Recent COVID-19 measures affecting the Turkish commercial real estate market

Turkey has been closely monitoring the COVID-19 outbreak since December 2019 and is taking an increasing number of new precautions every day. Recent COVID-19 measures adopted in Turkey in relation to the commercial real estate market include, without limitation, the following:

• Failure to make payments under a commercial lease (işyeri kirası) for the period between March, 1 – June 30, 2020 will not constitute grounds for termination of the lease agreement and eviction. That said, payment obligations are not postponed or cancelled.
• Accommodation services in facilities such as hotels, motels, holiday camps, hostels, apart hotels, guesthouses, camping sites and mountain houses, and all other ancillary services such as food and beverage, entertainment services, or the use of pools, gyms, will become subject to an accommodation tax as of 1 January 2021. Initially, the accommodation tax would have become applicable as of 1 April 2020, but its entry into force was postponed on 26 March 2020 due to global pandemic.
• Revenue share payments and other payments arising from the use of Treasury-owned land (e.g., lease arrangements, servitude rights, usage permits, etc.) by Ministry of Tourism and Culture accredited investors and operators normally scheduled to be made between April 1, 2020 and June 30, 2020, will be postponed for six months. The postponed obligations will not be subject to any interest or increase during this period and will become payable after June 30, 2020.