THE EYB COUNTRY GUIDES · Turkey
Identify the seller, intermediary and fee obligations before comparing yacht offers or appointing a business.
Yacht broker vs dealer Turkey is best understood by asking who sells the yacht and in whose name the business acts. The title on a website does not answer those questions. Official law distinguishes a sale, brokerage and a commission agent acting in its own name for a principal's account. The buyer should identify the actual contract party, while the owner should understand which service has been appointed and how that business will be paid.
This guide compares those legal roles and the evidence to ask for. Consumer rights are discussed only where the transaction qualifies as a consumer sale; they are not attached automatically to every dealer label or brokerage introduction. Practical identity and contract checks help the parties apply the right questions to the actual yacht. For anything this guide does not cover, email us at info@europeanyachtbrokers.com for the latest information.
Key facts at a glance
Code of Obligations 6098, Article 207, defines seller possession/ownership transfer and buyer payment obligations.
Official Legislation Portal – Official consolidated Turkish Code of Obligat, updated 4 Feb 2011 ·Article 532 applies mandate provisions to commission agency subject to that chapter's rules.
Official Legislation Portal – Official consolidated Turkish Code of Obligat, updated 4 Feb 2011 ·Article 521 ties brokerage entitlement to the resulting contract and payment to fulfilment of its suspensive condition.
Official Legislation Portal – Official consolidated Turkish Code of Obligat, updated 4 Feb 2011 ·The Ministry includes absent advertised or online-described characteristics among defective-goods grounds in consumer sales.
Ministry of Trade – Consumer sale descriptions, defective-goods r, updated 19 Oct 2022 ·Commercial Code 6102, Article 39, requires the merchant's trade name in business transactions and relevant signed documents.
Official Legislation Portal – Official consolidated Commercial Code 6102, updated 14 Feb 2011 ·Section 1
The Code of Obligations defines sale as the seller undertaking to transfer possession and ownership and the buyer undertaking to pay the price. Start with the name of that seller in the proposed agreement. As practical buyer advice, ask the business showing the yacht whether it is the owner selling its boat or an intermediary acting for someone else. Request the ownership evidence and the proposed contract together. The yacht's location in a dealer's premises does not itself settle which person undertakes the seller's obligations.
The same Code defines brokerage as preparing the opportunity for a contract or mediating its formation, with remuneration tied to conclusion. That role differs from being the seller under the sale definition. An intermediary can help the parties negotiate without being the named owner who transfers the yacht. As practical advice, identify the broker's client and the separate appointment before treating its statements as authority to accept an offer. Keep the actual seller's approval and the buyer's accepted terms clearly recorded.
The Code also defines a commission agent (komisyoncu) as undertaking movable-property transactions in its own name for a principal's account in return for remuneration. That is another legal structure, not a synonym for every yacht broker. Mandate provisions apply to that arrangement subject to its own chapter. Ask a locally qualified lawyer to classify the actual contract if the business signs in its own name but says it acts for an owner. The guide does not assign a legal role from a marketing label alone.
Broker tip: Ask who owns the yacht, who signs as seller and whom the intermediary represents. Review the registration evidence, sale draft and appointment together before deciding what a business label means. See also our guide on how much yacht broker commission is in Turkey.
Boat sale contract with a legal stamp.
Sale party obligations
Section 2
The sale framework starts with the buyer's obligation to pay the agreed price. It also provides for concurrent performance unless contract or custom says otherwise. As practical buyer advice, compare the proposed payment arrangement with the seller's delivery and transfer obligations. If a business describes a boat price and a separate service charge, ask who receives each payment and which agreement creates it. This guide does not assume that a dealer's margin is published or that every brokerage sale charges the buyer.
The brokerage rule ties fee entitlement to a contract resulting from the broker's activity. Where the resulting contract has a suspensive condition, the fee becomes payable when the condition occurs. Keep that service fee separate from the yacht price in the appointment and closing statement. As practical comparison advice, ask the owner or buyer who appointed the intermediary, what work it accepts and which party agreed to pay. An invoice should be checked against the actual undertaking rather than against the word broker alone.
