When the phrase “as a new settlement area” was removed from the definition by Law No. 7471, which entered into force on 9 November 2023, the mechanism ceased to be a tool limited to vacant Treasury land; neighborhoods where people live, with duly registered title deeds and even buildings that are not risky, can now also be designated as reserve building areas. This article explains, in light of the current texts of the Law and the Regulation, including the amendment dated 4 February 2026, Council of State case law and concrete examples of grievances from practice, every issue faced by an owner whose property falls within a reserve building area and every legal remedy available to that owner, step by step.

Table of Contents

1. Definition of a reserve building area and the designation procedure
2. Authority and planning process in transformation implementations
3. Implementation methods and decision-making mechanism
4. Urgent expropriation and the nature of a settlement project
5. Measures that may be implemented in reserve building areas
6. Chronology of legislative amendments (2012–2026)
7. 14 typical problems faced by an owner within a reserve area
8. Examples from practice: Sarıyer, Ümraniye, İzmir, Hatay, Arnavutköy
9. Owners’ rights: rent assistance, relocation assistance, interest support, tax exemptions
10. Exemption from fees and charges and parking fees: the limit of the 1.5-times rule
11. Legal remedies: which act can be challenged, where, and within how many days?
12. Catalogue of grounds for annulment
13. Step-by-step roadmap (0–30 days / 30–90 days / thereafter)
14. 8 common misconceptions and the correct information
15. Points to consider when contracting with a contractor in a reserve area
16. Frequently Asked Questions
17. Why should you work with a specialist lawyer?
18. Sources and verification note

1. Definition of a Reserve Building Area and the Designation Procedure

Under subparagraph (c) of the first paragraph of Article 2 of Law No. 6306, a reserve building area means “areas designated by the Ministry, ex officio or upon the request of TOKİ or the Administration, to be used in implementations carried out under this Law” . The definition appears brief; the real issue is what was removed from it.

1.1. Before and after 2023: the cost of removing two words

In its original form, the Law defined a reserve building area as “areas designated by the Ministry … to be used as a new settlement area in implementations carried out under the Law … upon obtaining the favorable opinion of the Ministry of Finance .” These two qualifications effectively limited the mechanism to vacant land, mostly in public ownership. By Article 6 of Law No. 7471 dated 7/11/2023, the phrase “as a new settlement area” was removed from the text; the same article also added the definition “Directorate: Urban Transformation Directorate” to the paragraph.

1.2. Designation file: documents required under Article 4/1 of the Regulation

Under Article 4 of the Regulation on the Implementation of Law No. 6306, as amended by the amendment published in Official Gazette No. 32552 dated 21/5/2024, a reserve building area is designated on the basis of a file containing the following documents, by the Ministry upon the proposal of the Directorate :

• A current coordinate-based map showing, among other things, the size of the area,
• A satellite image or orthophoto map of the area,
• A list of publicly owned immovable properties located in the area,
• For reserve building areas to be designated for use as a new settlement area , a statement of reasons to be prepared on the basis of observational data following an on-site examination,
• Other information and documents that may be requested by the Directorate depending on the characteristics of the area.

1.3. Three ways in which a reserve building area may be designated

The 30% rule in the third route is the result of the re-regulation introduced by Law No. 7471 after the Constitutional Court annulled this paragraph twice (27/2/2014, E.2012/87, K.2014/41 and 15/11/2017, E.2016/133, K.2017/155). Legal scholarship discusses whether this requirement, which provides for the uncompensated transfer of 30% of privately owned land that carries development rights, may be subject to a new constitutional review in terms of the right to property and proportionality.

1.4. The first common mistake: the misconception that “a reserve area is declared by Presidential decision”

No. A risky area is designated by the President and the decision is published in the Official Gazette (Law Art. 2/1-ç, Additional Art. 1). A reserve building area , by contrast, is designated by the Ministry upon the proposal of the Directorate; neither the Law nor the Regulation requires the decision to be published in the Official Gazette or separately served on the owners within the area. This distinction is the technical source both of the debate over when the time limit for filing suit begins and of the most common grievance in practice — “we were not informed.”

For a comparative reading with the risky-building process: our main Urban Transformation guide.

