What to say at an Istanbul flat viewing (görüntüleme)

The listing is on Sahibinden. They want to know whether you can pay the depozito and the first month on the day you sign. The visit itself is twenty minutes with a stranger who will decide, in the kitchen, whether you look like someone who stays.

The Turkish housing phrase page has the short lines for the door. This is the rest: the message that books the viewing, the aidat that is not the rent, and the three-month cap in TBK madde 342. This is not the ikamet appointment. That is e-ikamet after you have an address.

The message that gets you in

An Istanbul ad is a code. 1+1 is a living room and a bedroom. 2+1 is two bedrooms. Aidat is the building fee, usually on top. Eşyalı is furnished; eşyasız is not. Yüksek giriş is not the floor you think it is — ask.

A message that works:

Merhaba, Sahibinden’de [semt] ilanını gördüm. Hâlâ müsait mi? Bu öğleden sonra daireyi görebilir miyim? Adım [ad], bu yaz İstanbul’da olacağım.

Hâlâ müsait mi? and Bu öğleden sonra daireyi görebilir miyim? are already on the housing page. Use siz if they are older or the ad is stiff; sen if they wrote that way first.

What you actually ask in the flat

They will say Buyurun. You say Teşekkürler and you walk.

• Faturalar dahil mi?
• Depozito ne kadar?
• Aidat ne kadar?
• Ne zaman taşınabilirim?
• Daire eşyalı mı?
• Sözleşme bir yıllık mı?
• Doğalgaz, elektrik, su, internet kimde?

Banyoda nem var is already on the housing page. Point, name it, take a photo. Faturalar dahil in a short let can mean some of them. In a year lease it usually means none.

Ask whether you can use this address on e-ikamet. A landlord who will not write the adres is a different problem from a damp bathroom.

Money words that are different in Turkey

Depozito (the statute says güvence) may not exceed three months of rent for a home. TBK 342 also wants the money in a term deposit the tenant cannot empty alone. In practice many owners take it in cash. Ask how it comes back, in the contract, before you hand it over.

Other words that show up the day you sign:

• aidat — the building. Heating can sit inside or outside.
• komisyon — the agent’s fee, often a month plus tax. Ask who pays it.
• tapu — the title. If they will not show who owns the flat, stop.
• fesih / ihbar — leaving early. Get the notice in the sözleşme.

If you want it: Daireyi istiyorum. Sonraki adımlar neler? Do not transfer a deposit to a stranger who will not meet you at the building.

If you do not: Teşekkürler, düşüneceğim. You do not owe them a speech about the damp.