1.In General Lease Agreements Lease agreements are the agreements that require the transfer of the right to use and benefit from a thing or right, and the agreements that give rise to the obligation to transfer the use in return for consideration. While contracts that give rise to an obligation of assignment, such as sales contracts, aim to prepare the transfer of the value of the assets from the assets of one person to the assets of another, in contracts that grant the right to use and benefit, there is only the abandonment of a subject to another for a certain or indefinite period of time, and there is no change in the assets to which the subject belongs, except for the use lending contract. This group of contracts gives rise to a continuous debt relationship in the form of creating obligations that must be performed at regular intervals over a long period of time. Lease agreements are the most important and the most broadly applicable of the agreements granting the right to use and benefit with these general characteristics. The conclusion of a lease agreement is not subject to any formal requirements; as a rule, it may be concluded with an oral or evidential declaration of will. Article 299 of the TCO defines the lease agreement as follows:
” A lease agreement is a contract in which the lessor undertakes to leave the use of a thing or the use and enjoyment of it to the lessee, and the lessee undertakes to pay the agreed rental price in return.” 2. Elements of the Lease Agreement a) Agreement of the Parties The first condition for the establishment of a lease agreement is that the parties have agreed on the transfer of the use of the leased property for a fee. Delivery of the subject of the lease is not a condition for the conclusion of the contract. There is no form requirement. b) Transfer of the Use of the Subject of the Contract With the lease agreement, the lessor transfers the use of the subject of the lease to the lessee. The transferred right of use is a personal right. The lessee is limited to this right for the duration of the lease and is obliged to return the leased property to the lessor upon the expiration of the contract.
c) Rent Money In order to be able to speak of a lease agreement, it is necessary that the use of the leased property is left to the lessee for a consideration, but it is not obligatory that the parties have agreed on the amount of the rent during the conclusion of the contract. 3. The concept of residential and roofed workplace lease and related agreements a) The dwelling must be rented for the purpose of permanent residence. It is not necessary for the leased dwelling to be a place of residence within the meaning of Article 19 et seq. of the Civil Code. What is important here is that it does not have the characteristics of a place that meets the needs of the tenant such as sleeping, etc., does not have a daily nature and does not protect him from external factors. In this context, the purpose of use envisaged by the contract is decisive in the first place. b) The concept of roofed workplace A lease agreement regarding the places dedicated to the operation of an economic and commercial enterprise or the practice of a profession is considered as a workplace lease. Likewise, these activities must be for the purpose of generating income. In this sentence, rents for offices, stores, offices, workshops, warehouses and warehouses are considered as business rents. The rented place must be firmly attached to the ground, covered and surrounded vertically and horizontally.
c) Contracts in connection with the lease agreement According to Article 340 of the TCO titled “Contracts in connection with the lease agreement”, “In residential and roofed workplace leases, a contract in connection with the lease is invalid if the establishment or continuation of the contract is conditioned on the lessee incurring an obligation that is not directly related to the use of the leased premises without the benefit of the lessee. As clearly stated in the text, this provision applies only to residential and roofed workplace leases. The purpose of this provision is to prohibit the lessor from causing a contract in connection with the lease by taking advantage of the lessee’s need for the leased premises and thus using the dominant position as a means of exploitation. 4. Termination of the Lease Agreement Before the entry into force of the Turkish Code of Obligations No. 6098; while the Code of Obligations No. 818 regulated the reasons for termination in general, the Law No. 6570 on Real Estate Leases regulated them more specifically. Law No. 6570, in order for the termination, especially termination and evacuation provisions of the Code of Obligations to be applied in the places covered by the Law No. 6570, these termination reasons should not conflict with the provisions of Articles 1 and following articles of the Law No. 6570 on Real Estate Leases, especially Article 7. While Article 1 of the Law No. 6570 on Real Estate Leases regulates the field of application of this law, Article 7 regulates the evacuation, also known as