2. Authority and Planning Process in Transformation Implementations

2.1. Powers of the Directorate (Law Art. 6/5)

Article 6/5 of the Law grants the Directorate extremely broad powers in relation to reserve building areas: to prepare or have prepared all kinds of maps, plans and projects, carry out land and plot readjustment and consolidation; purchase immovable properties, exercise pre-emption rights, exchange them, transfer ownership or development rights to another area; convert ownership into securities; carry out construction in return for flats or revenue sharing, determine land shares; distribute shares in accordance with the principles of the Condominium Ownership Law; carry out all kinds of income- and revenue-generating implementations in reserve building areas and, where necessary, make a deduction for the development readjustment share.

The pre-emption right is particularly important: in reserve building areas, a pre-emption annotation is entered in the land register at the request of the Directorate, and when the immovable is sold to third parties outside the area/parcel, the land registry office notifies the Directorate (Reg. Art. 13/12). In practice, although this annotation does not make a sale impossible, it is a significant source of concern for buyers and banks.

2.2. Planning: 15-day public display, 5-day review of objections, 30-day litigation period

Under Law Art. 6/6, the Ministry is authorized to set standards forming the basis for planning procedures of every type and scale relating to reserve building areas, and to prepare, commission and approve plans and urban design projects containing special standards. Approved zoning and subdivision plans are displayed at the relevant Provincial Directorate of Environment, Urbanization and Climate Change for only fifteen days ; objections must be submitted to the same directorate within this period, and the objections are reviewed by the Ministry within five days . If the objection is rejected, the plans become final on the date of the rejection decision without any further approval procedure.

2.3. Delegation of authority and restrictions on dispositions

The Ministry is authorized to delegate powers to TOKİ or the Administration in relation to the acts and procedures specified in the Law and to determine which of these acts will be carried out by TOKİ or the Administration (Art. 6/12). Correctly identifying the proper defendantin the statement of claim depends on whether such a delegation exists.

Under Law Art. 4/1, the Directorate, or TOKİ or the Administration where it carries out the implementation, may, in reserve building areas, temporarily suspend all zoning and construction procedures for two years; where required by the implementation, this period may be extended for one additional year. This freeze, which may last up to three years, can cause concrete losses such as inability to obtain a renovation permit, establish construction servitude, or effectively sell the property. In addition, under Art. 4/3, if requested by the Directorate/TOKİ/Administration, after also obtaining the views of the rights holders electricity, water and natural gas may not be supplied to structures within the scope of the Law, and existing services may be discontinued.

3. Implementation Methods and Decision-Making Mechanism

3.1. Simple-majority rule and the “stage/block” distinction specific to reserve areas

Under Law Art. 6/1, in the stage or block where implementation is carried out in risky areas and reserve building areasand, for risky buildings, on the parcels on which those buildings are located; decisions concerning consolidation of parcels, implementation individually, jointly or on a development-block basis, subdivision, abandonment, creation and registration, reconstruction, sale of shares, redevelopment in return for flats or through revenue sharing and other methods, are taken by a simple majority of the co-owners in proportion to their shares, regardless of whether they are co-owners of the building . Law No. 7471 reduced the decision threshold from two-thirds to a simple majority.

For the technical calculation of the majority: How is a simple majority calculated in urban transformation?

3.2. Meeting, call and notification of the proposal (Reg. Art. 15/2)

• Call: At the request of one owner, all owners are invited to a meeting; the place and time of the meeting are notified by completing Annex-12 and displaying it for 15 days at the neighborhood headman’s office (and, if the building has not been demolished, on the building entrance/notice board), or through a notary public. For notification by public display, the last day of the display is deemed the date of service.
• Decision: The meeting is held with at least a simple majority of the co-owners in proportion to their shares, and the decision is recorded in minutes.
• Notification of the proposal: For those who did not participate in the decision, persons who have registered an electronic service address with the land registry are notified by e-service; those who have not are notified through a notary public or, in risky areas and reserve building areas, by Annex-10 (Annex-8 for risky buildings), displayed for 15 days at the neighborhood headman’s office.
• Time limit: If, within 15 days of notification, the proposal is not reviewed or accepted, the process for sale of the land share begins.

