Evacuation of the tenant under Turkish Law through Article 315/2 of Law of Obligations due to tenant's default in payment

The article 315 of  Law of Obligations stipulates the terms regarding the evacuation of the real state on reason of default of the tenant, i.e. failing of the monthly payment of the rent by the tenant on time

The law and the Supreme Court (Yargıtay) requires to see the steps below for the fulfilment of the evacuation process:

1. The rent amount should be due and payable.

A notice of payment should be served to the tenant. The notice warns and requests that the tenant to pay the monthly amount within 30 days upon the serving of the notice; that otherwise, they will be evacuated from the immovable through force of the law.

The unpaid rent amount and the month that it belongs to should be stated openly and specifically in the notice served.

The notice should also openly include that the rent agreement will be terminated if the due amount is not paid within the 30 days given.

If the immovable is a residence or a roofed workplace/office, the duration to be given to the tenant should be 30 days. The duration is 60 days for usufructuary leases and 10 days for other kind of lease agreements.

Upon the serving of the notice the amount should be due and payable.

2. The rent should not have been paid within the duration given (i.e. 30 days if its a residence or a

roofed workplace)

Payment after the 30 days will not have a negative influence on the evacuation process as it is not fulfilled in the 30 days given.

Upon the passing of 30 days without any payment, a lawsuit can be filed in the Court of Peace where the defendant (in our case the tenant) resides with the request of evacuation of the tenant from the real estate.

The other way that can be followed to evacuate the tenant can be filing an evacuation order through Execution Offices, through which an evacuation order by the landlord is served to the tenant giving a duration of 30 days for the evacuation and a duration of 7 days for the objection.

This is a general information note to give the reader an overall idea on the evacuation of the tenant from the real estate/immovable by the landlord under Turkish Law through article 315/2 of Law of Obligations due to the reason of default of the tenant. Please note that every case has its own specifications and should be dealt accordingly in its own way. It is always better to contact a lawyer for the best results.

Labour Contracts For a Specified Term and Labour Contracts For a Non-specified Term in Turkish Labour Law

In Turkish law, labour contracts can be signed either for a specified term or a non-specified term. Unless otherwise agreed by the parties the labour contracts are deemed to be contracts for a non-specified term. The principal is that the labour contracts are made for a non-specific term.

When the parties set a term of employment in a written labour contract, this contract terminates at the end of the period without parties having to give a notice of termination to each other.  

The contract whether tied to a term or not is significant because of the possible mutual claims connected to it. 

When an early termination is given by the employer in a Labour Contract For a Specified Term, the employee has the right to request the remaining wages that were to be paid monthly till the termination date of the contract. Severance pay and compensation for term of notice are quite controversial when the contract is for a specified term.

The disputes in Turkish Law regarding the subject generally arise when Labour Contracts For a Specified Term are signed one after the other (in chain).  

According to Article 11 of The Labour Law (#4857), "when a labour contract is not tied to a specific term, the contract is a Labour Contract For a Non-specific Term. It is a Labour Contract For a Specific Term when a contract is signed between the employer and the employee depending on the objective conditions like bringing out a specific result or completing a specific duty or in works that can be finished within a specific period. Labour Contracts For a Specific Term cannot be signed one after the other more than once (in chain) unless there is a substantial/solid/sound reason for it. Otherwise, the labour contract shall be deemed to be Labour Contract For a Non-specific Term as of the beginning of the contract. Chain labour contracts signed for a specific term keep their characteristics of being for a specified term depending on substantial/solid/sound reason".

In addition to the Article 11 and in line with the International Agreements, The Supreme Court (Yargıtay)'s interpretation appears as, the essence of the work is significant in a Labour Contract For a Specific Term. Labour contract for a specified term shall only be possible if the characteristics/essence of the work requires it. The characteristics of the work have been defined as the objective conditions like bringing out a specific result or completing a specific duty or in works that can be finished within a specific period.

In cases where the essence/characteristics of the work do not necessarily require a stipulation of period of time in a labour contract, the chain contracts are deemed to be a Labour Contract for a Non-specific Term. 

