Ownership

Ownership is the most comprehensive right in rem, granting the owner the power to use, enjoy and dispose of real estate within the limits of the legal order. Relations of management, use and expenses among co-owners in co-ownership and joint ownership, the transfer of shares, the conversion of joint ownership into co-ownership, and voluntary partition and actions for the dissolution of co-ownership (izale-i şuyu) come first in this field.

As regards the protection of ownership, actions for the prevention of interference (müdahalenin men’i) and for the removal of structures (kal), claims for compensation for unlawful occupation (ecrimisil), boundary disputes and boundary application disputes; and as regards the acquisition of ownership, registration through extraordinary acquisitive prescription and actions concerning encroaching structures and registration of the land in the builder’s name (temliken tescil) fall within this field. The exercise of the statutory right of pre-emption (şufa) in co-ownership is also included.

The statutory restrictions on ownership include excessive nuisances under neighbour law, damage caused by excavation and construction works, claims for necessary rights of way and conduits, and subdivision and partition disputes arising from the restrictions on the division of agricultural land; neighbour disputes frequently find application intertwined with right-of-way, easement and boundary issues.