3.3. Sale of the land share of an owner who does not join the decision (Reg. Art. 15/A)

The sale is conducted by public auction by the Value Assessment Commission and the Sales Commission established within the Provincial Directorate or, where authority has been delegated, within the Administration. The fair market value is determined by the Value Assessment Commission, taking into account any valuation obtained by the owners from a CMB-authorized valuation institution. The critical details for reserve areas are as follows:

• For the sale procedure, the buildings do not need to have been demolished.
• Only the consenting co-owners may participate in the first sale; third parties may participate only in subsequent sales, provided that they declare in writing that they accept the simple-majority decision and provide a cash security deposit equal to 10% of the fair market value.
• The notice served on the owner whose share is offered for sale is served “for the purpose of attending as an observer” and failure to effect service or the owner’s failure to attend does not affect the validity of the sale (Art. 15/A/4). This is the legislative basis of complaints heard in practice that “it was sold without our knowledge.”
• If the share cannot be sold to co-owners in reserve building areas, the share is purchased, upon payment of its fair market value, by the Directorate, Administration or TOKİ carrying out the transformation project (the pre-2023 system of “ex officio registration in the name of the Treasury” has been changed).
• Rights such as mortgages, attachments and usufruct over the share continue over the sale proceeds; the proceeds are blocked accordingly.
• If the sale is annulled on the ground that the sale price was undercalculated, the difference is paid together with statutory interest accruing from the auction date by the purchasing owner to the former owner (Art. 15/A/16).

For a detailed explanation of this process from the owner’s perspective: I do not want to participate in urban transformation — can my share be forcibly sold?

3.4. What the Regulation amendment dated 4 February 2026 introduced

The amendment published in Official Gazette No. 33158 dated 4/2/2026 revised Articles 8/9, 15/2, 15/4, 15/5, 15/8, 15/10, 15/A-1(a) and 15/A-12 of the Regulation. The points most relevant to owners include: after demolition and deletion of the risky-building annotation from the declarations section of the land register, an annotation stating “within the scope of Law No. 6306” must be entered; the rules on e-service/public notice at the neighborhood headman’s office for meeting calls and notification of proposals were clarified; before an application for a building permit the Provincial Directorate must confirm in writing that all notifications have been completed and that the simple majority has been achieved (Art. 15/4); if the first sale is unsuccessful, the place, date and time of subsequent sales must be announced using Annex-13 for 15 days and notified to all owners through e-Government.

3.5. Urban transformation consultancy and negotiation organizations

As of 9/11/2024, Law Art. 6/15 and Regulation Art. 15/B introduced “urban transformation consultancy and negotiation organizations” licensed by the Directorate. These companies must employ a civil engineer, surveying engineer, architect, urban planner, valuation expert and legal professional; the authorization certificate is valid for three years and a security deposit of TRY 600,000 is required. The service provided by these organizations is in the nature of consultancy and negotiation ; it does not replace legal services by a lawyer, litigation conduct or legal representation.

4. Urgent Expropriation and the Nature of a Settlement Project

Under Law Art. 6/2, if, following service on the owners of land whose building has been demolished, no agreement is reached by simple majority within thirty days, immovable properties owned by natural persons or private-law legal entities may also be subject, by the Directorate, TOKİ or the Administration, to urgent expropriation. Expropriations carried out under this Law are deemed, under Article 3/2 of Expropriation Law No. 2942, to be expropriations for the purpose of implementing settlement projects , and the first installment payment is made at a rate of one-fifth of the amounts determined pursuant to that paragraph.

There are two separate judicial fronts in urgent expropriation: (i) the legality of the urgent possession/expropriation decision — administrative courts; (ii) the action for determination of compensation and registration — the civil court of first instance where the immovable is located. The annulment action before the administrative court must be filed independently of, and in due time from, valuation objections in the compensation case; inadequacy of the compensation alone does not invalidate the administrative act, but failure to substantiate the public interest and failure to properly exhaust the settlement/negotiation stage are grounds for annulment.

5. Measures That May Be Implemented in Reserve Building Areas

Under Regulation Art. 4/4, the following may be carried out in reserve building areas for use within the purposes of the Law and in line with the intended objectives, and these areas may be used as new settlement areas:

• reserve housing units and workplaces to which persons residing in risky areas or in risky buildings outside such areas may be relocated reserve housing units and workplaces,
• all kinds of income- and revenue-generating implementations,
• social, technical and cultural infrastructure and superstructure facilities required by settlements, as well as environmental arrangements.

The second item alone summarizes the most criticized aspect of the mechanism: a reserve building area is not merely a “reserve area” to which earthquake victims will be relocated, but also an income-generating instrument that creates financing for the special account for transformation projects (together with Law Art. 6/5-g). The designation of a neighborhood as a reserve area may be driven not by disaster risk but by financing needs; this is a fact that should be examined, in an annulment action, in terms of the “purpose” element of the administrative act.

