If your landlord says either increase the rent or leave

As a result of reasons such as increase in house prices due to costs, increase in interest rates, pandemic conditions, opening of schools, and urban transformation, exorbitant increases have been observed in housing rental fees, especially in big cities. Due to the unusual increase in rents, landlords are also making demands on their current tenants. The most common are the landlords' requests to the tenants to either raise the rent at market conditions or to vacate the house. In this article about the current issue of housing rent, we will discuss the rights of the tenant within the scope of a rental agreement.

In the Turkish legal system, matters related to leasing are regulated as a special section in the Code of Obligations. In other words, in case of a dispute about rent and lease, the place to apply is the relevant Code of Obligations. In addition, there are provisions regarding the tenant in the Property Ownership Law. In general, we can say that the Code of Obligations protects the tenant in terms of rights. When the tenant fulfills his/her responsibilities, it is not possible to meet with the eviction situation for any reason.

Agreement

In the law, “Lease agreement is defined as a contract in which the lessor undertakes to leave the use of something or to benefit from it together with the use to the lessee, and the lessee undertakes to pay the agreed rent in return”. The most important responsibility of the tenant is clearly stated in the definition. The tenant is obliged to pay the rent. In addition to this, there are also obligations such as using the leased property in accordance with the rental purpose, good neighborly relations, not harming the leased property, and not being able to lease the leased property to someone else unless there is a special provision in the contract.

Now let's examine how to make a lease agreement. It is not obligatory to make the rental agreement in writing. The law states that the parties' declarations of intent are sufficient for the establishment of a rental agreement, and that no form requirements (written, oral, notarized, etc.) are required for the validity of the rental agreement. It is important for the ease of proof in case of dispute that the lease agreement is made in a fair written or notarized manner.

Since the unwritten lease agreement, that is, without a contract, is established and stands as a valid contract, the lessee, who is a party to the rental agreement, can benefit from all tenant rights granted to him by the Law. Since there is a valid and established lease agreement, even if it is verbal, the landlord cannot evict the tenant unlawfully, and cannot prevent the tenant from using the rights provided to him by the law.

Rent Increase Rate

The parties can freely determine the rental price when establishing the rental agreement. It is not possible to interfere with the rental price determined at the beginning. At this point, only the general limits of freedom of contract are effective. For example, there may be an invalidity based on excessive exploitation. In other words, it is written in the contract for a rental made much higher than the market prices under the conditions on the contract day, it cannot be said to be applied like this.

The law states that they can make an agreement on what the rental price will be in renewed rental periods. Thus, the parties will be able to decide in what amount or at what rate the rental price will increase in the renewed rental periods. Moreover, the parties will be able to make such an agreement not only for the first renewed term but also for every renewed term. However, although the parties can decide how much or at what rate the rental price will be increased in renewed rental periods, it cannot be said that they are free in this respect. The maximum limit of the increase to be made is determined by the law. The law has limited this issue: “The agreements of the parties regarding the rental price to be applied in the renewed rental periods are valid provided that they do not exceed the rate of increase in the producer price index in the previous rental year”. In other words, the increase agreed by the parties for the renewed periods will be valid if it remains within the limits of the increase in the producer price index in the previous year, and will be deemed invalid if it exceeds these limits.

Conditions of Evacuation

If the rent is not paid, the landlord may initiate an enforcement action against the tenant with a request for eviction. In the payment order to be sent to the lessee with the execution proceeding, it is stated that an objection can be made within 7 days and the payment must be made within 30 days. If there is no objection within the given time or if the payment is not made within 30 days, the rent will be finalized and the landlord (creditor) may request the eviction of the tenant at the Enforcement Court.

Apart from the collection of the rent debt, the landlord can also evict the tenant due to necessity. The fact that the owner of the house has an obligation to use the house for his spouse, descendants, descendants and dependents as per the law constitutes eviction due to necessity. E.g; the landlord is renting but has difficulty in paying the rent due to financial difficulties, a need for a house change due to health problems, or In cases such as the marriage of his child, the tenant can be evicted. In this case, the landlord can evict the tenant by filing a lawsuit with the notice to be sent in accordance with the termination notice periods. However, the court will investigate whether the requirement is genuine and will decide on release accordingly. Evacuation in this way is a difficult method.

