Giving power of attorney from Turkey for use in the UK

Who this is for

The person giving the power is in Türkiye and the thing to be done is in the UK: a property sale registered at HM Land Registry, a bank account to close, a probate application, a court case, a tenancy to sign, a car to sell. The person acting is usually a son, daughter or sibling living here. The UK has no central rule about foreign powers of attorney; each recipient applies its own, and the receiving solicitor or institution should be asked what form it wants before anything is signed in Türkiye. What is constant is the mechanics: Turkish notarial act, apostille, certified English translation.

The sequence

Ask the UK recipient for its wording and form; have the vekaletname executed at a Turkish notary with that wording; obtain an apostille; have the document translated into English with a certification the UK recipient accepts; deliver the original, apostille and translation together. If the recipient is HM Land Registry, a further layer applies, described below.

Executing the vekaletname in Türkiye

Any Turkish notary executes a power of attorney on production of the grantor’s kimlik kartı; the grantor’s signature and identity are verified and the act is recorded. If the grantor cannot attend, the notary can visit; if the grantor does not speak Turkish, a sworn interpreter attends. Turkish notaries use their own formats, and a UK solicitor’s wording can be incorporated when supplied in Turkish. For a UK property, the wording should identify the property by address and title number, confirm the power to sell, receive the proceeds and sign a transfer deed, and say whether the attorney may appoint a substitute. UK solicitors sometimes prefer to draft the POA in English as a deed in the UK form and have the grantor sign it before the Turkish notary, who then certifies the signature; ask which they want. The vekaletname page shows the standard format.

Apostille in Türkiye

Türkiye has been a party to the Hague Apostille Convention since 1985. A notarial document is apostilled at the valilik or kaymakamlık, free of charge, usually the same day at a kaymakamlık; the notary’s office often walks it round for a small fee. If the grantor is in Ankara or the document can be sent there, we obtain the apostille for £15 within one to three days as part of the translation order. Court documents take a different path (the adliye’s adalet komisyonu), which is not relevant here. Some Turkish documents can be apostilled electronically through e-Devlet, but notarial acts are not in that list at the time of writing, so a paper apostille is needed; see apostille for Turkish documents.

The translation standard in the UK

There is no sworn translator in the UK; a translation is “certified” when the translator or translation company states in writing that it is a true and accurate translation, dates it and gives their name and contact details. That satisfies most banks, solicitors and probate registries, and it is what we supply on every page. HM Land Registry’s Practice Guide 8 on the execution of deeds says that a power of attorney not in English must be accompanied by a translation; conveyancing solicitors usually ask that the translation be certified by a translator or translation company and sometimes want the translator’s certificate notarised or the translator to sign a declaration. Where the recipient wants the translation notarised in the UK, that is done before a UK notary public who certifies the signature; our notaries and solicitors page explains the arrangement. The translation covers the vekaletname, the notary’s certificate and the apostille, since a UK reader needs to see all three.

Costs and timing

• Turkish notary fee: set by the annual tariff, per page, paid in Türkiye.
• Apostille: free at the valilik or kaymakamlık; £15 if we obtain it in Ankara.
• Certified English translation: from £10 per page; a two-page vekaletname with apostille is typically £20–30, delivered as a certified PDF in one to two working days, with the printed set by courier for £30. No UK VAT.
• UK notarisation of the translation, if required: the UK notary’s fee.
• End to end, a week is realistic if the grantor can reach a notary promptly.

Mistakes

• Executing the POA before asking the UK solicitor what it must say, then executing it again.
• Translating before the apostille is attached, so the translation does not include the apostille.
• A general Turkish vekaletname with no mention of the UK property.
• Sending the UK recipient a scan when it needs the original notarial act.
• Ignoring the grantor’s capacity; a UK solicitor may ask for evidence that an elderly grantor understood the document, which a Turkish notary can note.

What we do

We translate the vekaletname, notarial certificate and apostille into certified English, obtain the apostille in Ankara where the document is with us, and arrange UK notarisation of the translation where the recipient asks. We do not draft powers of attorney or advise on whether one is appropriate; a solicitor in the UK and, if needed, a lawyer in Türkiye do that.