On the other hand, pursuant to the amendment made by Law No. 7566 (4/12/2025), the special account for transformation projects will be closed as of 31/12/2027 and its rights and obligations will be transferred to the Directorate (Additional Art. 4). In addition, the newly added Provisional Article 5 authorizes the Directorate to borrow domestically from public banks until 31/12/2027. These two provisions indicate that the weight of income-generating implementations may increase in the coming period.

6. Chronology of Legislative Amendments (2012–2026)

7. 14 Typical Problems Faced by an Owner Within a Reserve Area

The following headings were prepared by jointly assessing the legislative texts, disputes reported in the press, reports of professional chambers and recurring complaint patterns in transformation files.

7.1. Notification gap: learning of the decision late

Publication of a reserve building area decision in the Official Gazette and individual service on owners are not mandatory. Owners often learn of the situation from an annotation entered in the land register, a notice posted at the neighborhood headman’s office, a notification appearing on e-Government, or discussions with a contractor. For limitation purposes, proving the “date of knowledge” is therefore the first technical issue in the file.

7.2. Inclusion of a structurally sound building

Buildings that are not risky, including reinforced or newly built buildings, may still fall within the boundaries of a reserve area. Flexibilities that allow non-risky buildings in risky areas to be excluded from implementation (such as by subdivision) are, in practice, much more difficult to apply under the stage/block logic of reserve areas.

7.3. Calculation of the majority at stage/block level

As explained in Section 3.1 above. This is one of the most serious and least known losses of rights suffered by an owner in a reserve area: the owner’s will within his or her own building is diluted within the total shares of the stage.

7.4. Inability to review the reasoning

After the 2024 amendment narrowed the requirement for a statement of reasons in existing settlement areas, the administrative file may contain no written answer to the question “why our neighborhood?” In such a case, the court’s obtaining the administrative file and a request for expert examination become decisive.

7.5. Undervaluation of the property

The value of the immovable is determined by the valuation commission within the relevant institution or through outsourced services, in accordance with the principles of Article 11 of Expropriation Law No. 2942 or CMB valuation standards (Reg. Art. 12). Because the designation itself tends to depress market value, a valuation made after designation often falls below the property’s true pre-designation value. Obtaining an independent valuation report from a CMB-licensed valuation institution at an early stageis one of the most effective means of protection both at the sale stage and during litigation.

7.6. Closed-circle operation of the auction

The fact that only consenting co-owners may participate in the first sale, that the notice served on the owner whose share is being sold is merely for “observer” status, and that failure of service does not invalidate the sale can result in auctions without real competition and prices remaining close to the minimum fair market value.

7.7. De facto pressure through utility cut-offs

Cutting off electricity, water and natural gas is legally a demolition-safety measure, not a means of coercing evacuation. In practice, however, it may turn into a tool to accelerate evacuation. The phrase “after also obtaining the views of the rights holders” in Law Art. 4/3 and the Council of State 4th Chamber’s stay-of-execution decision dated 12/2/2026 provide concrete legal grounds against such cut-offs.

7.8. Rent assistance failing to cover market rent

The monthly rent-assistance amount is determined by the Directorate and varies by province. In provinces with high rent inflation, such as Istanbul, the assistance may remain substantially below the rent of an equivalent dwelling in the same neighborhood. In addition, the application must be made within one year of the evacuation or demolition date ; where the application is late, no retroactive payment is made for past months (Reg. Art. 16/4).

7.9. Position of tenants and business operators

As a rule, tenants receive not monthly rent assistance but a one-off relocation payment . In order to qualify for any surplus housing unit/workplace remaining after allocation to owners, the person must have for at least one year resided in the building or operated a workplace there (Law Art. 6/3; Reg. Art. 14). Claims by business tenants concerning loss of customer base and goodwill are governed by the general provisions outside the Law No. 6306 regime. For details: our urban transformation guide.

7.10. Zoning and construction freeze

During the 2+1-year suspension period, renovation, extension and new-building permits cannot be obtained; leasing and selling the property also becomes practically more difficult. If implementation has not begun by the end of the period, the relevant administration should be asked to confirm in writing that the suspension decision has expired.

