Consumer law

What consumer law covers

The Consumer Protection Law (Tüketicinin Korunması Hakkında Kanun, TKHK, No. 6502) covers every consumer transaction (art. 2). A consumer acts for non-commercial and non-professional purposes; the other side is a seller or service provider acting commercially or professionally (art. 3/i, ı, k). Banking, insurance and contracts for work can all be consumer transactions (art. 3/l).

Goods and services bought from a company, a car dealer, a developer or a bank are therefore covered. A sale between two private individuals, such as buying a second-hand car from its owner, is not: the seller’s liability for defects then follows the sales rules of the Code of Obligations (Türk Borçlar Kanunu, TBK; art. 219 ff.), and the consumer arbitration committee is not available.

Defective vehicle

Defect and proof. A product is defective if, at delivery, it does not match the agreed sample or model or lacks the qualities it objectively should have, or lacks a quality stated in the advertisement, label, manual or website (TKHK art. 8). A defect appearing within six months of delivery is presumed to have existed at delivery, and the seller must prove otherwise; the presumption does not apply if it is incompatible with the nature of the product or the defect (art. 10/1). There is no breach if the consumer knew, or could be expected to know, of the defect when contracting (art. 10/2).

The four remedies. The consumer chooses one, and the seller must carry it out (art. 11/1): withdraw and return the vehicle; keep it and claim a price reduction in proportion to the defect; have it repaired free of charge, if that does not need excessive cost; or have it replaced with a defect-free equivalent, if possible.

Repair and replacement can also be demanded from the manufacturer or importer, and all three are jointly liable (art. 11/2). If repair or replacement would be disproportionately burdensome for the seller, the consumer chooses withdrawal or a price reduction (art. 11/3). On withdrawal or a price reduction the money is refunded at once (art. 11/5), and damages under the Code of Obligations can be claimed alongside any remedy (art. 11/6).

Time limits.

• Repair or replacement must be done within 30 working days of the demand. For goods on the annex to the After-Sales Services Regulation (SSHY), a request for free repair must instead be met within the annex’s maximum repair time (art. 11/4); for passenger cars and pickups it is 45 working days (SSHY annex, items 10.1, 10.2). In the warranty period the clock starts when the fault is reported to the authorised service or the seller, and the consumer must be able to prove the report (SSHY art. 10/4).
• The warranty period runs from delivery and is at least two years. A consumer who chose repair may switch to another remedy if the car fails again in that period, the maximum repair time is exceeded, or repair proves impossible, and the seller cannot refuse (TKHK art. 56/2–3).
• Liability for a defective product is time-barred two years after delivery; in a second-hand sale it cannot be shorter than one year. If the defect was hidden through gross negligence or fraud, the limitation rules do not apply (art. 12).

Cars bought from a dealer. The Motor Vehicle Trade Regulation (MKTY) adds duties for businesses selling second-hand vehicles:

• For vehicles registered as class M1, M1G, N1 or N1G, a valuation report (ekspertiz raporu) is obtained within ten days before the sale, unless the vehicle is over eight model years old or has over 160,000 km. The dealer presents a copy at the notarial sale (art. 15/1-c, 16/1, 3). A valuation firm whose report contradicts the vehicle’s real state is liable to the consumer for a defective service (art. 16/5).
• For vehicles below those limits, the engine, gearbox and electrical and electronic systems carry a warranty period of three months or 5,000 km from the sale (one year or 20,000 km if the manufacturer refurbished the car), with repair at the dealer’s cost within 45 working days; faults recorded in the valuation report are excluded (art. 17/1–2, 18/1-c). The warranty does not apply while the manufacturer’s or importer’s warranty period is still running (art. 17/6), and TKHK rights are preserved (art. 17/8).

The usual steps are:

1. Gather the papers: sale document, invoice, advertisement, valuation report, service and fault records.
2. Notify the defect in writing, stating the remedy you choose, by a method that proves receipt (notarised notice, registered post).
3. Secure evidence if needed. If repair or use will destroy proof of the defect, a court can order an inspection or expert report before any claim; a risk that evidence will be lost or hard to produce shows a legal interest (Code of Civil Procedure, HMK art. 400–402).
4. Choose the route by value (see below).

Defective home

A home is “goods” under TKHK (art. 3/h), and a company, builder or developer selling it commercially is a “seller”; a sale between private individuals falls under the Code of Obligations. For title deeds and purchases by foreigners, see real estate.

Defects and delay. The definition of a defect, the six-month presumption and the four remedies are the same as for a vehicle (art. 8, 10, 11). A home not delivered in the agreed time, or not installed or assembled properly where the seller did that work, is also a breach (art. 8/3).

