سفير تركيا
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People often concentrate on signing the tenancy agreement and overlook the handover of the apartment itself.
Use this practical checklist before moving in your furniture, so that you can identify problems and record the condition at the start.
Editorial clarification — checked on 8 October 2026: Photographs and a handover record can help establish the apartment’s condition, but do not guarantee the return of a deposit. If you have already agreed a tenancy, finding a defect does not automatically cancel it; the applicable defect and termination rules must be followed.
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1. Keys and address━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━
Check:
• How many keys you receive for:
- the apartment;
- the building entrance;
- any parking space or storage room.
• Whether the address matches the tenancy agreement:
- neighbourhood;
- street;
- building number;
- apartment number.
Ask the landlord to sign a short handover record stating the date you received the apartment and keys. Keep any written messages confirming delivery as supporting evidence.
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2. Plumbing and bathrooms━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━
Turn on and test:
• The basin, kitchen and bathroom taps.
• The bidet spray.
• The shower.
Look for:
• Leaks beneath sinks.
• Water draining slowly or collecting around the drain.
• A strong sewage smell.
If you find a problem:
- photograph it straight away;
- send the landlord a written description, so that there is a record of the pre-existing defect.
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3. Electricity and lighting━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━
• Try the light switches in the rooms, living area and corridors.
• Check apparently sound sockets with an ordinary charger or small appliance.
• Look at the accessible circuit-breaker controls and note any repeated tripping. Do not remove protective covers or touch wiring.
If a socket sparks abnormally or becomes hot:
- stop using it;
- inform the landlord promptly and arrange a qualified inspection.
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4. Heating and hot water: the kombi━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━
A kombi is a combination boiler supplying heating and hot water.
• Test the hot-water setting:
- check the water at both the bathroom and kitchen taps.
• Test the heating setting when it is safe and appropriate to do so:
- open more than one radiator valve and check that the radiators warm up.
• Look and listen for:
- unusual noises;
- water leaking around the boiler.
If the appliance appears faulty or has not been maintained, ask for a qualified service or inspection before using it. Operate only the normal user controls.
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5. Windows, doors and draughts━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━
• Open and close every window and door:
- do they shut properly?
- are the handles intact?
• Check for:
- draughts around window edges;
- cracked glass or damaged frames.
These details affect comfort and the energy needed to heat the apartment.
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6. Walls, damp and flooring━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━
Inspect:
• Walls:
- damp patches;
- blistering paint;
- visible cracks.
• Floors:
- loose or broken tiles or parquet;
- dangerous changes in level at doorways.
Photograph anything unusual and send the landlord a brief description. A visual checklist cannot establish a building’s structural safety; significant cracks or other concerns need a competent assessment.
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7. Kitchen and cupboards━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━
• Open all cupboards and drawers:
- check that they move properly and are not broken.
• Inspect:
- the area beneath the kitchen sink for leaks;
- cupboards for mould smells or signs of pests.
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8. Photograph and film the condition━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━
Before bringing in any furniture:
• Record a walk-through video of the whole apartment.
• Take clear photographs of:
- existing scratches;
- damp;
- damage to doors, windows or appliances.
Send the photographs to the landlord or agent with a message such as:
“These photographs show the apartment’s condition at handover.”
Keep the original files and messages. They may help resolve a later disagreement about damage or the deposit.
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9. Take time to inspect━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━
One careful inspection can prevent months of avoidable problems.
If you find major defects:
• Ask the landlord to agree the necessary repairs and their timing before you move in.
• If you have not yet committed to a tenancy, consider whether another apartment would be more suitable.
• If a tenancy is already in place, establish the correct procedure before deciding to leave. Turkish law provides remedies for defects, but the seriousness of the problem and required notice or opportunity to repair matter.
Official reference: Turkish Code of Obligations, Articles 301 and 304–308 on the condition of rented property and defects, and Articles 334–335 on return and inspection.
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