Translations for HM Land Registry

Where Turkish documents meet the register

HM Land Registry records ownership of land in England and Wales, and most applications to it are made by conveyancers. Turkish documents arrive at the registry when the person entitled to sign is in Türkiye or the event that changes the register happened there. The commonest is a vekaletname, a power of attorney drawn up by a Turkish notary, used by a relative in Türkiye to sell, buy or transfer a property in London through a solicitor here. Next come a Turkish death certificate to remove a deceased joint owner from the title, a Turkish marriage certificate or name-change decision to update an owner’s name, and Turkish court orders affecting property after a divorce. Occasionally a Turkish company buys UK property and its trade registry extract and signature circular are needed to show who can sign for it.

What HM Land Registry requires

Practice Guide 8 on the execution of deeds deals with powers of attorney, and section 10 addresses powers and supporting letters that are not in English: they must be accompanied by a translation. The box on this page summarises that section rather than quoting it, because we could not verify the precise wording about who certifies the translation. In practice the registry and conveyancers expect a certified translation in the ordinary UK form, a full rendering with a statement of accuracy, the date, the translator’s or company’s name and contact details, and they expect the apostille attached to a foreign notarial power to be translated as part of the document. The registry does not require notarisation of the translation itself, but the underlying Turkish notarial act is normally apostilled so the registry and the buyer’s solicitor can verify the Turkish notary’s seal.

Turkish documents that come up

• A vekaletname (Turkish power of attorney) with its apostille.
• A death certificate for a deceased joint proprietor.
• A marriage certificate or name-change court decision for a change of name on the register.
• Turkish court orders affecting ownership, once recognised in England.
• Trade registry gazette and signature circular for a Turkish corporate buyer.

Common reasons registry applications are requisitioned

• The scope of the power is translated loosely. A vekaletname lists specific acts (satış, devir, tapu müdürlüğünde işlem yapma, bedel tahsil etme); the conveyancer must see that the act being registered is within them, so we render each power precisely and keep the Turkish term in brackets.
• The apostille is left untranslated, or the vekaletname was drawn up before the apostille and the translation predates it.
• The attorney’s name is spelt with Turkish characters in the power and without them on the transfer deed, and nothing links the two.
• The notarial form is unclear. A düzenleme şeklinde vekaletname is a deed drawn up by the notary, not merely a signature certification; the translation should say which it is.
• The T.C. kimlik number or the passport number used for identity checks is transcribed wrongly.

How we prepare Land Registry translations

Legal translators translate the power, the notarial certificate and the apostille as one document with matching page numbers. A second linguist checks every identity number, date and the list of powers against the original. Each page carries our certification statement with the company’s Ankara registry details, the date, stamp and signature, and the original is attached. Conveyancers receive a PDF within 1–2 working days and a wet-signed set by courier from Ankara (£30) or UK Special Delivery (£8) where the registry or the other side wants paper. A vekaletname with apostille is usually 2–4 pages (£20–40); certificates are one page (£10). If the power has not yet been made, we can also help your relative in Türkiye have it drawn up in a form your solicitor will accept and apostilled in Ankara (£15); see giving power of attorney from Türkiye for use in the UK. No UK VAT is charged.