Rules specific to homes.

• Repair or replacement must be done within 60 working days for homes and holiday property (art. 11/4).
• The limitation period is five years from delivery; for a second-hand home the seller’s liability cannot be shorter than three years (art. 12/1–2).
• If the defect was hidden through gross negligence or fraud, the limitation rules do not apply (art. 12/3), and the statute does not say which general period then runs. Where the home was built under a contract for work (eser sözleşmesi), TBK art. 478 also applies: five years from delivery, or twenty if the contractor was grossly negligent. How the two provisions fit together is not clear from the text.

Pre-paid home sales. Where the price is paid before delivery, TKHK art. 40–46 provide:

• No contract before a building permit exists; an information form at least a day before signing; registration of the sale in the land registry, or a promise to sell in notarial form, failing which the seller cannot rely on invalidity against the consumer or demand payment; and, above a project size set by the Ministry, building-completion insurance or other security (art. 40–42). The consumer may withdraw within 14 days without penalty (art. 43), and delivery must come in the agreed time and at most 48 months after the contract (art. 44).
• For up to 24 months from the contract the consumer may terminate without reasons. The seller may then claim taxes and fees plus compensation of up to 2% of the price in the first three months, 4% in months three to six, 6% in months six to twelve and 8% in months twelve to twenty-four, but nothing if it has not performed its own duties. Refunds are due within 180 days (art. 45).

Who decides. Below the yearly limit, the arbitration committee; above it, mediation and then the consumer court. Mediation is not a precondition for consumer disputes “arising from the real right in the property itself” (art. 73/A/1-d), and the statute does not say whether a defect claim falls within that exception.

The usual steps are:

1. Gather the papers: contract, information form, plans and annexes, payment receipts, handover record.
2. Document the defect (photographs, video, dates) and notify the seller in writing. The 60 working days run from the demand (art. 11/4).
3. Secure evidence by court-ordered inspection before any claim; the applicant advances the costs (HMK art. 400–402).
4. Choose the route by value.

Consumer arbitration committee

The consumer arbitration committee (tüketici hakem heyeti) is set up by the Ministry of Trade to decide disputes arising from consumer transactions. It has five members: the provincial trade director or district governor (or a nominee) as chair, and one each from the municipality, the bar, the trade or craftsmen’s chamber and the consumer organisations (TKHK art. 66).

Which disputes go to the committee? Those worth less than the monetary limit. Applying is compulsory for them, and for disputes above the limit an application cannot be made (art. 68/1). The limit is revalued at the start of each calendar year (art. 68/4). The current figure is in the Ministry of Trade’s yearly communiqué; the one for 2026 is in the Resmî Gazete of 23 December 2025 (No. 33116), and a new one follows for each later year. The parties’ rights under the Enforcement and Bankruptcy Law are preserved (art. 68/1).

Mediation is not a precondition for disputes within the committee’s remit, objections to committee decisions, some cases brought by consumer organisations and the Ministry, mass-produced defective goods, and disputes arising from the real right in a property (art. 73/A/1). A consumer’s mediation fee is met from the Ministry of Justice’s budget, up to two hours’ tariff (art. 73/A/3).

The application runs as follows:

1. Work out the value. The limit on the date of application applies. If one dispute exceeds it, the excess can be waived and the rest brought, but the excess cannot be brought later (THHY art. 6/3–4).
2. Choose the committee: where the consumer lives or the transaction took place; in a district with none, the district governor’s office takes the application (TKHK art. 68/3; THHY art. 7).
3. File through e-Devlet and the Consumer Information System (Tüketici Bilgi Sistemi, TÜBİS), or in person, through a lawyer, by hand or by post; oral applications are not accepted (THHY art. 11/1; Ministry information note). The petition gives identity details, address, subject, request, the value in lira and the other party’s details, with evidence attached; missing information must be supplied within seven days. A second application for the same dispute is not allowed (art. 11/2–6).
4. Follow the case. The committee decides on the file and may ask the parties for documents, allowing up to thirty days (art. 13, 19). It must decide within six months, extendable by three (art. 21/1).
5. Use the decision. It binds the parties (TKHK art. 70/1) and is enforced under the Enforcement and Bankruptcy Law provisions on judgments (art. 70/2).

Objection. A party may object within two weeks of notification, at the committee or at the consumer court where the consumer lives. An objection does not stop enforcement unless the judge orders it on request. The court’s decision is final (TKHK art. 70/3, 5). THHY art. 27 still says “fifteen days”; the statute is the higher norm and says two weeks.

