— Real Estate Law
The amendment to the Planned Areas Zoning Regulation published on 1 July 2026 affects floor area ratio calculations, lift requirements and the rules on re-issued building permits. Its most concrete consequence is provisional article 7, which allows office units to be converted to residential use within one year.
The Ministry of Environment, Urbanisation and Climate Change has made a comprehensive amendment to the Planned Areas Zoning Regulation. It was published in the Official Gazette of 1 July 2026, issue 33297, and entered into force on the date of publication.
The amendment concerns both new buildings and existing buildings that already hold an occupancy permit. In provinces such as Antalya, where the stock of housing and offices is dense, provisional article 7 in particular will affect a wide group directly. The office's work in this field is set out on our Antalya real estate and lease lawyer page.
What follows deals first with the changes to floor area calculation, then with the lift and re-permit rules, and finally with the conversion opportunities introduced by the provisional articles.
The provision can be consulted in the text as published in the Official Gazette.
A definition of ornamental pool was added to article 4. It is a pool created by setting water in motion in various forms and dimensions, serving a visual and aesthetic purpose, forming a whole with the architecture, and not used for swimming.
The definition further provides that the pool is designed by the project author according to the needs of the project, in shapes and dimensions approved by the relevant administration.
The definition matters because it sets the scope of the floor area exemption discussed below. A pool used for swimming does not fall within it and cannot benefit from the exemption.
The phrase added to article 5(8) widened the areas excluded from the floor area calculation.
Structures benefiting from the exemption must satisfy four conditions together: they must not be arranged as an independent unit, must not constitute an annex to an independent unit, must not be integrated with the building's main load-bearing systems, and must be built as landscaping in the garden.
Pergolas and ornamental pools meeting those conditions are excluded from the floor area calculation to the extent that, together with the uses in article 20(8)(b), they do not exceed twenty per cent of the garden area. Anything beyond that is included.
Entrance canopies, garden and retaining walls, the void at mezzanine slab level within a ground floor with a mezzanine, and non-accessible covered areas on a base left over from blocks rising above a main mass were also added to the paragraph.
The new paragraph two of article 22 introduces a relief in the floor area calculation for buildings within the scope of public buildings.
Even where they comprise a single independent unit, certain areas in such buildings that are open to shared use and involve no commercial purpose are treated as common areas for the purpose of the floor area calculation.
Four categories are listed: children's play and care areas, the prayer room and its ancillary spaces, the car park, and the terrace roof above the top floor that is a common area not put to any use.
Two limits stand out: the area must be open to shared use and must involve no commercial purpose. An area let out or made available for consideration falls outside the provision.
Article 34(1) was rewritten and the method of counting floors was clarified.
Under the new text, and excluding single-unit dwellings, where the number of floors — including a basement containing an independent unit, a common area or an annex — is three, space must be left for a lift; where it is four or more, a lift must be installed.
Technical spaces such as the heating centre, boiler room, electrical room, water tank, air conditioning centre and generator room are not counted. A basement containing only technical spaces is therefore disregarded.
Paragraph eight was also amended: in buildings where a lift is required, the lift must serve all floors including basements. It need not, however, reach basements containing no independent unit, common area or annex.
The new paragraph five of article 59 creates an important opportunity in terms of accessibility.
In detached dwellings built in accordance with the legislation in force before that paragraph took effect, comprising a single independent unit and not exceeding three storeys excluding the basement, a lift or a lifting platform meeting accessibility standards may be installed inside the building.
The conditions are listed: compliance with the rules of the art and the relevant standards, the taking of necessary measures concerning the load-bearing system, preparation of all projects required by the administration, undertakings that technical supervision has been assumed, and permission for the alteration from the relevant administration.
Before the installation may be used, the administration must further establish that it was built in accordance with its projects and with the rules of the art.
The sentences added to article 54(5) divide into two cases the question of which legislation applies where a permit must be re-issued.
