Turkish Justice Ministry mulls prison sentence for excessive rent increases

Turkish Justice Minister Bekir Bozdağ has announced that the government will keep intact the 25 percent rent cap and might impose imprisonment or administrative fines on landlords who make excessive increases. The annual increase in rental housing across the country had exceeded 173 percent in January 2023.

Tuesday April 25 2023 08:39 pm

Duvar English

Turkish Justice Minister, Bekir Bozdağ declared on April 25 that the limit on rent increase, which was set at 25 percent last year, will continue to be in effect. This means that landlords will not be permitted to charge more than a quarter of the previous rent amount.

Furthermore, Bozdağ warned that strict measures, such as imposing administrative fines or even imprisonment, will be taken against those landlords who violate this regulation by making excessive rent hikes, according to online news outlet T24.

“We have prepared three alternatives; it could be a prison sentence, an administrative fine, or a judicial fine. Our foresight is to make a regulation on this in the Turkish Penal Code," he said.

Rental prices, which have continuously increased after the pandemic, continue to further increase after the Feb. 6 earthquakes. According to the research of Bahçeşehir University Center for Economic and Social Research (BETAM), the annual increase in rental housing across the country exceeded 173.5 percent in January 2023, while this rate worsened with the earthquakes.