Glossary
Tapu müdürlüğü — meaning and English translation
The tapu müdürlüğü is the district Land Registry Office in Türkiye, where property transfers are signed and registered under the General Directorate of Land Registry and Cadastre.
Every district has a tapu müdürlüğü, an office of the Tapu ve Kadastro Genel Müdürlüğü (TKGM). Unlike the UK system, where a conveyance is completed by solicitors and then registered, a Turkish sale is completed inside the office: both parties, or their attorneys, sign the deed before the registrar, the tax is paid and the new title is issued the same day. A party who does not speak Turkish must be assisted by a sworn interpreter and, in practice, two witnesses; a power of attorney used at the office must be a notarial or consular deed in Turkish.
We write “Land Registry Office (Tapu Müdürlüğü)”. “HM Land Registry” is avoided because it names a specific British body with different functions.
A UK body rarely deals with the office directly; the contact is usually a UK client sending a power of attorney or receiving a deed from it, covered under buying property in Türkiye from the UK.