Significant Legislative Amendments for Immovable Property and Secondhand Motor Vehicle Websites

The Ministry of Trade introduced significant amendments regarding the sale of immovable property and second-hand motor vehicles. Accordingly, the “Regulation Amending the Regulation on the Trade of Immovable Property” and the “Regulation Amending the Regulation on the Trade of Second-Hand Motor Land Vehicles” (Amendment Regulations) were published in the Official Gazette dated 31.08.2023.

These amendments, which affect multiple laws, particularly the Protection of Personal Data and the Law on the Regulation of Electronic Commerce, are in parallel.

Amendment Regulations aim to eliminate practices that may cause consumers to be harmed, to prevent exorbitant price increases that do not reflect the reality, and to prevent unrealistic advertisements made through fake accounts by hiding the identities of individuals on advertisement websites. We have compiled the amendments within the scope of the Amendment Regulations below:

Persons who provide electronic environment for advertisements for the sale of immovable property or second-hand motor vehicles belonging to others are obliged to comply with the following:

(i) Verify the name, surname, Turkish ID number or foreign ID number and telephone number of the real person; (ii) verify the title and telephone number of the legal entity before membership or publication of the advertisement and keep the verified information up to date and store this information.

Verify before publishing the advertisement that the immovable/vehicle subject to the advertisement belongs to (i) the member placing the advertisement, or (ii) if the member is a real person, their first and second degree blood relatives or spouse, or (iii) the member placing the advertisement is authorized by the owner of the immovable/vehicle subject to the advertisement.

Take measures to prevent advertisements that disrupt the market structure or mislead consumers and comply with the measures taken by the Ministry of Trade for the protection of consumers and effective and sustainable competition conditions.

Pursuant to the Amendment Regulations, administrative fines ranging from 10,000 Turkish Liras to 100,000 Turkish Liras will be imposed for each violation of the above-mentioned provisions.

The amendments introduced by the Amendment Regulations will enter into force on 31.10.2023. Although these amendments aim to create a fair-trading environment for the sector, market actors and end-users, the impact of the amendments in practice remains to be seen.

You can reach the Amendment Regulations here (only available in Turkish) and here (only available in Turkish).