So, in some Supreme Court resolutions, it is possible to see that signing the second contract i.e signing a new contract only once (not more than once) is sufficient for the contract to be deemed Labour Contract for a non-Specific Term.  

I will be writing soon about the Labour Contracts for a Non-specific Term.

Please do not hesitate to leave your comments if you have any.

The term of notice for termination of Labour Contracts Signed for a Non-specified Term Under Turkish Law

According to the Turkish Labour Law (Article 17), depending on the period of time the employee has worked for the company, the period/term of notice for termination is stipulated as follows (Unless otherwise agreed between the parties):

i) For a work period less than six months, the contract can be terminated in two weeks after the notice of termination.

ii) For a work period more than six months but less than one and a half year, the contract can be terminated in four weeks after the notice of termination,

iii) For a work period more than one and a half year and less than three years, the contract can be terminated in six weeks after the notice of termination.

iv) For a work period more than three years, the contract can be terminated in eight weeks after the notice of termination.

So, let's say, if an employee has been working for more than one and a half year but less than three years, a term of six weeks must be granted before the date of termination.

If there is a written contract signed between the parties, the provisions of the contract will prevail. 

The terms of notice cannot be reduced against the benefit of the employee. 

The differences between Societé Anonym and Limited Liable Company briefly in Turkish Law

The differences between Societé Anonym and Limited Liable Company briefly in Turkish Law.

Societé Anonym Anonim Şirket	Limited Liable Company Limited Şirket
Minimum share capital not less than 50,000 TL One share cannot be less than 1 Kuruş (1% of 1 TL)	Minimum share capital not less than 10,000 TL Minimum share value : 25TL
Articles of Association in written form certified by Notary Public For establishment, no permission required from the Ministry (exceptions)	Articles of Association in written form certified by Notary Public For establishment, no permission required from the Ministry (exceptions)
Minimum one shareholder (either entity/judiciary person or real person) Unlimited number of shareholders	Minimum one shareholder (either entity/judiciary person or real person) Maximum number of shareholders: 50
Can be established for any commercial objective/scope unrestricted by law	Can be established for any commercial objective/scope unrestricted by law
Shareholder entitled to a shareholder certificate (which is a negotiable instrument)	Shareholder entitled to a shareholder  certificate (which is not a negotiable instrument)
Shareholder liable to the company and to the extent of the share undertaken Shareholder not liable of public debts. Shareholder not liable of tax, social security or other debts. Only liability is to pay the total amount undertaken	Shareholder liable to the extent of share undertaken, not liable to third parties for company debts. Shareholder liable of public debts. I.e taxes, social security premiums with his entire asset. For public debts that cannot be paid by the company, the shareholder can be held liable in ratio of their shareholding.
Unless otherwise stated by articles of association, shareholder may transfer his shares by a share transfer agreement. If share certificates or temporary share certificates (ilmuhaber) are issued, these can be transferred by endorsement. It is not necessary to transfer these shares through Notary Public. This transaction does not require registration at Trade Registry.	The transfer of the shares requires permission of the General assembly and a share transfer agreement certified by Notary Public. Share transfer is valid upon the registration of the transfer at Trade Registry.
S.A.’s can be open to public	Cannot be open to public
Board of Directors (Yönetim Kurulu) consists of minimum one member that is elected by General assembly among the shareholders or non-shareholders The board member may be either real person or an entity. Quorum for meeting is the majority of the total number of board of directors. Quorum for taking resolutions is the majority of the members present at the meeting.	The managing director (müdür) is elected by general assembly among shareholders or non-shareholders If there’s more than one managing director (müdür), a board of managing directors is formed and this board takes resolutions by majority votes. If there’s more than one managing director, one of them is assigned as the chief of board.
Board of directors is the legal representative of the company	The legal representative is the managing director or the board of managing directors if there’s more than one managing director.
It is an obligation to hold General Assembly every year. Ministry representative attends the General Assembly in s.a. companies depending on the agenda (such as increasing the share capital, merging etc.)	It is an obligation to hold General Assembly every year. The ministry representative does not attend the General Assembly.
To be continued

Information For Future Attorneys-at-law

This note has been particularly prepared for and presented to high school students in Turkey. It has been shared here considering that it may be of help for English-speakers as well who are interested in Turkish law system and law practice in Turkey.