eviction, among the reasons that end the lease term.The written notification of the lessee to the lessor that he/she will vacate the leased premises on a certain date is one of the reasons for the termination of the lease term. The written evacuation commitment is one of the “reasons arising from the lessee” among the reasons for the termination of the lease term, and if the lessee has not evacuated the leased premises on the due date despite this written notification, the Turkish Code of Obligations No. 6098 provides various possibilities and rights in favor of the lessor to terminate the lease agreement. The use of these rights is limited to a certain period of time. This period is one month from the date the lessee notifies the lessor in writing to vacate the leased premises. As a result of the failure to exercise the right to terminate the lease agreement within this period of time granted by the law, a prejudicial situation arises against the lessor. In order for the written eviction commitment to be valid, it has been accepted that certain conditions must be met both by law and by the decisions of the Court of Cassation in practice over time. First, we will briefly touch upon the general reasons for the termination of lease agreements and examine the eviction undertaking, which is our subject. a) Reasons for termination 1) Expiration of the term If the parties have determined a term for the lease agreement with an explicit or implicit declaration of will, the lease agreements automatically terminate at the end of the agreed term without any notification. Art. 327/I and 300/II of the TCO) Art. 367 of the TCO defines another way of termination of a fixed-term lease agreement as follows: ”A fixed-term lease agreement shall terminate automatically at the end of the term. However, if the parties implicitly continue the agreement, the lease agreement shall be deemed renewed for one year unless otherwise agreed. The renewed lease agreement may be terminated for the end of each lease year by complying with the legal notice period.” 2) Termination notice In indefinite-term lease agreements; If the parties do not determine the duration of the lease agreement with an explicit or implicit declaration of will or extend it with an implicit agreement pursuant to TCO 327/II, the fixed-term lease agreement becomes indefinite-term. The general acceptance of what is meant by the concept of “implicit continuation of the contract” in the article is that the lessee continues to use the leased property at the end of the term and the lessor does not object to this situation or that the notice agreed to be made for the termination of the lease agreement at the end of the term in the contract is not made by either party, which is the correct approach. The TCO allows the parties to terminate the lease agreement through ordinary termination, provided that the notice periods are complied with. Pursuant to Art. 378, each party may terminate the agreement at any time. However, the termination cannot be made at an inappropriate time and contrary to the rules of good faith. 3) Extraordinary Termination a) Significant reasons If one of the parties engages in behaviors that will put the continuation of the contract and the lease relationship in an impasse, and if these contrary behaviors have continued despite the warning, the contract may be terminated at any time by complying with the legal termination notice periods. b) Bankruptcy of the lessee Pursuant to TCO 370, the bankruptcy automatically terminates at the time of the opening of the bankruptcy. Unlike Art. 332/I, in case of the bankruptcy of the lessee, the contract terminates upon the opening of the bankruptcy. However, the lessor is obliged to continue the contract until the end of the lease year if sufficient security is given for the rent in progress and the goods recorded in the minutes. c) Death of the lessee In case of the death of the lessee, his heirs may terminate the contract for the nearest termination period by complying with the legal termination notice period. In this context, the legal termination period is 6 months. d) By filing an eviction lawsuit According to Article 354 of the TCO, which is titled “Limitation of causes of action”, “The provisions regarding the termination of the lease agreement through litigation cannot be changed against the lessee”. Pursuant to this provision, the lessor may evict the lessee only on the basis of the limited number of grounds stipulated in Articles 350, 351 and 352 of the TCO, but the principle of limited number of grounds does not prevent the lessor from exercising the right of termination based on important reasons according to the general provisions. At this point, the grounds for eviction may include the lessor’s filing of an eviction lawsuit due to the need for housing or workplace, evacuation of the leased property for reconstruction and reconstruction purposes, the lessee’s written eviction commitment, evacuation due to two justified warnings, and the existence of a residence suitable for the lessee or his spouse within the same municipal boundaries.