7.11. Risk of indebtedness

Under Regulation Art. 13/2, the assessed value of the immovable is deducted from the construction-cost value/fair market value of the dwelling or workplace to be allocated. If the difference is against the owner, the owner becomes indebted to the relevant institution and pays in installments; title transfer is not completed until the debt is fully paid. Owners of old, small or basement-level independent units may therefore emerge from the transformation process with debt.

7.12. Loss of square meters, floor and frontage

The criterion used for allocation is the land share registered in the title deed; excess actual use does not create a legal entitlement. For review of changes in location, floor and frontage under the principle of equitable allocation, see: Can I claim compensation if my square-meter area decreases in urban transformation? and the rights of attic-floor owners.

7.13. Contractor risk and security deposit

Where implementation in a reserve building area is to be carried out by natural persons/private-law legal entities, the contractor undertaking the construction work must provide security before the building permit is obtained at progressive rates (10% of the approximate construction cost for the first 50,000 m²; 8% for 50–75 thousand m²; 6% for 75–100 thousand m²; 4% above 100 thousand m²) (Reg. Art. 13/9-b). If the same contractor obtains more than one permit, the security is calculated over the total construction area, provided that the permits are issued on the same date. See: Must the urban transformation security deposit be provided before the building permit?

7.14. Deadlock in the process and termination of the contract

If work is not commenced within one year for reasons attributable to the contractor, or if for at least six months the project has not continued with a team/equipment level sufficient to complete it, administrative termination may be pursued by a simple majority of the owners (Law Art. 6/14; Reg. Art. 13/11). Details: administrative termination of the contractor agreement and what can be done if the contractor does not start construction?

8. Examples from Practice

The following examples are based on publicly available news reports and sources from professional chambers; each concerns a separate pending or concluded judicial process and is presented here solely to illustrate typical patterns of dispute .

9. Owners’ Rights: Assistance, Support and Exemptions

10. Exemption from Duties and Charges and Parking Fees: The Limit of the 1.5-Times Rule

The most concrete financial benefit for an owner carrying out an implementation in a reserve building area is the exemption in Article 7/10 of the Law: “In risky areas, reserve building areas and parcels on which risky buildings are located, where implementation is carried out by natural persons or private-law legal entities, municipalities shall not collect duties or charges for new construction area up to one and a half times the existing construction area, regardless of any change of function.” The purpose of the exemption is to encourage transformation and reduce owners’ financial burden.

The most significant practical controversy, however, is this: is the parking fee included in this exemption? In light of the post-2019 legislation and the 2025 case law of the Council of State Board of Administrative Law Chambers, the answer is no; however, this “no” does not leave the owner entirely without protection.

10.1. Legal nature of the parking payment: not a “charge” but a “payment”

Under Article 37 of Zoning Law No. 3194, no building permit may be issued for structures requiring parking unless the necessary parking space is allocated, and no occupancy permit may be issued until parking is provided. Where the requirement cannot be met on the parcel, a parking payment is assessed under the Parking Regulation.

Two lines of case law had emerged as to whether this payment falls within the exemption in urban transformation:

• Broad interpretation (regional administrative courts): The view that the parking payment is ultimately a “charge” collected by the municipality and therefore exempt under Article 7/10 (e.g. İzmir Regional Administrative Court, 3rd Administrative Case Chamber, 8/10/2020, E.2020/380, K.2020/743).
• Narrow interpretation (current Council of State case law): The parking payment is not a “charge” within the meaning of Municipal Revenues Law No. 2464; it is not dependent on the interested person’s request and is a “payment” collected because a zoning obligation has not been fulfilled, and therefore cannot be regarded as falling within the exemption under Law No. 6306 (Council of State Board of Administrative Law Chambers, 5/2/2025, E.2024/1173, K.2025/231 and E.2024/1525, K.2025/232).

10.2. 2019 Regulation amendment: exclusion of parking charges

The exemption provision added to the Implementation Regulation by the amendment dated 2/7/2013 included all charges determined by municipal council decision, including those collected under the Parking Regulation. By the amendment published in Official Gazette No. 30808 dated 21/6/2019, the exemption paragraph in Article 16 of the Regulation was rewritten and charges collected under the Parking Regulation were excluded.

The Sixth Chamber of the Council of State annulled the relevant part of this regulation by its decision dated 11/1/2024, E.2022/954, K.2024/186; however, the Council of State Board of Administrative Law Chambers, by its decision dated 5/2/2025, E.2024/1173, K.2025/231, reversed that part of the annulment judgment. The Board’s technical reasoning is as follows: under zoning legislation, parking areas are not included in the calculation of construction area and are also not taken into account in the assessment base for the building construction tax; therefore, an exemption built on the criterion of “one and a half times the existing construction area” cannot cover a parking payment relating to an area not included in that calculation.

