Urban transformation law approved in the Turkish Grand National Assembly

The Bill of Law on Amending the Law on Transformation of Areas at Disaster Risk and Certain Laws and the Decree Law No. 375, which includes regulations for urban transformation, was accepted in the General Assembly of the Grand National Assembly of Turkey. The definition of "reserve construction area" in the Law on Transformation of Areas at Disaster Risk was amended. It was stated that the aim was to make it possible to designate parcels located in residential areas as reserve construction areas. The law introduces new procedures for annulment lawsuits filed against administrative transactions established based on damage assessment reports, excluding transactions related to entitlement, in places accepted as disaster areas affecting general life due to the earthquakes centered in Kahramanmaraş that occurred on February 6, 2023, provided that they are related to damages caused by the effects of these earthquakes and subsequent earthquakes. The regulation aims to accelerate judicial processes. Accordingly, the first examination will be carried out within 10 days and the petition and its annexes will be notified. The period for submitting a defense will be 15 days from the notification of the petition; this period may be extended by a maximum of 10 days, once. The file will be considered complete upon the submission of the defense or the expiration of the period for submitting a defense. Decisions made regarding the request for a stay of execution cannot be objected to. In cases where discovery and expert examination are required, discovery will be conducted within 15 days from the completion of the file. In cases where it is necessary to protect the rights and interests of the parties, discovery and expert examination may also be conducted following the initial examination. Expert reports will be submitted to the court within 15 days. Objections may be made to experts and expert reports within 7 days from the notification of the report. Holding a hearing will depend on the parties' request and the court's decision. Hearing invitations will be sent to the parties at least 15 days before the hearing date. These cases to be decided within 15 days These cases will be decided within 15 days at the latest from the completion of the file or from the completion of interim decisions, discovery, expert examination or hearings in cases where these are required. An appeal may be filed against the final decisions within 15 days from the date of notification. Petitions of appeal will be examined and notified within 10 days. The period for responding to petitions of appeal will be 15 days. The request for appeal will be decided within 2 months at the latest. Full jurisdiction cases and annulment cases within the scope of this article cannot be heard together. Annulment and full jurisdiction cases filed together before the effective date of this article will be separated and these cases will continue to be heard from the stage they are in. The provisions of this article will also be applied to cases filed before the effective date of the regulation from the stage they are in. Accordingly, the defense submission period that has started, the objection period to the expert report, the appeal application period and the period for responding to the appeal petition will not change. Reserve construction areas are being redefined The law also introduced a regulation to ensure that external financing opportunities are used by the Urban Transformation Presidency in accordance with the purpose in the loan agreement. The phrase “to the Urban Transformation Presidency” was added to the definition of “allocation of external debt” in the Law on Public Finance and Debt Management. While the Urban Transformation Presidency was organized as a special budget administration with the law, a regulation was made to ensure that the loan financed by the World Bank continues to be used as allocated to the Urban Transformation Presidency. The definition of “reserve construction area” in the Law on the Transformation of Areas at Disaster Risk was amended. While the phrase “as a new settlement area” in the definition of reserve construction area was removed from the text, the justification for this regulation stated that in lawsuits filed in practice, an assessment was made and a provision was made that in order for any immovable to be designated as a reserve construction area, it had to be outside of residential areas, and that the aim was to also make it possible for parcels located in residential areas to be designated as reserve construction areas. Changes to risky building detection The law has been amended to ensure that the duties, rights and authorities regarding risky building detection and allocation of Treasury real estate to the Ministry for evaluation will henceforth be used by the Urban Transformation Presidency. Accordingly, risky building detection can be carried out ex officio by the Urban Transformation Presidency or the administration. Since it has been observed in practice that risky building detection is prevented by some owners or tenants and that samples are not allowed to be taken from their own independent units for detection, it will be possible for risky building detection to be carried out by opening closed doors or areas by sufficient law enforcement forces, if necessary, based on written permission to be given by the provincial administrator. The report containing the information regarding the risky building detection will be hung on the risky building, the owners will be notified via the e-Government Gateway and will be announced in the relevant muhtar’s office for 15 days. The report containing the information regarding the detection will be deemed to have been notified to the rightful owners on the last day of the announcement to be made in the muhtar’s office. In order for real persons or legal entities of private law to request that their immovable properties be designated as reserve construction areas; consent must be given to the transfer of ownership of 30 percent of the square meter of the land underlying construction of these immovable properties or the value of the same amount must be submitted to the Urban Transformation Presidency to be recorded as revenue in the special account of the transformation projects. Evacuation by means of law enforcement The duties and authorities granted to the Ministry on restricting zoning and construction rights and stopping services such as electricity, water and natural gas provided to the structures in the area during the implementation period in the areas will be used by the Urban Transformation Presidency. In order to implement the "half of it is on us" campaign launched to accelerate the transformation in Istanbul, an arrangement was made in the law to enable financial assistance to be provided to rightful owners for construction. The duties and authorities granted to the Ministry on the demolition of risky structures will also be used by the Urban Transformation Presidency from now on. The owners will be given a period of no more than 90 days at a time to demolish risky structures. In case the evacuation of structures within the scope of the law is prevented; will be evacuated by sufficient law enforcement based on the written permission given by the provincial administrator. The costs of detecting, evacuating and demolishing risky structures made or commissioned by the Presidency or the administration will be collected from the owners in proportion to their shares. Notification to be made to the real and personal right holders regarding the evacuation and demolition of structures within the scope of the law will be made by hanging the evacuation and demolition report on the structure, notifying the owners through the e-Government Gateway and announcing it in the relevant muhtar's office for 15 days. The process regarding the evacuation and demolition will be deemed to have been notified to the real and personal right holders on the last day of the announcement made in the muhtar's office.