is approved by the tenant, a time-stamped, barcoded rental agreement will be created for the parties.

THE SECOND STAGE IS FOR REAL ESTATE BUSINESSES

In the second stage, it is planned that this can also be prepared by real estate businesses that have received an authorization certificate and authorized persons. Real estate businesses will be able to provide guidance on many issues and topics, such as writing separate additional clauses in rental agreements and re-adding the issues agreed upon by the parties, in order to guide property owners who have difficulty using this system on e-Devlet.

‘THE CONTRACT WILL TURN INTO A BARCODED DOCUMENT’

Contracts approved by both parties will turn into a barcoded document. Relevant institutions will be able to see the document, and business and transactions carried out with fake and many incorrect documents submitted in rental contracts will come to an end. This is a very important issue in this respect.

WHAT WILL BE THE BENEFIT?

Another benefit is that when it is desired to be submitted to institutions, it created a great deal of effort and loss of time when opening a subscription; therefore, the fact that document submission will be facilitated is very meaningful.

‘THE RENTAL VALUE MAP WILL BE CLARIFIED’

The fact that rental contracts are tracked through the system will also reveal the state of the real estate sector based on rent amounts. There is no data such as ‘How many apartments are rented out per year?’. TÜİK can clearly state the number of houses sold, but how many moves are made in Turkey? What is the turnover rate in rented apartments, what are the rental prices? None of these are statistics tracked in our country.

For example, how many people use their relative's or friend's house without paying rent? Is there anyone avoiding paying rental income tax? With the new system, the rental value map will be clarified.

‘FAKE SIGNATURES AND IRREGULAR RENTALS WILL END’

It is assumed that there are nearly 7 million tenants in our country, but the number of income tax payers has not yet reached 3 million. There is an informal economy. The Ministry of Treasury and Finance wants to benefit from the infrastructure that the system will create in terms of closing the gap.

Rental agreements made with fake signatures and irregular rentals regarding sub-leasing will also come to an end. We think the regulation will be very beneficial.”