10.3. Four lines of defense available to an owner against a parking payment

Where a building permit has expired and been renewed, the parking payment previously collected under the permit that became invalid must also be set off or refunded (Council of State 6th Chamber E.2016/8356, K.2020/10829). In practice, municipalities frequently assess the entire parking requirement of the new building without examining the parking status of the demolished building; this is an error that may be challenged and annulled.

10.4. Practical checklist

• Obtain the demolished building’s old building permit and occupancy permit ; if a parking payment was previously made, request the receipts/assessment records.
• In the assessment notice, ask how many vehicle spaces were used as the basis of calculation and whether any set-off was applied; request a written response.
• Check whether the proportion collected upfront complies with the legislation; if payment of the entire amount is demanded in advance, have this formally recorded.
• Make the payment under reservation of rights and, within the applicable time limit from service of the assessment, file an action seeking annulment and refund.
• If five years have passed without a parking area being allocated, apply to the administration for a refund; if the application is expressly or implicitly rejected, pursue judicial remedies.

The items that remain within the exemption (notary and land-registry fees, stamp tax, inheritance and transfer tax, municipal duties and charges, revolving-fund fees) continue to benefit from the exemption within the 1.5-times limit. See the rights table in the preceding section and our urban transformation guide.

11. Legal Remedies: Which Act Can Be Challenged, Where, and Within How Many Days?

Law Art. 6/9 introduces a special time-limit rule: “Administrative acts established pursuant to this Law may be challenged under Law No. 2577 within thirty days from the date of service.” The second sentence of the same paragraph, which provided that no stay of execution could be ordered in these cases, was annulled by the Constitutional Court’s decision dated 27/2/2014, E.2012/87, K.2014/41; today, a stay of execution may and should be requested.

12. Catalogue of Grounds for Annulment

The following are claim headings actually used in reserve building area cases, structured around the five elements of an administrative act (authority, form, reason, subject matter, purpose):

• Authority: The decision being taken without a proposal from the Directorate; an act being established by the Administration despite the absence of a delegation of authority; boundaries of the area being determined without regard to implementation integrity.
• Form: The documents listed in Regulation Art. 4/1 (current coordinate-based map, satellite image/orthophoto, list of public immovables) being absent from the file or out of date.
• Reason: Failure to demonstrate the public interest through concrete, measurable and reviewable data; the area not being supported by any technical data concerning disaster risk, infrastructure inadequacy or transformation need.
• Subject matter: The area being allocated to a use that does not serve the purpose of the Law (creating healthy and safe living environments); planning decisions that increase population density or reduce social-facility standards.
• Purpose: The true motive of the act being not the elimination of disaster risk but the creation of rent or resources for a particular investor through increased development rights/floor-area ratio (misuse of purpose).
• Proportionality: Choosing an area-based intervention despite the same result being achievable through a less restrictive measure (for example, risky-building determination, strengthening or an individual-parcel implementation); imposing a disproportionate burden on the owner.
• Urban-planning principles and planning standards: Inconsistency with higher-scale planning decisions; non-compliance with geological-geotechnical survey findings; failure to take account of transportation, social facilities and infrastructure capacity.
• Procedural safeguards: Meeting calls, proposal notifications and sale notices not being carried out in accordance with Regulation Arts. 15 and 15/A; failure to comply with 15-day periods.

13. Step-by-Step Roadmap

First 30 days — protect the time limits

• Obtain an up-to-date copy of your land-registry record showing all encumbrances ; check the declarations section for annotations and the pre-emption annotation.
• Request from the Provincial Directorate and the Directorate, through a right-to-information application, a copy of the date, number and file of the decision designating the area as a reserve building area.
• Document the date on which you learned of the decision (e-Government screenshot, service envelope, public-notice record from the neighborhood headman’s office).
• File an annulment action with a request for stay of execution within 30 days.
• Register your electronic service address with the land registry; do not leave yourself dependent solely on public notices at the neighborhood headman’s office.

