RECENT DEVELOPMENTS ON ZONING LAW
The Omnibus Bill numbered 7143 was published in the Official
Gazette dated 18 May 2018 and it has introduced the long-awaited “zoning
amnesty” (imar affı) by adding a provisional article to the Zoning Law No. 3194.
According to the new provisional article, “Structure Registration Certificates”
may be granted to unlicensed structures or those structures that are in violation
of the issued permits and are constructed prior to the date of December 31st,
2017, provided that an application is filed prior to the date of December 31st,
2018 and the registration fee is paid by the said date. The registration fee
has been determined as 3% for residential properties and 5% for commercial
properties over the real estate tax value and the approximate cost value to be
determined by the Ministry of Environment and Urbanization. The Council of
Ministers is authorized to increase the registration fee up to twice the amount
of the registration fee and extend the duration of the application period as
well as the payment deadline up to one year.