July 24, 2023

Authors: Sema Çelebi, Mehmet Fatih Zorlu, Enis Kadıoğlu

In order for the lease agreement to be terminated through litigation due to the need for housing, the lessor or other persons listed in the Turkish Code of Obligations No. 6098 must have a compulsory need for housing. The demand for eviction due to the need for housing may be related to the immovable property where the person will reside permanently as well as the immovable property that has the features of a summer house. Hereby, whether the need for a summer house will lead to an eviction due to a compulsory need within the scope of the law will be examined.

Before elaborating on the subject, it should be stated that the provisions regarding the lease of residential and roofed workplaces shall not apply to immovable properties that are dedicated to temporary use (lasting 6 months or less).[1] In this case, we would like to inform you that the general provisions of the relevant law regarding the leased property should be applied.

Subjecting the need for a summer house to ‘The Eviction Lawsuit Due To The Need For Housing’

If the lessor shall use the leased property due to the need for housing or a workplace for himself, his spouse, his descendants, his ascendants, or the persons whom he is obliged to take care of by law, he may terminate the lease at the end of the term in fixed-term contracts and by filing a lawsuit within one month starting from the date to be determined by complying with the termination period and the periods stipulated for the notice of termination in accordance with the general provisions regarding the lease in indefinite-term contracts.

Pursuant to the relevant article of the law, the need for housing or a workplace of the lessor shall be real, sincere and compulsory. [2] This is a legal regulation that protects the lessee. However, it is aimed that preventing the house owners from evicting the lessees without a valid reason. The need shall be proven concretely for an eviction decision to be made in the lawsuit to be filed.

The Court of Cassation evaluates each concrete case in terms of the aforementioned features. For instance, in the event that there is another property of similar features belonging to the lessor in the area close to the property subject to the lawsuit, it may be determined that there is no sincere and compulsory need.

Within the framework of the issues mentioned above, the matters regarding the filing of an eviction lawsuit due to the need for a summer house as stipulated in Article 350 of the Turkish Code of Obligations No. 6098 will be examined.

The Court of Cassation describes summer houses as a continuation of the need for permanent housing, although the legislator has not regulated what should be understood by the term summer house. For this reason, it is possible to subject summer houses to eviction proceedings on the grounds of necessity to the extent that the need is real, sincere and compulsory. However, the point we would like to draw attention to here is that the provisions of the law on the leases of residentials and roofed workplaces shall not apply to the lease of immovable properties dedicated to temporary usage for a period of six months or less. Pursuant to the aforementioned provision, if such places, including holiday buildings, are leased for six months or less, the provisions regarding the leases of residentials and roofed workplaces shall not be applicable.

Some of the decisions of the Court of Cassation regarding the eviction lawsuit due to the need for a summer house are as follows:

Sixth Civil Chamber of The Court of Cassation Numbered 2014/11609 E. Dated 27.10.2014:

“The plaintiff demanded the eviction of the leased property based on the need for a summer house, and the eviction lawsuit was rejected by the court on the grounds that the need for a summer house may not be considered as a real need for housing. The Turkish Code of Obligations allows the lessor to demand eviction of the leased property for the housing needs of himself, his spouse, his descendants, his ascendants, or the persons whom he is obliged to take care of by law. The need stipulated in the law is permanent; a temporary need is not accepted as a reason for eviction. However, in practice, the need for a summer house has been characterized as a continuation of the need for permanent housing as a way of life. Based on this principle, it is not appropriate to decide to dismiss the case with incomplete examination, while the parties should be given the opportunity to submit their evidence regarding the need for a summer house and the issue of whether the immovable subject to the lawsuit is a summer house in terms of its location and architectural structure should be investigated.”

The Court of Cassation General Assembly of Civil Chambers Numbered 1992/6-776 E.,1993/109 K. Dated 10.3.1993:

It is understood that the plaintiff’s family home in the village is too small and insufficient in terms of the number of the family population, and it is obvious that the financial burden of spending a vacation in a hotel or a motel type of place with the spouse and six toddlers. It should be considered quite natural that a person who has spent his years working abroad, has reached a certain level of economic savings, and has acquired a residence with these savings will long for his homeland and relatives and may wish his toddlers to be in touch with their homeland as much as possible.

The defendant lessee has not submitted any evidence in order to prove the contrary. Moreover, Law No. 6570 also provides for penal sanctions in the event that the lessor re-leases this place to another person within a certain period of time after the eviction of the leased property due to need. In this situation, due to the special circumstances of the plaintiff, it shall be accepted that the need is real and sincere in this eviction lawsuit, filed to stay when he comes to Turkey to spend his annual vacation. The same opinion was expressed in the decisions of the General Assembly of Civil Chambers dated 31.5.1989 numbered 291/402 and dated 28.11.1990 numbered 1990/6-466 E.1990/593 K."

As a result, if the conditions required by the Turkish Code of Obligations No. 6098 are fulfilled, it is possible to subject the houses to be used to meet the need for summer housing to an eviction lawsuit due to need, and if the lessor proves that the need for such houses is compulsory, realistic and sincere, it is possible to obtain a positive result from the lawsuit filed.