Days 30–90 — strengthen the file

• Obtain from a CMB-authorized institution an independent valuation report (distinguishing pre-designation and post-designation values).
• Collect in a single file the documents showing that your building is not risky (building permit, occupancy permit, performance analysis if available, strengthening project).
• Determine the stage/block boundaries and share distribution; verify how the majority was calculated.
• Monitor public-display notices weekly; submit a reasoned objection within 15 days to the plan. A generic objection is ineffective; provide concrete reasons based on floor-area ratio, social facilities, transportation, geological surveys and the balance of property rights.

Meeting and proposal stage

• Check whether the call was made properly using Annex-12.
• Instead of simply rejecting the proposal, consider a “conditional acceptance” strategy: participating in the process and negotiating allocation, security, timing and penalty-clause provisions produces a better result in many files than allowing the share to be offered for sale.
• Do not miss the 15-day review period; have it formally recorded if you were not given access to the proposal.

Sale and thereafter

• Learn the date and place of sale and attend as an observer; enter a reservation/objection in the minutes.
• If you believe the price is below fair market value, expressly raise in the action for annulment of the sale the undercalculation of the sale price : if accepted, the difference is paid with statutory interest accruing from the auction date.
• Apply for rent assistance within one year of evacuation/demolition.

14. Eight Common Misconceptions and the Correct Information

15. Contracting with a Contractor in a Reserve Area

• Include the security deposit in the contract: The security deposit under Reg. Art. 13/9-b must be provided before the building permit is obtained and at progressive rates. Include a clause stating: “No building-permit application shall be made until documentary evidence that the security has been established is submitted.”
• Staged transfer + security mortgage: Instead of transferring the entire land share at the outset, prefer a structure involving a first-ranking mortgage over the transferred share and, once construction servitude is established, a separate construction-security mortgage over each independent unit allocated to the contractor.
• Personal guarantee: In addition to the company, obtain a personal guarantee from the principal shareholder in compliance with the applicable formal requirements.
• Time period and penalty clause: Define “construction completion period = actual delivery”; in case of delay, monthly market rent for each independent unit; if an occupancy permit is not obtained within a specified period after actual delivery, a fixed monthly contractual penalty.
• Sale of the contractor’s share: Without the administration’s permission, sales may not exceed the percentage corresponding to 10% less than the completion rate (Law Art. 6/13; Reg. Art. 13/10). State this expressly in the contract.
• Technical specifications: Specifications that do not define interior finishing works (flooring, internal doors, kitchen, bathroom, wet-area waterproofing, balcony) at the level of brand/quality/standard are among the most frequent sources of disputes at delivery.

For details: order of security deposit and building permit.

16. Frequently Asked Questions

My building is structurally sound and has an occupancy permit; can it still be included in a reserve building area?

Yes. Because Law No. 7471 removed the phrase “as a new settlement area” from the definition, existing and inhabited areas may also be designated as reserve building areas. The fact that your building is not risky does not by itself prove that the designation is unlawful; however, it is one of the strongest facts in your favor in reviewing public interest and proportionality.

Does designation as a reserve area cancel my title deed?

No. The designation alone does not terminate ownership; you remain the owner and may lease, sell or mortgage the property. The annotation and pre-emption notation entered in the land register may, however, make sales and credit transactions more difficult in practice. Ownership changes hands only through sale of the land share, expropriation or transfer by agreement.

What happens if I do not join the decision?

If you do not review or accept the proposal within 15 days of notification, your land share is auctioned to the consenting co-owners at not less than the fair market value determined by the Value Assessment Commission. If the sale is unsuccessful, in a reserve building area the share is purchased by the Directorate, Administration or TOKİ upon payment of its fair market value.

Do I not have to be served notice before the sale?

Under Regulation Art. 15/A/4, the notice served on the owner whose share is to be sold is for the purpose of attending the sale as an observer , and failure of service or your failure to attend does not affect the validity of the sale. By contrast, if the notifications at the preceding stages (the meeting call and notification of the proposal) were not duly made, the legal basis of the sale is defective. Litigation strategy is built around this distinction.

If all owners in my own building oppose the decision, does the process stop?

No, not in a reserve building area. The majority is calculated at the level of the stage or block where the implementation is carried out, regardless of whether the persons are co-owners of the building. For this reason, unanimity at building level may be insufficient at stage level.

Can my electricity, water and natural gas be cut off?

Law Art. 4/3 provides for this possibility upon the request of the Directorate/TOKİ/Administration and after also obtaining the views of the rights holders . The enforcement of Regulation Art. 8/3-c, which required institutions to discontinue services, was stayed by the Council of State 4th Chamber’s decision dated 12/2/2026, E.2025/5279. Administrative application and judicial remedies are available against a cut-off carried out without obtaining your views.