Where construction began within two years of the permit date, the measures required by the legislation in force apply as regards fire, earthquake, thermal and water insulation, the environment and energy efficiency, while for all other matters the legislation in force at the date of the permit applies.
Where construction did not begin within two years of the permit date, the permit is re-issued under the plan and legislation currently in force.
The distinction matters in practice: beginning construction within two years largely removes the risk of losing floor area or setback entitlements through a change of plan. The date construction began should therefore be documented.
The new paragraph ten of provisional article 3 offers an option for substantial alterations to buildings that already hold an occupancy permit.
Substantial alterations to buildings completed and granted an occupancy permit before the Regulation took effect may be concluded under the provisions of the Regulation in force at the date the building permit was issued.
Six conditions apply together: the existing floor area and construction area must not be exceeded, the use must not be changed, the land shares of independent units not subject to the alteration must be preserved, the eaves level and setback distances must not be breached, the load-bearing system must not be adversely affected, and current measures on fire, earthquake, insulation, the environment and energy efficiency must be taken.
The new paragraph eleven lists three groups of buildings to which the lift rules do not apply: buildings for which an application was made to the administration to obtain the documents in article 55(2), buildings for which a notarised construction contract was concluded under law no. 6306, and buildings for which a public body took a tender decision or fixed a tender date.
The provision with the widest practical effect is the new provisional article 7.
Where an implementation development plan adopted before the date of publication permits housing in the area, an alteration permit changing the use may be issued for buildings whose construction began under a building permit for office use, or which already hold an occupancy permit.
There are two limits. The first is proportional: the residential use ratio across the whole plot must not exceed sixty per cent. An entire building may not therefore be converted.
The second is temporal: the alteration permit may be issued provided the process is concluded within one year of publication. The test is conclusion, not application, so the process must be complete by 1 July 2027.
Because the sixty per cent ratio is calculated per plot, where a plot contains more than one block the calculation must cover the plot as a whole.
For the owner of a unit permitted as an office, the first check is whether the implementation development plan permits housing in that area. Without such a provision, provisional article 7 is unavailable.
The second check is the existing residential ratio on the plot. Because the sixty per cent limit is calculated across the whole plot, the position of other units on it is also decisive.
In a building under condominium ownership, a change of use must additionally be assessed against the management plan and a resolution of the owners' assembly; permission under zoning legislation is not sufficient on its own.
Given the short deadline, project and application preparation should not be delayed. For the general route followed in files in Konyaaltı and the surrounding area, see the Konyaaltı lawyer page.
The questions below concern this provision; more general questions are answered on the frequently asked questions page.
It was published in the Official Gazette of 1 July 2026, issue 33297, and entered into force on the date of publication.
Provisional article 7 allows an alteration permit where the implementation development plan permits housing in that area and the residential use ratio across the whole plot does not exceed sixty per cent.
The alteration permit may be issued provided the process is concluded within one year of publication. The test is conclusion of the process, not the date of application.
Ornamental pools that are not arranged as an independent unit or annex, are not integrated with the main load-bearing system and are built as landscaping are excluded up to twenty per cent of the garden area, taken together with the related uses.
Excluding single-unit dwellings, where the floor count — including a basement containing an independent unit, common area or annex — is three, space must be left for a lift; where it is four or more, a lift must be installed.
The new paragraph in article 59 allows a lift or accessible lifting platform in single-unit detached dwellings of up to three storeys excluding the basement, subject to the listed conditions and the administration's permission.
If construction began within two years of the permit date, current legislation applies to fire, earthquake, insulation and energy efficiency and the legislation at the permit date to everything else. If it did not, the permit is re-issued under the plan and legislation in force.
The most time-critical provision is provisional article 7: the one-year period runs to conclusion of the process rather than to the application, so project preparation and the administrative process must be planned together. The changes on floor area and lifts should be taken into account at the first stage of any new permit application.
The office's fields of work are set out on the practice areas page. For an assessment specific to your file, you may reach the office through the contact page.