Agreed brokerage expenses remain reimbursable even where the intermediary's activity does not lead to a contract. The Code also makes an unspecified brokerage fee follow a tariff or, without one, custom. Ask for the actual agreed fee basis and authorised expense items before comparing competing offers. Practical clarity means showing the buyer or owner the separate obligations without inventing a standard yacht commission or dealer markup. No statutory yacht rate or default commercial margin has been verified for this guide.
Broker tip: Compare the yacht-price contract with the separate intermediary appointment and expense schedule. Identify every payer and recipient before evaluating the total arrangement; do not assume a label determines who owes commission. Readers often go on to our guide on whether yacht brokers are regulated in Turkey.
Signing a boat purchase agreement.
Concurrent sale performance
Buying or selling a boat in Turkey and want a second opinion? Speak to one of our brokers.
Section 3
Where the transaction qualifies as a consumer sale, the Ministry of Trade explains that a defective item is one that does not match the agreed sample or model or the characteristics it should possess on delivery. It also treats missing characteristics stated in advertisements and online descriptions as relevant defects. As practical buyer advice, preserve the description against which the yacht is offered and ask the named seller to confirm corrections. Do not transfer responsibility automatically to a broker merely because it published a listing.
The Ministry describes the consumer's available defective-goods remedies: withdrawal from the sale, proportionate price reduction, free repair where not disproportionately costly or replacement where possible. The seller must fulfil the chosen claim within the applicable framework. For practical purchase planning, identify the seller and retain the invoice and condition records. A survey remains useful evidence of what was observed and disclosed, but the guide does not claim it cancels every consumer remedy or that every yacht transaction meets the consumer-law scope.
The Ministry's guidance states that seller responsibility in secondhand consumer sales cannot be shorter than its specified minimum, except for goods bought knowing they were defective. It also distinguishes defects the consumer knew about from other undisclosed defects. As practical advice, keep a clear disclosure schedule and identify which condition the buyer accepted. The consumer framework is a separate question from whether a website calls the business a broker or dealer. Have local advice confirm its application to the actual parties and purchase purpose. No statutory yacht dealer markup, compulsory brokerage percentage or automatic buyer-pays commission rule verified. Consumer-law scope must be established for the actual parties and purchase; the business label is not itself the scope test. For these, email us at info@europeanyachtbrokers.com for the latest information.
Broker tip: Identify the named seller and preserve the listing, invoice and disclosure schedule. Ask local advice whether the transaction qualifies as a consumer sale before attaching consumer remedies to a business label. Our guide on what a yacht broker agreement in Turkey should say covers a related point.
Broker and buyer shaking hands on a pontoon.
Consumer conformity duty
Ministry of Trade consumer guidance says the seller must deliver goods conforming to the sale and defines delivery-time nonconformity as defective goods.
Source: Ministry of Trade – Consumer sale descriptions, defective-goods r, updated 19 Oct 2022The Ministry includes absent advertised or online-described characteristics among defective-goods grounds in consumer sales.
Source: Ministry of Trade – Consumer sale descriptions, defective-goods r, updated 19 Oct 2022The Ministry lists withdrawal, proportionate price reduction, free repair subject to cost limits, or replacement where possible for qualifying defective goods.
Source: Ministry of Trade – Consumer sale descriptions, defective-goods r, updated 19 Oct 2022The Ministry states secondhand consumer-sale seller liability cannot be shorter than 1 year except goods bought knowing they were defective.
Source: Ministry of Trade – Consumer sale descriptions, defective-goods r, updated 19 Oct 2022Section 4
The Commercial Code permits public inspection of commercial-register contents and certified copies at the requester's expense. Use that official evidence to identify the business appearing in the sale or appointment. As practical advice, compare the registered legal name with the invoice and proposed account beneficiary. A company record helps distinguish connected trading brands, but it does not prove that the company owns the yacht. Ownership evidence and the company identity record answer separate questions in the transaction file.
