Buying an Alanya apartment with the plan to "just put it on Airbnb" is no longer the simple side-income story it was a few years ago. Since Law No. 7464 on the Renting of Residences for Tourism Purposes came into force on 1 January 2024, every short-term let in Turkey runs through a national permit regime administered by the Ministry of Culture and Tourism. If you are weighing a purchase in Mahmutlar, Oba or Kestel and counting on nightly bookings, the rules below decide whether that plan is legal, and what it costs if you ignore them.
What the "100-day" rule actually means
The number that gives the law its nickname is widely misread. The legal trigger is not "100 nights per year." Under Law No. 7464, a short-term tourism rental is the letting of a dwelling to the same tenant for a period not exceeding 100 days at one time. Rent to the same guest for 101 days or more and the arrangement is treated as an ordinary residential tenancy under the Turkish Code of Obligations, outside the tourism-permit system. Rent for a single night, a weekend or three weeks, and you are squarely inside it.
In practice that means almost every Airbnb, Booking.com or direct holiday let in Alanya needs a Tourism Rental Permit (Turizm Amaçlı Konut Kiralama İzin Belgesi) before the first guest checks in. Even one paid night without it is a violation.
The building-consent hurdle most foreign buyers underestimate
The single biggest obstacle is not paperwork at the Ministry, it is your neighbours. For a flat inside an apartment building, the permit application must include a notarised unanimous resolution of all co-owners (kat malikleri) agreeing to short-term tourism use. The Ministry treats this requirement as non-waivable: one objecting owner in your block can stop the permit entirely.
Two further structural limits apply:
- In buildings with more than three independent units, permits to a single owner are capped at 25% of the total units, blocking investors from converting a whole block into a hotel-by-stealth.
- The property must be a registered residential unit meeting building-safety and zoning rules, and an approved permit plaque must be displayed at the entrance.
This is why the district you buy in matters so much. Newer, investor-oriented complexes in areas like Mahmutlar, Alanya Property: High-Rise Living and Strong Rental Demand often have management plans and owner bases that are comfortable with tourism letting, while older mixed residential blocks frequently refuse. Confirm the building's stance before you sign, not after.
Permit application: documents and process
Only the property owner can apply, foreign or Turkish, through the e-Devlet (e-Government) portal or the relevant tourism directorate. Typical documents:
- TAPU (title deed) in the applicant's name
- Passport and Turkish tax number
- The building's management plan (yönetim planı)
- Notarised unanimous owner consent
- Proof the unit meets residential and safety standards
What it costs to get caught
The penalties are deliberately steep and are revalued upward each year for inflation, so treat the figures below as the published baseline rather than a permanent number:
| Situation | Administrative consequence |
|---|---|
| First rental without a permit | 100,000 TRY fine per property |
| Second violation | 500,000 TRY fine |
| Continued / repeat violations | up to 1,000,000 TRY and possible rental-ban order |
| Letting again after a fine, still unpermitted | escalating fines plus permit refusal |
| Platform fails to remove an unlicensed listing within 24h | 100,000 TRY per property |
Enforcement is no longer theoretical in the Antalya region. Market trackers report that around 75% of active Alanya listings now show registration evidence, a sign the Ministry and platforms are actively matching listings to permit records.
The platform change sharpens this further: since 1 April 2026, Airbnb requires a valid permit number at the listing level for Turkish properties, and unverified listings can no longer accept new bookings. A flat without a permit is now effectively unrentable on the major channels, not merely exposed to a fine.
Don't forget the tax layer
A permit legalises the activity; it does not exempt the income. Rental earnings are taxed in Turkey on a progressive scale of roughly 15% to 40%, with a residential exemption of about 47,000 TRY for 2026. A foreign owner running several Alanya flats as a systematic nightly-rental operation should also check whether the activity counts as a commercial enterprise rather than personal property income, which changes the tax and VAT treatment. This is where professional advice pays for itself, especially alongside the purchase-stage costs covered in Alanya Property Prices 2026: Market Trends, Districts and What Buyers Should Know.
What this means for an Alanya buyer in 2026
Short-term letting in Alanya remains legal and can be profitable, but it is now a regulated activity with a hard gate at the building-consent stage. Before you buy with rental income in mind:
- Verify the building will grant unanimous tourism-use consent, in writing where possible.
- Check the 25% unit cap is not already used up in larger complexes.
- Budget for the permit, the plaque, and ongoing income-tax compliance.
- Plan listings around the 1 April 2026 permit-number verification requirement.
If nightly rental is central to your return, screen for it the same way you screen for sea view or build quality. The broader district trade-offs are set out in our 36b60e08-fd64-401d-a2e8-b6865b687f95.