Attorney-at-law in general

Attorney – who is legally appointed to transact business on another’s behalf; lawyer. (Merriam Webster’s Dictionary Online)

Attorney-At-Law - a practitioner in a court of law who is legally qualified to prosecute and defend actions in such court on the retainer of the clients.

Counselor-At-Law – One that gives advice in law and manages cases for clients in court.

Lawyer is the general word that we could use for law practitioners who act on behalf of the client before the courts and who gives services on law/legal issues.

In order to be an attorney at law in Turkey, one has to finish the law school after high school.

After finishing the law school, you have to go through a period of apprentice which is one year. This period is a kind of acquaintance period of the student with the law practice if he or she hasn’t experienced the practice before. For the first six months you go to the courts, see how the secretariats of the courts work, how the judge manages with the court files. You mainly concentrate on the judges’ awards and conducts. You can see almost all instances of courts including the criminal courts and execution courts. In the next six months, you are at the office under the guidance of the lawyers who will introduce you to the Bar. At this time you mainly have the opportunity to read the files at the office and see how the file has been carried on by the experienced lawyers. You pay visits to state authorities to get the info you need for the files, you make translations of the contracts you are given, etc. At the end of the year, you submit your documents to the Bar where you plan to practice law and you are given by the TBB Bar Union of Turkey a “Ruhsatname” which is the license to practice law as a lawyer. You are introduced to the Bar by the lawyers that guide you through this period of apprentice.

All lawyers are entitled to be registered at the bar where they are resident.

All lawyers are entitled to keep to the Code of Conduct for Lawyers issued by Bar Union of Turkey. That’s what we call “Avukatlık Meslek Kuralları” and they are used as the criteria for conduct among the lawyers(http://www.barobirlik.org.tr/mevzuat/avukata_ozel/meslek_kurallari/tbb_meslek_kurallari.pdf).

In general when you graduate from the law school, you have a plenty of areas that you can choose from. You can choose to practice as a law practitioner such as a lawyer or a judge or a Notary Public or you can choose to be a journalist or you can choose to work for the government in many levels for the state for example as an ambassador. My point is law covers a huge area of social sciences.

Studying law has many advantages and disadvantages. As you might know, law comes into being through accumulation of the practices of regulations in society, regulations that are practiced among the people, how they interact with each other without harming any others’ rights.

As it is accumulated knowledge of regulations and it is impossible to know every single act, the teachings at the faculty of law mainly focus on the vision and notion of law: Seeing the problem in the discipline of law and reach for the solution as per regulations and laws pending. With this ability you receive at the law school, you learn to “think” in a way, think thoroughly and to question.

What do lawyers do at work?

Our work at the office mostly depends on thinking, writing, listening, researching and learning. Law is such an area of social sciences that you never have the opportunity to know the law totally, the exceptions, and the amendments in laws. What you know at the time may have already been amended by National Assembly through a new law or cancelled by the Constitutional Court. So many renewals, law is like a living creature, needs researching and therefore updating.

During the day sometimes you get visits from the clients or people who can be a client in the future asking for counseling related to their legal problem, looking for solutions.

You write petitions. The court system in Turkey mainly depends on writing. For the pending cases, you write petitions laying your requests from the courts particularly on your case. For writing a petition you must already be prepared mentally or you make up your mind sometimes as you write it.

The abilities and skills the profession requires

Highly related to communication i.e Conveying your ideas on the specific case. Communication of your ideas, the position of your client to the counterparty or to the judge to any authority required.

You should be ready to deal with any kind of people, from people from village to presidents, from illiterate to highly intellectual people. You must know to be able to be flexible to interact with people. Socialization is important.

You need to be prepared for all your tasks. This preparation does not have a specific way. It can be gathering all the information required for judgment; such as visiting the land registry, traveling to other places to find some information.