The Code requires a merchant to conduct transactions and sign relevant business documents using its trade name, and requires registration of the business and chosen name. Ask the business to give the contracting entity consistently in the proposal, agreement and invoice. As practical comparison advice, record whether it signs as seller, broker or another authorised representative. A company can undertake different roles in different transactions, so a familiar entity should still explain the capacity in which it acts for this particular yacht.
The Ministry's MERSİS system handles electronic business registration, changes and deletion and stores commercial-register information. Use the full legal details for the check, then keep the result with the transaction documents. This does not determine the contractual role by itself. Practical review should bring together the registration evidence, named seller, intermediary appointment and fee proposal. If those papers point to different parties or responsibilities, resolve the difference in writing before purchase rather than allowing the buyer's payment to precede a clear explanation.
Broker tip: Put the seller's ownership evidence beside the company record and intermediary appointment. Ask the business to confirm its capacity and all payment recipients before the parties accept the final transaction terms. A related question is answered in our guide on whether you can sell a boat privately in Turkey.
Broker photographing a boat for sale.
Business register access
Practical support
Peter Mattey is a yacht broker at European Yacht Brokers with a BA in Law. He is not a Turkish lawyer: for Turkish law and tax we refer you to a locally qualified adviser. What we can do is help you plan the transaction, put the right questions to the other side and spot gaps in the paperwork before you commit.
If you are buying or selling a boat in Turkey, tell us about the boat and the area through the enquiry form on this page and a broker will reply. For anything this guide does not cover, email us at info@europeanyachtbrokers.com for the latest information.
The handover of a boat at the dock.
Your questions
No. The Code defines brokerage as preparing or mediating a contract, while sale creates the seller's transfer and buyer's price obligations. Identify the seller in the actual purchase agreement and ask whom the intermediary represents. A website label or a yacht kept at a business premises does not replace the ownership evidence and agreed contractual role. [Official Legislation Portal]
The Code describes a commission-agent arrangement for remunerated movable-property transactions in the agent's own name for a principal's account. That is a distinct structure from the brokerage definition. Ask a locally qualified lawyer to review the actual agreement where the business signs in its own name while saying it acts for an owner; do not classify it from a marketing label alone. [Official Legislation Portal]
No automatic buyer-pays rule was verified here. Brokerage entitlement depends on the resulting contract and the service arrangement; the appointment should identify the fee basis and payer. Ask who appointed the intermediary and compare that agreement with the purchase price and expense schedule. The guide does not substitute a standard commission percentage or dealer margin for the actual agreed obligations. [Official Legislation Portal]
Not where the transaction qualifies as a consumer sale. The Ministry states a minimum seller-liability period for secondhand sales except goods bought knowing they were defective, and it describes defective-goods remedies. Confirm the actual transaction's consumer-law scope and preserve the named seller's invoice and disclosure record. Do not assume the business label alone decides whether those rights apply. [Ministry of Trade]
No. Official commercial-register evidence identifies the legal business, while yacht ownership requires the vessel's own evidence and the actual sale documents. Compare the registered entity with the agreement, invoice and account recipient, then ask for the recorded owner and any representative authority. Keeping those checks together helps the buyer understand the capacity in which the business acts. [Official Legislation Portal; Ministry of Trade]
This guide only includes facts checked against official sources. For anything it does not cover, email us at info@europeanyachtbrokers.com for the latest information, and ask a locally qualified adviser to confirm the position for your own boat.
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Yacht brokers TurkeyCheck it yourself
Official consolidated Turkish Code of Obligations, Law 6098; brokerage, mandate, sale and deposit provisions.
Official consolidated Commercial Code 6102: ship transfer formalities and public commercial-register checks.
MERSİS central register functions and company identification.
Consumer sale descriptions, defective-goods remedies and secondhand seller liability.
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