Costs. The committee cannot order legal fees (art. 70/1). If a decision in the consumer’s favour is annulled on objection, the court orders the consumer to pay a proportional legal fee, unless the annulment rests on an existing document not given to the committee (art. 70/6).

Court. Consumer courts hear these disputes under the simplified procedure, where the consumer lives if the consumer chooses (art. 73/1, 4, 5). Consumers pay no court fees (art. 73/2), though an advance for expenses is still due; where there is no consumer court, the civil court of first instance sits in its place (Ministry information note, for both points).

Bank and card fee refunds

The basic rule. The Central Bank of Türkiye (TCMB) decides which fees, commissions and charges, apart from interest, banks, consumer lenders and card issuers may charge consumers (TKHK art. 4/3). It did so in the Communiqué on Fees Charged to Financial Consumers (No. 2020/7, the Fee Communiqué). No fee may be charged for a product or service outside the Communiqué and its annex, though sums paid to third parties may be passed on as they are (art. 6/1). The consumer’s consent is needed for each fee-bearing product or service, and if the institution cannot prove consent, none is treated as given (art. 5/3).

Loans. On consumer and home loans, apart from the allocation fee no other fee may be charged under any name, such as an “intelligence fee” or a “payment-plan change fee”. The allocation fee may not exceed five per thousand of the principal, a limit the Central Bank can change (art. 10/1). For pledges, mortgages and valuations only sums paid to third parties may be passed on, and nothing may be charged on a rejected application (art. 10/2–3).

Cards (art. 11):

• An issuer must offer a credit card with no annual fee, and must swap a paid card for a fee-free one with the same limit on request; it cannot refuse to cancel a card because a debt remains on it (art. 11/1–2).
• No annual fee may be charged on a debit card or a virtual credit card (art. 11/3). An additional card may cost no more than half of the main card, and the fee accrues only after the first use that puts the customer in debt (art. 11/4–5).
• A card inactive for 180 days or more cannot be charged an annual fee (art. 11/6–7). Account statements, virtual-card creation and up to two card replacements a year after loss or theft cost nothing (art. 11/8).

An annual card fee is not unlawful in every case; one within these limits is allowed. A refund arises where the fee breaches the Communiqué, the tariff or the consent requirement. An institution must give at least thirty days’ notice of an increase in a contractual fee, and the consumer may give up the product up to fifteen days after the notice, in which case no extra fee may be charged from the date of the increase (art. 7/1).

Unfair terms. A term not individually negotiated that, against good faith, unbalances the contract to the consumer’s detriment is void; a term in a standard contract counts as not negotiated (TKHK art. 5).

The usual steps are:

1. List the charges. From statements, the loan contract, the fee information form and the payment plan, note which fee was charged, under what name and when.
2. Compare. Is it in the Communiqué, in the contract’s tariff and covered by your consent, or is it a prohibited item?
3. Write to the bank. The Regulation does not make a prior complaint to the bank a condition of applying to the committee (THHY art. 11), but the bank’s reply is useful evidence.
4. Apply by value to the committee or to mediation (see above).

Time limit. The limitation period for a refund is disputed. For a claim in unjust enrichment, TBK art. 82 gives two years from learning of the right to a refund and ten at most; if it is treated as a contractual claim, the ten years of TBK art. 146 may apply. If you want interest on the sum, the statutory interest calculator can help; which rate applies depends on the dispute.

Timeshare withdrawal and cancellation

Definitions. A timeshare contract (devre tatil) runs for more than one year and gives overnight stays for more than one period in that time. A long-term holiday service contract also runs for more than one year and gives a right to price reductions or other benefits on accommodation, alone or with other services (TKHK art. 50/1, 3).

Terms. The statute and the Regulation call the exit right after signing “withdrawal” (cayma). Dönme is the remedy for a defective product (art. 11). “Cancellation” (iptal) is not a separate statutory right; claims to cancel outside the mechanisms below rest on general rules such as unfair terms (art. 5) or the Code of Obligations.

Rules since 2022 (art. 50/2, 5, 8, 9; Timeshare Regulation (DTY) art. 4/A, 5, 6):

• Only a seller holding a real right in the property can sell a timeshare; membership of a cooperative, company, association or foundation cannot confer one. A pre-paid timeshare contract, devre mülk (timeshare ownership) included, may not be made, and other contracts last at most ten years. However, TKHK transitional art. 3/2 allows old-style sales, pre-paid ones and sales by sellers without a real right included, for five years from publication of the amendment, for properties that already had a building permit at that date; which regime applies therefore depends on the contract date and the property’s permit.
• The pre-contract information form must be given at least a day before the contract, in plain language and at least 12-point type, and the seller must prove it was given. The consumer writes the date by hand, signs, and receives a copy.

