UK tenancy agreement translation into Turkish

The agreement Turkish offices recognise

In England and Wales most private renters hold an assured shorthold tenancy (kira sözleşmesi, kira kontratı): a written agreement between landlord and tenant naming the property, the parties, the start date, the term, the rent and the deposit. Scotland uses the private residential tenancy and Northern Ireland its own private tenancy; council and housing association tenants hold a secure or assured tenancy with a longer document. A lodger agreement or a licence to occupy is weaker evidence, and a periodic tenancy that has rolled on after the fixed term is still proved by the original agreement plus rent payments.

Turkish offices want the signed agreement. A letting agent's summary or the deposit protection certificate on its own does not name the parties and the address in the way a registrar or SGK officer expects.

Where it goes in Türkiye

• Citizenship by marriage. A joint tenancy naming both spouses is one of the clearest ways to show a couple living at one address, which the application must prove. See Turkish citizenship for a British spouse.
• Residence proof at the consulate. The London consulate's note on the ikamet belgesi issued for SGK purposes asks for the original of the formal tenancy contract; the ataşelik reads it in English, and the translation is needed when SGK in Türkiye wants the contract itself.
• Askerlik. Dövizle askerlik and deferment files rely on residence and work status abroad. The consulate handles those in English; a translation is needed only if a dispute goes to ASAL in Ankara.
• Courts. Divorce and custody cases where the family home and the children's residence are in question, and inheritance cases where a tenancy shows where the deceased lived.
• Kesin dönüş. Customs may ask for the tenancy as part of the 24 months' residence evidence when household goods are imported.

Legalisation for a private document

A tenancy agreement is signed by private parties, and GOV.UK's legalisation guidance is explicit that such documents can be legalised only once a UK notary or solicitor has certified them, listing a contract among the examples. So the order, where an apostille is demanded, is: solicitor or notary certifies the agreement, the FCDO adds an apostille (e-Apostille £35 within two working days, or paper £45), and we translate the agreement, the certification and the apostille as one document. Citizenship, SGK and court files have to date accepted a notarised translation without the apostille in most cases, so ask first. The route is set out on apostille and legalisation.

Translating the clauses

A standard AST runs to 8 to 15 pages, most of it boilerplate on repairs, deposits and notice. We translate the whole agreement unless the receiving office accepts an extract, using the Turkish terms of the Code of Obligations (Türk Borçlar Kanunu) for landlord, tenant, deposit and notice, with the English term in brackets on first use. Deposit protection scheme references and the prescribed information are translated with a short note, since Türkiye has no equivalent scheme.

What it costs

A short agreement is 3 to 5 pages of 1,000 characters, £19.50 to £32.50; a full AST with schedules 8 to 15 pages, £52 to £97.50, where the economy option at 20 per cent less is worth considering if you have time. Notarisation adds the Ankara tariff at about £13.50 per page plus £5 handling, and an apostille of the translation is £15. Where the office allows an extract (parties, property, term and signatures), the price falls to 2 pages. No UK VAT is charged. Standard turnaround is 1 to 3 working days plus a day for the notary. The PDF arrives by e-mail; the wet-sealed original, which the registrar or court keeps, goes by courier for £30 to the UK or to Türkiye. No collection point exists.