Eviction

A recent court ruling in Ankara has sparked widespread interest, with legal experts suggesting it could set a precedent in landlord-tenant disputes.

The case involves landlord Hüseyin Deliömeroğlu and his tenant, Javid Salomov, who allegedly underpaid his rent by just 20 Turkish Liras ($0.5).

The delay or refusal to pay rent has become an increasingly common problem for property owners. The COVID-19 pandemic, with its economic difficulties, has intensified this issue, creating uncertainty and anxiety for many.

As the average tenant spends over a third of his or her monthly income to cover housing costs, renters' unions, organizations which are common elsewhere in Europe, are starting to gain ground in Greece too.

Rental pressures are forcing people to switch from sharing apartments, a common practice among university students, to sharing rooms, just like in dormitories, with sometimes up to eight people struggling to accommodate in a single room.

In response to the soaring demand, in recent weeks, room-sharing listings have started to come to the fore on rental platforms online.

This year, landlords and tenants have filed tens of thousands of legal cases to resolve the disagreements and conflicts among them, overwhelming the country's courts.

Some 90,000 rent dispute related legal cases have been opened at courts since the start of the year, Justice Minister Yılmaz Tunç said, noting that this marked a 100 percent increase from a year ago.

The rent crisis, which has been affecting millions of citizens for more than two years, has become one of the priorities of the public.

Last year, a 25 percent cap on rent increases was imposed by the government, and the deadline was extended this year.

Property owners are increasingly turning to short-term leasing as a result of the recent extension of the annual rent increase cap, as the figures fall far below market value.

Following the extension of a 25 percent cap on rent hikes to another year, courts are struggling to handle the huge influx of lawsuits arising from disputes between landlords and tenants over rent increases and eviction.

An eviction case has been filed against the Koç University Rectorate by the Aya Paraskevi Greek Orthodox Church and the İlk Mektebi Foundation, the property owners, for allegedly not paying their rent regularly.

Dozens of vibrantly colored floating homes have for decades dotted the banks of the River Nile, rare havens of leafy seclusion in the Egyptian capital's hustle and bustle but maybe not for much longer.