Withdrawal. The consumer may withdraw within 14 days of the contract being made, without reasons and without penalty (art. 50/6; DTY art. 7). It is enough that the notice is sent to the seller before the period ends: in writing or on a durable medium for a personal-right timeshare, through a notarial office for devre mülk; the seller must hand over the withdrawal form when the contract is made (DTY art. 8/1–2). Withdrawal ends the timeshare contract and any resale, exchange or related contract made with it automatically (art. 50/6; DTY art. 8/4). If a lender financed the price under an agreement with the seller, sending the notice to the lender too within the period ends the linked loan without compensation (art. 50/7; DTY art. 11).

No payment during the period. Until the period ends the seller may not ask for any payment, under any name, or for a document that puts the consumer in debt. Anything taken is refunded at once, and such documents are void against the consumer (art. 50/6; DTY art. 9/1). For devre mülk, money and debt documents are returned within fourteen days of the notice reaching the seller (art. 9/3).

Incomplete information. If the seller did not give the information form, a copy of the contract or the withdrawal form, the consumer is not bound by the 14 days; the right ends one year after the date the 14 days would have ended. If the seller makes good within that year, the 14 days run from that date (DTY art. 10).

Long-term holiday services. Payments, membership fees included, must follow a plan of equal annual instalments. The seller must send a notice at least 14 days before each payment, and after the first two annual payments the consumer may terminate, without penalty, within 14 days of each notice (DTY art. 12, 13).

Unused periods and older contracts. For a personal-right timeshare, a consumer who tells the provider at least 90 days before a holiday period that it will not be used cannot be charged any fee or similar sum for that period (TKHK art. 50/10; DTY art. 17/A). Terms waiving rights under the Regulation are void (art. 17). A contract is governed by the rules in force when it was made (DTY transitional art. 1; TKHK transitional art. 3).

Disputes follow the routes above. For a real-right dispute such as devre mülk, whether mediation is a precondition depends on whether the claim “arises from the real right in the property itself” (art. 73/A/1-d).

The usual steps are:

1. Fix the dates. The day the contract was made, and when you received the information form, the contract copy and the withdrawal form.
2. Give notice before the 14 days end, in writing or on a durable medium, through a notarial office for devre mülk, and to the lender too if there is a linked loan.
3. Ask for any payment back. Money taken during the withdrawal period must be refunded at once (art. 50/6).
4. If the time has passed, check whether the papers were incomplete: if so, the one-year extension applies, and for long-term holiday services the right to terminate may arise.

Consumers living abroad

• How to apply. The committee does not require e-Devlet: applications can be made by hand, by post or through a lawyer. A foreign applicant gives a passport or foreign identity number, and a value in foreign currency is converted at the Central Bank’s effective selling rate on the application date (THHY art. 11/1, 3). A foreign national without residence in Türkiye can ask for priority review (art. 21/2). The committee is the one where the consumer lives or the transaction took place, so without a residence in Türkiye it is the place of the transaction (TKHK art. 68/3).
• Representation. If you will appoint someone in Türkiye, see giving a power of attorney from the UK.
• Applicable law and courts. Consumer contracts are governed by the law the parties choose, but the minimum protection of the mandatory rules of the consumer’s law of habitual residence is preserved (Private International Law Act, MÖHUK art. 26/1). Contracts about immovable property or its use follow the law of the country where it lies (art. 25); how the two combine when someone living abroad buys a home or timeshare in Türkiye is not clear from the text. The consumer may sue in Turkish courts at his or her own residence or habitual residence, or at the other side’s business or residence (art. 45).

Deadlines in one place

Mistakes that cost consumers their options

• Repairing before notifying the defect. It becomes harder to prove the defect existed at delivery. Give written notice first and, if needed, ask for evidence to be secured (TKHK art. 10/1; HMK art. 400).
• Counting fifteen days for an objection. The Regulation keeps the old period; the statute says two weeks (TKHK art. 70/3). Count two weeks to be safe.
• Missing the withdrawal period. It runs from the making of the contract (DTY art. 7). Do not leave it to the last day.

Documents to prepare

• Identity card or passport, and a power of attorney if a representative will act.
• The sale, loan or timeshare contract with all annexes, and the information and withdrawal forms.
• Invoices, receipts, bank transfers, statements and the payment plan.
• Photographs, video, the valuation report, and service and fault records showing the defect.
• Correspondence with the seller, bank or provider, with proof of when it was sent, and documents showing delivery or withdrawal dates.