You need to be open to new ideas and practices – To reach the goal, there may be several ways, and you prefer the easiest and less troublesome way generally.

You need to “know” – You need to use all proper ways of reaching the info i.e. learning. Internet, law books, Supreme Court awards, all the updated information. You never leave your work to chances or you are either ready to take the chances. You need to be ready for all possibilities and that needs rational and analytical thinking.

You need to improve your way of writing and talking skills in the languages you are practicing law. You have to have full command on them both in speaking and talking. Because sometimes you have to deal very small but very important details.

Personal Requirements

Hard work - keep yourself updated

Enjoying what you are doing otherwise it will be a burden on your shoulders because the responsibility is heavy most of the time.

Being both flexible and strict – Strict in your liabilities, flexible in communication.

Being clear of what you want – Making up your mind before you move for the goal.

Being assertive – Pushy about what you want to achieve

Being open to new information, open to hear new occurrences, keep yourself updated

Working conditions – Time and Colleagues

You can

-Work as an independent lawyer; establish an office of your own, collaborate with colleagues on an independent basis

-work as an independent lawyer with partners, establish a partnership and collaborate with colleagues

-work as a lawyer for a group of lawyers, here you are not as independent as it is in working for yourself.

-work for a company as an in-house lawyer; here you are bound to the interests of the company.

- work for the state offices.

In cases which need multiple tasks to be achieved or in cases where there is heavy work, a group of lawyers come together at the same office.

Work environment

You need all means of communication, internet, fax, scanner, etc. Your office is the base for all your conducts. It should be available to have meetings with your client in a private room as what you share with client is subject to confidentiality.

It should be at an available place to reach the courts, where your clients can find it easily, where you can park your car :)

In this profession you should be ready to get to work anytime of the day. Working time is not limited with usual working times, mostly not between 800 -17 00. It will ask for more of your time as the responsibility you take gets bigger. The number and the nature of responsibilities is a fact influencing your working time.

Collaboration is important in order to share your tasks to submit it on the deadline.

What you should improve the most in you

Your dedication and motivation in general and specifically for reaching the goal for the conclusion of the case.

Language skills – Have full command of the language you are practicing law with. Ability to communicate exactly what is in your mind both in writing and speaking.

Speed of reading and processing in your mind – Increases in time as you meet a lot of cases and solve them

Ability to listen to people well and understand their needs.

Detecting your deficiencies and improve them, ability to express yourself and ask necessary questions to help others to express themselves.

The most important criteria to be successful in the profession

To bring together all the above-counted. Respect your profession, respect your client, respect the counterparty. Never underestimate yourself, liabilities and the judge.

Never forget your humanly sides.  Keep close to your inner world.

Keys for success: Hard work, high motivation, updating your knowledge, renewing yourself.

Obtaining an Inheritance Certificate in Turkey

In order to transfer the assets of the deceased to the inheritors, the relevant authorities such as tax office and land registry require an inheritance certificate from the court.

Inheritance certificate (which we call “Veraset İlamı” in Turkish law terminology) is a kind of award issued by the Court of Peace that certifies the inheritors namely one by one and their shares each. Obtaining this certificate is the very first step after the death of a person.

In order to obtain this certificate (which is actually an explanatory award of the court), one of the inheritors should apply to the Court of Peace with a petition signed by him/her. The petition should be evidenced by a population registry certificate of the deceased to show the children and wife/husband of the deceased. This population registry certificate is obtained from Population Office (Nüfus Müdürlüğü) and shows the possible inheritors and that the applicant is related to the deceased.

Depending on the work course of the Court Secretariat, the award/certificate is issued within a few weeks. A hearing may be held by the court for the verification of the population registrations.

The court of peace at any area of jurisdiction can be applied for this procedure. The inheritance certificate is not final and it can be annulled by a new inheritance certificate.

A fixed charge should be deposited to the court at the time of filing the request.

Please note that after a recent amendment in law, a Notary Public (regardless of its location in Turkey) is entitled to release a "Veraset İlamı" upon the request of one of the inheritors.