Can Turkish citizens
buy property in the UK?
Buying in London is not buying at home with the words changed. Most of the process translates; five things do not, and those five are where confident buyers still get caught. None of this is a warning against buying. It is the list we wish everyone had before the first viewing.
One thing to say up front: buying a home in the UK does not give you residency or a visa.
Short answer
Yes. You do not need to be a UK citizen or to live in the UK to buy a home in England; buyers living in Türkiye buy in London too. Stamp duty does not turn on nationality either: under HMRC’s stamp duty guidance for non-UK residents, an individual buyer’s residence for SDLT is decided by the days spent in the UK in the 12 months before buying.
For a Turkish buyer, most of the London process translates; five things do not: stamp duty surcharges that can apply because of where you live and what you own worldwide, currency on staged payments, leasehold, evidence of identity and source of funds, and deadlines that do not move because you are abroad.
Buying a home in the UK does not give you residency or a visa.
Not harder.
Differently shaped.
Each of these weighs differently for a buyer coming from abroad, and some, such as the non-resident surcharge, never arise for a buyer who lives here. That is why they are easy to miss when you are reading advice written for that buyer.
Some of the tax is charged because of where you live, not what you buy
Stamp duty is not one rate. On top of the standard bands, surcharges can apply for buyers who are not UK resident and for buyers who already own another property anywhere in the world, including one in Turkey.
The second point is the one that surprises people. A flat you own at home can change what you pay here, and it is your worldwide position that counts rather than your UK one.
If you are used to tax that follows only the property, here part of it follows you.
Currency is a second price, and you pay it more than once
An off-plan purchase is usually paid in stages over a long period. Each stage converts at whatever rate applies on that day, so the total in your own currency is not knowable when you reserve.
This is not a reason to avoid buying, and it is not something anyone can forecast for you. It is a reason to size the purchase so that the plan still works if the rate moves against you, rather than only if it moves your way.
If you are used to paying one price in your own currency, here the price is fixed in pounds and moves in lira.
Leasehold is not the ownership you are used to
Most London flats are sold leasehold: you own the home for a long fixed term rather than owning the ground beneath it outright. It is a normal and well-understood arrangement here, but it is not the same thing as the ownership most Turkish buyers picture.
What matters is the detail: how many years remain, what the service charge is and what it covers, and what the building’s safety documentation says. These vary far more between two buildings than between two areas.
Kat mülkiyeti gives you the freehold share. A lease gives you a long, defined term with its own conditions.
Nothing here runs on trust alone; everything is evidenced
You will be asked to prove your identity and to document where your money came from, by us, by your solicitor and by any lender, and usually by the developer too.
Introducing buyers to developers is estate agency work under UK law, so we carry out the customer due diligence checks that the UK money laundering regulations require of us before any introduction. Your solicitor and your lender have their own obligations, and each remains responsible for meeting them.
This is not suspicion directed at you, and it is not negotiable by relationship. Assembled early, the documents are an administrative task; left late, they are how a deadline gets missed.
If you are used to a trusted introduction moving things along, here it moves nothing without the paperwork behind it.
Being abroad changes your logistics, not the deadlines
The reservation period does not get longer because you are in Istanbul, and neither does the exchange date. Viewings can be done remotely and documents can usually be signed at distance, but the clock is the same clock.
The practical answer is to solve the distance problems before they are urgent: agree early how documents will be signed and certified, and ask what your solicitor will need from you in person, if anything.
You can usually attend in person at short notice. Here the same errand is a flight or a notary.
We are not your
tax or legal adviser.
Two of the five touch subjects that are regulated, so it is worth being exact about what you have just read.
Last reviewed on 14 October 2026 against GOV.UK and HMRC guidance. General information, not advice on your own position.
Ask in Turkish,
get the answer in writing.
We work in both languages, and the difficult parts are usually easier to think through in your own.
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