Late Payment Fees, Default, and Penalties (Turkey)

Effective 1 July 2012, under the Turkish Code of Obligations No. 6098, harsh commercial contracts that are quite common in the United States markets, such as "If you deposit your rent on the 6th instead of after the 5th of the month, an exorbitant daily 5% rate or $200 Lump-sum daily Amount Administrative Late Payment Penalty Charge is added to the invoice", are Strictly FORBIDDEN under Turkish laws before the public and courts. Turkish laws cling to a ceiling regulation and a "Prohibition Against the Tenant in the Contract" mechanism so that consumer landlords are not crushed by sudden and extraordinarily exorbitant profit pressure.

1. Prohibition of Penalty Clause and Legal Limitation

A rather heavy and definite expression has been placed in the section passed as TCO Article 346 - Prohibition to Make Changes Against the Tenant:

"No payment obligation can be imposed on the tenant other than the rental fee and side expenses. In particular, agreements stating that a penalty clause (late compensation penalty invoice etc. 50 Euros daily is paid) will be paid in case the rental fee is not paid on time, or that all subsequent rental fees will become due and payable completely in advance at once (acceleration), are completely INVALID (Void)."

A text like "a tenant who is more than 10 days late also pays an extra 4 thousand liras penalty interest on that month's rent" in the printed lines in the landlord's residential contract is "considered invalid in the law, that money is not requested."

2. The Landlord's Legal Claim: Default (Legal Delay Interest)

In the event that the tenant pays the price late, the landlord can compensate for the rent and their damage as follows:

• The Right to Demand Legal Default Interest: If the rental day in the contract is the 1st of the month and the tenant has not transferred it by the 15th of the month; unless a contrary provision or commercial law interest is agreed upon in the contract, the landlord can apply, request, and have it sent to their bank account with their request rights at the rate of the general valid official "Legal Interest Rate" (Yasal Faiz) under Law No. 3095. Effective June 1, 2024, per Presidential Decree No. 8485, the annual legal interest rate is 24% — "over the calculation of the day it was not deposited on time" - even if it corresponds to very meager pennies in monthly % terms. But those limits of exorbitant "%35 over day calculation or 1-month penalty end of lease" that they wish for themselves in that contract cannot be enforced lawfully!

3. The Real Danger and Landlord's Arrow: Eviction Risk

Although they cannot write an exorbitant daily penalty invoice to the tenant paying late, the landlord is directed to the trump card of completely throwing them out of the house following the days when they delay the contractual rent. For the rental fee, if the tenant does not deposit their accumulated debt to the bank on the day on time:

• In accordance with TCO Article 315 (In termination based on the reason of default), when a "Pay completely within 30 days Otherwise I Will Evict Warning" "Very precious official from the Notary" (containing at least 30 days legal final right period given) reaches from the Landlord: If the tenant doesn't close the amount there from the IBAN payment again in the last 30-day process, this completely transforms the whole of the tenancy right and possession in the residence including the deposit to referral to the court for Lawsuits or the Execution Officers' Door Eviction as the definite and sole un-cancelable reason for termination!

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