In addition, in the event that the house is evacuated due to necessity, that is, the tenant is evicted, if the house is rented to someone else without any justifiable reason within three years, the tenant will be liable to pay compensation not less than the one-year rent paid in the last rental year.

One of the most common reasons for eviction is the sale of the house. In case the owner of the house changes, the new landlord can evict the tenant in line with the need. However, within 1 month after the realization of the purchase, the tenant must notify this situation and file an eviction lawsuit within 6 months. Apart from these, the landlord may request the eviction of the tenant in the following cases:

Tenants may be evicted due to long-lasting heavy renovation and reconstruction of unusable or damaged buildings.

The tenant can be evicted if the landlord sends a notarized warning twice within the same rental year for just cause (non-payment of rent, etc.).

If the tenant has given a written commitment to evacuate the house on a certain date, but does not evacuate the house on the promised date, the landlord can have the tenant evicted based on the commitment in hand.

The tenant can be evicted when there is a situation contrary to the lease agreement, such as the transfer of the rented property to another person by the tenant despite the contrary decision.

Disrespect to neighbors, disturbing the peace of the community or non-compliance with building/site rules may cause the tenant to be evicted.

The landlord cannot evict the tenant based solely on the expiry of the contract period. Rental agreements are automatically renewed unless both parties give reasons for the termination notice period. Notices of termination must be made at least three months before the end of each extension year. The contract may be terminated without giving any reason, provided that a notification is made within this period.

The law makes an exception here. At the end of the ten-year extension period, the lessor may terminate the contract without giving any reason, provided that it gives notice at least three months before the end of each extension year following this period.

Commitment to Evacuation

An eviction letter is a written declaration of intent by the lessee to vacate the leased property on a certain date. By narrowing the scope of application of the provisions introduced to ensure the protection of the lessee, who is considered as weak in the Turkish Code of Obligations, the evacuation letter provides the lessor with the opportunity to terminate the rental relationship without any other reason and without any compensation obligation.

In the Law, the letter of evacuation states, “If the lessee undertakes to vacate the leased property in writing on a certain date after the delivery of the leased property, the lessor may terminate the lease agreement within one month starting from this date by applying for enforcement or by filing a lawsuit.” formatted. The lessor, who receives an eviction letter from the lessee, can evacuate the lessee directly by applying to the enforcement office or file an eviction lawsuit.

Validity conditions of the commitment to release; It must be in writing, based on the free will of the tenant and signed after the lease agreement is delivered to the tenant. According to the current practices of the Court of Cassation, the eviction agreement signed on the same day as the rental agreement is invalid. It must be signed at the earliest one day after the start date of the lease agreement. At the same time, while issuing the lease agreement, the tenant has to bear the consequences of the undated eviction commitment signed by the lessee upon the request of the lessor, according to the practice of the Supreme Court. In such a case, if the lessee claims and proves that the undertaking was filled out of the way agreed by the lessor, the undertaking shall be deemed invalid.

In summary, my advice to tenants;

-- Have your rental contract reviewed by a lawyer, make it in writing and in a notary public,

- Make sure that the rent increase periods and rates are written clearly and comprehensibly in the contract,

-- Do not sign an eviction letter with your contract, if it is a case of signing an eviction letter, do not sign an open-dated undertaking,

- Make sure to pay your rent to the person you have contracted with and via the bank,

-- If there is uncertainty in the rent increase rate in the contract, pay your rent by increasing the producer price index at the end of each rental period.

-- Even if you have difficulty in paying your rent, I do not pay your rent in a rental period or you stop paying after the warning period despite the warning.

Don't fall for muna more than once.

-- The tenant is also obliged to bear the side expenses of the immovable (subsidies, etc.) during the period of rental. For the tenant who does not pay the side expenses, this is a justifiable reason for eviction for the lessor. Pay your dues type ancillary expenses regularly.