You have looked at home rental advertisements for days, or even for months. There isn’t an ad you didn’t check, and not a site you didn’t visit. You have found your perfect house, you have gone and seen it and now it’s time to sign the rental contract. We strongly recommend not moving into your new home without preparing a rental contract, and moving into your new beautiful home once you ensure it is all legal and set down in black and white and once you make arrangements with the transport company.
A rental contract is a document prepared in order to protect the legal rights of the tenant and the homeowner. Rental contracts
Rental contracts were included into the scope of the Turkish Code of Obligations Nr. 6098, with the amendments made in 2011, following which a rental contract is defined in the Turkish Commercial Code, Article 299 as “It is a contract in which the lessor undertakes to hand over a space or the associated benefits of renting the space to the lessee, and the lessee undertakes to pay the agreed rent in return.” A rental contract acts as a reference document for both sides in cases of discrepancies. For this reason we suggest you to act very diligently when preparing your rental contracts. We have compiled the ten important things to consider when signing a rental contract.
What Does a Rental Contract Have to Include
Content
• What Does a Rental Contract Have to Include
• Make Sure That the Contract is Complete and Filled In With Correct Information
• Confirm Your Home Address With Official Documents
• Agreement Term
• Rent Deadline and Payment Term
• Defining the Rent Increase Rate
• Read the Whole Contract
• Do Not Underestimate the Down Payment
• Rent Your New Home With No Debts
Make sure that the rental contract includes homeowner’s name, surname, TR ID No, address, communication details, tenant’s name, surname, TR ID No, communication details, employment certificate and other certificates of the tenant if and as requested by the homeowner, address details pertaining to the home being rented, the agreed rent amount, methods of payment for the rent amount, names, surnames, address and communication details of guarantors if requested by the homeowner, date intervals for rent payment term, inventory list for the home being rented, the term of the rental contract, rent increase rate mutually agreed by the parties, the information that the home being rented does not have any debts left from unpaid natural gas, electricity, water bills or annual maintenance fees, or that such debts were paid by the tenant and then deduced from the tenant’s rent, and additional provisions requested by the homeowner or the tenant.
Make Sure That the Contract is Complete and Filled In With Correct Information
Make sure that your details and the homeowner’s details are both correct in the prepared rental contract. Any incorrect information other than inadvertent mistakes can be used for or against you in case of any conflict. Pay attention to whether your homeowner is specified as the real owner of the property, or its legal heir.
If you have any doubts regarding information such as TR ID number, name, surname or land register details, request that this information be affirmed with official papers. That will protect you from possible fraud while renting your new home
Confirm Your Home Address With Official Documents
Ensure that the address of the home that you’re renting is written correctly and fully in the rental contract. Write your address in a format which goes in the order of neighborhood, street, building number or name, apartment floor and door number, county and city. You can easily confirm the address indicated in the rent contract from electricity, natural gas and water bills. With all incorrect address declarations, you may have difficulties when making official applications other than cases where you inadvertently give the wrong address.
Agreement Term
Setting the minimum rent term as one year in the rental contract is an important detail in terms of your ability to use your legal rights. Rental contracts with terms longer than one year might bring difficulties to you in case you decide to move again in future. The term that you set in your rental contract means that you are committing to pay rent throughout the set term. However, if you have long term plans regarding the estate that you are renting, and if you have done alterations in the house in line with this plan, you can indicate any time period of your liking in the contract.
Rent Deadline and Payment Term
You can indicate the monthly or yearly rent amount in your rental contract, which you prepare before renting your home, upon mutual understanding with your homeowner. Ensure that the date intervals for rent payment are specified in the contract. The rental contract must also specify your homeowner’s bank account details, IBAN number, bank name and branch name. For example, you should wire your rent payments between the 1st and 7th day of every month, using the specified banking information on the contract. If you are renting a workplace, failure to pay your rent via wire may result in an administrative fine for you.
Defining the Rent Increase Rate
As per the information released in the New Code of Obligations, the legal basis for rental contracts, parties to a rental contract can set define the rent increase rate, on condition that this rate does not exceed the producer price index rate. Since the relevant law limits the rate of increase, you should check the producer price index rate around the rent increase time. Feel free to make a hard bargain with your homeowner in times like this.
Define Your Roadmap in Cases of Conflicts
When everything is going well, you can run into unexpected problems and have differing opinions with your homeowner. This unwanted scenario may not end with you changing your home either. Do not underestimate the chances that you can actually be left in such situations, and secure your position with a legal basis. Read all of the related legislation and try to come to an understanding with your homeowner that is in line with the legislation. See previous court rulings similar to your current problem and inform your homeowner about them. In such a situation, one of your mainstays will be to prepare the rental agreement in two copies, both of which carry wet ink signatures. You and your homeowner will keep one copy.
Read the Whole Contract
Rental contracts may differ based on specific requests of tenants and homeowners. An overlooked minute detail could make you a victim later on. To prevent such aggrievement and any negative situations, read every word of your rental contract. If there are articles which you want changed or added, do this in mutual talks with your homeowner. Add all agreements between yourself and your homeowner -even verbal agreements- to the rental contract in writing, thus securing yourself and the homeowner. Do not forget to check the inventory list specified when you rent your home. Check the status of the inventory when renting your home, and add any deformations present to the contract.
Do Not Underestimate the Down Payment
You will need to make a down payment for your rented home, at an amount that is mutually agreed with your homeowner. Ensure that details such as the conditions for the return of your down payment, the conditions of the down payment request, and the amount of down payment, are written in the rental contract. Down payment is among the matters over which tenants and homeowners fall into disagreements the most, and such conflicts may well lead to worse situations. Mention the kind of agreement you made with your homeowner about the down payment in the article of the rental contract which covers down payments.
Rent Your New Home With No Debts
You have finally rented your home and everything is the way you want it. One day you might just come into the house, to find that you face having your electricity cut off due to unpaid bills. To avoid such situations, when signing the rental contract, make sure that all the bill debts are paid off and that you rent your home without any previous debt. To bring a quick solution, you can pay those bills and then deduce the amounts paid from your rent. Just deliver the original invoice, showing how much you have paid, to your homeowner and keep one copy of it in the file where you keep your rental contract, so you can avoid any problems about them later in the future.