Heavy penalties imposed for owners of daily rental apartments in Istanbul

Some 10 million Turkish Liras were collected up to Aug. 15 this year in fines imposed on apartments unofficially available for daily rental across Istanbul, and 1,683 such apartments were "red tagged," according to the Istanbul Directorate of Culture and Tourism.

Daily rental houses, which are part of the city's sizable grey economy, including illegal prostitution, are also seen as a security issue for officials, amid concerns that they are often used to harbor terror suspects. 

"The inspections we are carrying out according to decree law no. 678 concerning daily rental apartments have continued since the beginning of the New Year. In total we had carried out 6,743 inspections as of Aug. 15," Istanbul Directorate of Culture and Tourism head Coşkun Yılmaz told state-run Anadolu Agency.

"Legal action has been started regarding 2,306 [daily rental apartments] and administrative fines amounting to 10,329,527 Turkish Liras have been given over 1,153 apartments. Among them, 683 daily rental apartments have been given a 'red tag' report. The districts of Fatih, Esenyurt, Beyoğlu, Bakırköy, Bahçelievler and Pendik are the districts where the most legal action has been taken on daily rental apartments," said Yılmaz.

He added that they organized inspection committees together with the Istanbul Governor's Office and all 39 district municipalities in the province under the coordination of the directorate.

Inspections and raids are carried out quickly and legal procedures have been initiated in response to complaints made to the related authorities, as well as in light of the research that agents conduct on the internet.

Within the scope of the inspections, first the Security General Directorate makes the declarations of...