Evacuation Through Tenant's Eviction Commitment
Under Turkish Code of Obligations numbered 6098 ("TCO"), the termination of lease agreements concerning residences and roofed workplaces by landlords is only possible under specific limited circumstances. One of these limited circumstances is evacuation of the leased property based on the tenant's written obligation to evacuate. Due to economic fluctuations in Turkey in the recent years, disputes between landlords and tenants regarding rent increases have made the evacuation of the leased property more important for landlords before the expiration of the contract term. In this context, obtaining an eviction commitment from the tenant has become a frequently used method. In this article, we will focus on the meaning of the eviction commitment, its requirements, and the procedure for evacuating the leased property based on the eviction commitment.
What Is an Eviction Commitment?
An eviction commitment is a document that includes the tenant's declaration of intent to evacuate the leased property on a specific date. The source of the eviction commitment is article 352/1 of the TCO. According to this article, "If the tenant has not vacated the leased property after the delivery of the leased property, although he has undertaken to vacate the leased property in writing on a certain date, the lessor may terminate the lease agreement within one month, starting from this date, by applying for enforcement or by filing a lawsuit."
Thus, the eviction commitment provides assurance to the landlord that if the leased property is not vacated on the date specified, the landlord has the right to seek evacuation through legal means.
Validity Conditions of the Eviction Commitment
Since the provision related to the eviction commitment is regulated in the section of residential and roofed workplace leases, the eviction commitment can only be provided for leases of residences and roofed workplaces.
The eviction commitment must be in writing. It is not necessarily required to be drafted or notarized by a notary; but an ordinary written form is sufficient. However, its issuance or approval by a notary will provide convenience in terms of proof.
In order for the eviction commitment to be valid, it must be provided by the tenant or their authorized representative. If there are multiple tenants, all tenants must undertake to evacuate the leased property. However, if the lease agreement authorizes one of the tenants to provide a written commitment on behalf of the other tenants, the authorized tenant's commitment will be deemed sufficient.
In case the leased property is used as a family residence, the commitment must contain signatures of both spouses for the evacuation to take place.
Article 352/1 of the TCO explicitly states that the eviction undertaking must be provided after the delivery of the leased property. Therefore, eviction commitments which are issued before the delivery of the leased property or before the establishment of the lease contract, shall be considered invalid. The reason for this is that the tenant is deemed as under pressure before the delivery of the leased property and that such commitment does not reflect his free will.
Since the eviction commitments signed simultaneously with the lease agreement are deemed invalid, it is seen in practice that eviction commitments are prepared with blank dates. The Supreme Court considers the notices obtained this way as valid provided that such date is filled in and that the burden of proof lies with the tenant if he claims that the missing/blank parts were subsequently filled in a way contrary to the contract.
The eviction commitment must clearly and explicitly state the date on which the leased property will be evacuated. Since there are no restrictions regarding the date of evacuation, a date before or after the expiration of the lease contract may be agreed upon as the date of eviction.
Evacuation Based on the Eviction Commitment
• Evacuation through Execution Proceedings
In the presence of a valid eviction commitment and the tenant's failure to vacate the leased property on the committed date, the landlord can initiate execution within one month following the committed evacuation date.
Upon initiation of execution proceedings, a payment order is sent to the tenant by the execution office. The tenant can object to this payment order within 7 days. In such case, the landlord can request the annulment of the objection in an enforcement court or file an evacuation lawsuit before the competent courts. If the tenant does not object within the specified period or the objection is rejected, the property is forcibly evacuated and delivered to the landlord.
• Evacuation through Lawsuit
If the tenant fails to evacuate the leased property on the committed date, the landlord can also commence litigation. In such case, within one month from the committed evacuation date, an eviction lawsuit must be filed before the civil court of peace where the leased property is located. This one-month period is a period of prescription, and if it is exceeded, evacuation based on the eviction commitment cannot be requested.
Conclusion
The eviction commitment has become a commonly preferred method for tenants and landlords, especially in recent times, as it allows landlords to terminate the lease agreement and evacuate the leased property without incurring additional compensation obligations. However, for evacuation based on the eviction commitment to be possible, the eviction commitment must meet the validity requirements. Moreover, the legal deadlines are very important in legal proceedings initiated based on the eviction commitment and missing these deadlines will result in an inability to request evacuation based on the eviction commitment. Therefore, careful monitoring of legal processes is of great importance to prevent any loss of rights.
