TAPU is the official document that shows property ownership. It contains the owners full name and photo, and details on the property.

TAPU glossary of terms

Ana Gayrimenkulun	Description and location of the property
Ada No	Plot number
dm²	Square decimetres
Ha	Hectare
Ilcesi	Borough or district
Ili	Province
Koyu	Village
m²	Square metres
Mahallesi	Parish
Mevkii	Place
Niteligi	Feature (what the land is presently used for)
Pafta No	Pafta number
Parsel No	Parcel number
Sokagi	Street, road
Yuzolcumu	The area of the land (you can measure this by adding the Ha, m² and dm² together)
Kat mulkiyeti	Ownership of a ready-made independent property (apartment, house, office etc)
Kat irtifaki	Ownership of a property that is not yet ready for use (due to construction work or the fact licences have not yet been granted)
Devre mulk	Timed/fractional ownership (when the property is owned for a certain time period annually)
Bagimsiz Bolum	Information about the independent unit on the property
Arsa payi	Land share (the amount of land that belongs to the property)
Bagimsiz	Blm No Independent unit number
Blok No	Block number (ie, house number)
Edinme sebebi	The name of the buyer and the reason why it is being bought/sold
Kat No	Floor number
Sahibi	The name(s) of the present owner(s). If more than one person owns the property, their shares are to be shown in this part of the document. Shares should be shown as part of the proportion of the land. E.g., If a flat has the ownership of 10/543 of the land on which the property is based, and that property is owned by four people named AB, BC, CD and DE with shares of 10%, 20%, 30% and 40% respectively, these individuals will be shown on TAPU like this: AB: ab: 1/543 hisse BC: bc: 2/543 hisse CD: cd: 3/543 hisse DE: de: 4/543 hisse Hisse means share and ab, cd and de are the names of the individuals fathers.

The rest of the TAPU is for official use only.
The TAPU must be sealed with an official stamp in the central bottom area, and the section needs to be signed by a TAPU official.
Photographs of the owners must be affixed to the top right of the TAPU. The photographs must be stamped and signed by a TAPU official.

How can I check the details?

To check whether a property does indeed belong to the owner in question can be certified using the pictures and the names that appear on the TAPU. If the TAPU is a photocopy, ensure it has been notarised by a notary public. This is vital to ensure the TAPU is legitimate. To check the legitimacy of the names on the TAPU, ask to see the sellers ID card and check this against the document.

Check with a civil engineering office to ensure that the coordinates of the property, as listed on the TAPU, are correct.

You can also ask the TAPU official to make an annotation on the document to prohibit any unsolicited ownership transactions. This means the property cannot be sold or transferred to third parties.