For how long is rent assistance paid?

For 18 months for risky buildings outside risky areas; in risky and reserve building areas, for the period determined by the relevant institution, not exceeding 48 months . The application must be made within one year from the date of evacuation or demolition.

I am a tenant; what rights do I have?

As a rule, instead of monthly rent assistance you receive a one-off relocation payment (twice the designated monthly amount). In addition, if you have for at least one year resided in the building or operated a workplace there, it may be possible to conclude an agreement allowing you to benefit from any housing/workplace units remaining after allocation to owners.

If the reserve-area decision is annulled, will my demolished building come back?

No; for this reason, a stay of execution is more critical than the annulment claim itself. Once demolition has occurred, an annulment judgment generally produces consequences through a full-remedy action for compensation. If a land-share sale is annulled for a reason other than the price, and the share has not been transferred to a third party and has not been subjected to an implementation that legally or factually makes re-registration impossible, it is ex officio re-registered in the name of the former owner (Law Art. 6/1).

Do I have to pay a parking fee in a reserve area?

The 1.5-times exemption in Law Art. 7/10 does not cover the parking payment. Parking charges were removed from the exemptions by the Regulation amendment dated 21/6/2019, and the Council of State Board of Administrative Law Chambers found this arrangement lawful in its decisions dated 5/2/2025. However, you retain the right to set off amounts previously paid, to have the amount calculated only on the increased need, to object to collection of the entire amount upfront, and to request a refund if the administration fails to provide parking service within five years.

Is an “urban transformation consultancy and negotiation organization” the same as a lawyer?

No. Organizations under Regulation Art. 15/B provide consultancy and negotiation services; they cannot file lawsuits, represent you before a court, or replace legal services provided by a lawyer.

17. Why Should You Work with a Specialist Lawyer?

Disputes concerning reserve building areas are among the rare fields in which administrative law, zoning law, condominium law, expropriation law and contract law operate simultaneously. Here, missing a single time limit — the 15-day proposal-review period, the 15-day plan public-display period, or the 30-day litigation period — may cause irreparable loss of rights. Moreover, the legislation has undergone four substantive amendments since 2023; a significant portion of the information available online is still based on earlier versions.

As 2M Law Office (Attorney Meryem Günay) , we provide legal support to rights holders and owners in matters including annulment of reserve building area and risky area designations, actions against land-share sale procedures, compensation and annulment processes in urgent expropriation, planning objections, negotiation of construction agreements in return for land share, and administrative termination matters. Although we work throughout Türkiye, our practice is concentrated in Istanbul’s Tuzla, Pendik, Kartal, Maltepe, Ümraniye, Ataşehir, Kadıköy, Sancaktepe, Küçükçekmece, Bağcılar, Esenyurt, Zeytinburnu, Bahçelievler and Sarıyer districts and Gebze and Darıca in Kocaeli .

18. Sources and Verification Note

• Law No. 6306 on the Transformation of Areas Under Disaster Risk (current text incorporating amendments made by Laws No. 7471 and 7566) — mevzuat.gov.tr
• Regulation on the Implementation of Law No. 6306 (text incorporating the amendments of 21/5/2024–32552; 13/12/2024–32751; 4/2/2026–33158) — Official Gazette
• Expropriation Law No. 2942, Arts. 3 and 27
• Constitutional Court decisions: E.2012/87, K.2014/41 (27/2/2014); E.2016/133, K.2017/155 (15/11/2017)
• Council of State, Fourth Chamber, 12/2/2026, E.2025/5279 (stay of execution of Reg. Art. 8/3-c)
• Zoning Law No. 3194, Art. 37, and Parking Regulation, Art. 12
• Council of State Board of Administrative Law Chambers, 5/2/2025, E.2024/1173, K.2025/231 and E.2024/1525, K.2025/232 (parking payment and exemption under Law No. 6306, Art. 7/10)
• Council of State, Sixth Chamber, 11/1/2024, E.2022/954, K.2024/186 (part reversed by the Board of Administrative Law Chambers)
• Announcements of the Ministry of Environment, Urbanization and Climate Change and the Urban Transformation Directorate

This content is for general information only and does not constitute legal advice or legal services, as the assessment may vary depending on the circumstances of the specific case. You may contact our office for an assessment specific to your file.