Tenancy Law Series · 3 of 5
For a textile business, losing premises can interrupt machinery, production and orders. Roofed workplace tenants have statutory protections, but these do not prevent every lawful eviction. The ground relied on, documents, service and procedural dates determine the available response.
1. On what grounds can possession be recovered?
Landlord's genuine need
Article 350 covers a genuine need to use the premises as a home or workplace for the landlord, spouse, descendants, ascendants or other persons whom the landlord is legally required to support. A general wish for higher rent is not the same ground. For a fixed term, the ordinary action period is one month following expiry; indefinite leases require the relevant termination periods and notice to be assessed.
Reconstruction and substantial works
Reconstruction, substantial repair, expansion or alteration for redevelopment can support an Article 350 claim where use of the premises during the works is impossible. A minor improvement or an unsupported statement about renovation does not automatically establish the ground.
New owner's need
Under Article 351, a new owner relying on a qualifying need may use the route involving written notice within one month of acquisition and an action after six months. Alternatively, the statutory route involving an action within one month after expiry of the lease term may be available. Acquisition alone does not end the lease or establish a genuine need.
Written undertaking to vacate
Article 352 permits proceedings where the tenant, after delivery, undertakes in writing to leave on a specified date but does not do so. The landlord must take the appropriate enforcement or court step within the statutory one-month period from that date. The instrument and the chosen procedure remain open to applicable objections and scrutiny.
Two justified written demands
Article 352/2 concerns two justified written demands arising from unpaid rent within the statutory period. For a lease shorter than a year, the relevant period is the lease term; for a year or longer, the rental year or relevant period exceeding one rental year must be assessed under the text. The action generally must be brought within one month following the applicable end date. Two letters do not automatically satisfy all conditions.
Default in payment
Article 315 is a separate route. For a residential or roofed workplace lease, the written demand must allow at least thirty days and state the consequence of non-payment. The period runs from the day following service. Whether the rent or ancillary amount was due, correctly demanded and paid in time must be examined. Other lease types can have different rules.
2. Understanding an undertaking to vacate
An undertaking is not an eviction judgment. If valid and acted on in time, it can provide a basis for recovery of possession, but does not abolish every statutory protection, objection or procedural requirement.
- It must be in writing and attributable to the tenant or a person whose authority is legally sufficient; a corporate tenant's representation must be checked.
- It must have been given after actual delivery of the premises. Contract signature, the stated commencement date and actual delivery are not necessarily the same event.
- It must identify a sufficiently definite departure date.
- Signature, completion, authority, the circumstances of giving the document and any alleged defect in consent can matter.
Blank or undated documents
Signing a blank document carries serious evidential risks. Neither later completion nor the absence of a date is a safe basis for assuming that the document will automatically be unenforceable. The parties may dispute when it was signed, whether blanks were completed within authority and what the evidence proves. An allegation of pressure alone does not guarantee success.
Do not sign a blank undertaking or treat it as a routine legal requirement for every lease. If one is proposed, obtain advice before signing, record the true delivery and signing circumstances, ensure the intended dates and terms are clear and keep a complete copy. Never alter or fabricate dates or evidence.
3. Deadlines and procedure
- Need or reconstruction: Article 350 links the ordinary one-month action period to expiry or the date calculated under the rules for indefinite leases.
- New owner: assess both Article 351 routes rather than assuming the one-month notice and six-month wait are the only possible timetable.
- Undertaking: the one-month period runs from the promised departure date for the appropriate enforcement application or action.
- Two justified demands: identify the statutory rental period and the relevant one-month action deadline.
Article 353 can extend the time for bringing an action for one rental year where the landlord gives the required written notice by the statutory deadline. Its scope should not be confused with every enforcement deadline. Pre-action mediation under Article 18/B of Law No. 6325, its exceptions and its effect on time limits must also be checked for the particular route. Do not calculate a filing deadline from a summary alone.
Enforcement documents can have their own short objection and payment periods. A reply to a landlord's letter is not necessarily an objection lodged with the competent enforcement office or court. Obtain the served document and record its service date promptly.
4. Practical protection for the textile tenant
- Plan the term and investment: coordinate machinery expenditure and contractual terms with statutory renewal and termination rules. A long term is not immunity from every lawful eviction ground.
- Examine undertakings before signature: check delivery, authority, dates and the actual obligations; retain copies.
- Assess a need claim: the factual basis and its genuineness matter, as do the claimant's legal standing and timing.
- Document payments: pay the correct amount on time through traceable methods and preserve bank records.
- Respond to demands promptly: check service, the due sum and the correct procedural response. Payment after service can cure default within an applicable period, but does not necessarily erase a justified demand for the separate two-demand ground.
Keep the lease, amendments, delivery record, demands, payment documents, any undertaking and correspondence together. Legal options remain available after a dispute arises; it is inaccurate to assume that nothing can be done once an undertaking has been signed.
Restrictions on reletting
Article 355 regulates reletting following recovery on need or reconstruction grounds. In a qualifying need case, reletting to someone other than the former tenant without just cause within three years can breach the rule. Reconstruction also involves the former tenant's statutory priority to relet the reconstructed premises at the new condition and rent, subject to written notice and the applicable one-month exercise period.
Where the statutory conditions are met, compensation cannot be less than one year's rent paid in the last rental year. The basis and manner of departure, the earlier proceedings, the new letting and any just cause require examination. A voluntary departure followed by reletting does not automatically establish the same compensation claim in every case.
Sources and series navigation
- Turkish Code of Obligations No. 6098: Articles 315, 347–348 and 350–355.
- Law No. 6325 on Mediation: Articles 18/A and 18/B.
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General information: This article explains Turkish law. Eviction grounds and deadlines depend on the actual documents and service dates. It does not replace an individual review; Turkish statutory texts govern.