Turkey's July 2026 Zoning Regulation Amendment: 40% Footprint, Lifts, Permits and Office-to-Residential Conversion

Turkey's Planned Areas Zoning Regulation (Planlı Alanlar İmar Yönetmeliği) sets the core rules municipalities apply when issuing building permits: how much of the plot a building may cover, how many square metres can be built, and lift and common-area requirements. An amendment was published in Official Gazette No. 33297 on 1 July 2026 and took effect the same day. Below are the changes, based on the official text, from a landowner's point of view.

1. Site coverage capped at 40% in detached and block layouts

Site coverage (TAKS) is the ratio of the building footprint to the plot area. Under the new rule, in detached or block layouts, TAKS may not exceed 40% unless the implementation plan explicitly sets it.

Where the plan gives no floor-area ratio (KAKS), the building follows setback distances; in that case, and where setbacks and KAKS are given but TAKS is not, TAKS may not exceed 60%. In practice, footprints on small plots may shrink — which affects floor plans and the question of whether your flat will shrink in urban transformation.

2. Lifts: space at three storeys, a lift at four

• Three-storey buildings must reserve space for a lift; buildings of four or more storeys must install a lift.
• Basements containing units, common areas or annexes count as storeys. Technical spaces such as boiler rooms, electrical rooms, water tanks and generator rooms do not.
• Where a lift is mandatory, it must serve all floors including basements, except basements without units, common areas or annexes.
• Single-unit houses are exempt. Legally built detached houses of up to three storeys (excluding the basement) may add a lift or accessibility platform later with the authority's permit.

3. Gardens, ornamental pools and floor area

A definition of ornamental pool was added: integrated with the architecture, for visual and aesthetic purposes and not used for swimming. The list of areas excluded from the floor-area calculation now includes garden pergolas and ornamental pools that are not units and not part of the main structure, up to 20% of the garden area together with related uses, as well as entrance canopies and garden and retaining walls.

In public-use buildings, even with a single unit, children's play areas, prayer rooms, parking and an unused roof terrace on the top floor count as common areas.

4. Permits: the two-year rule

• If construction starts within two years of the permit date, current rules apply to fire, earthquake, heat and water insulation, environment and energy efficiency, and the permit-date rules to everything else.
• If construction does not start within two years, a new permit is issued under the current plan and rules.

This matters for permitted projects on hold: if the deadline passes, the design may have to be redrawn under the new coverage and lift rules.

5. Major alterations to older buildings with occupancy permits

For buildings that obtained an occupancy permit before the amendment, major alterations may be concluded under the regulation in force on the original permit date, provided that floor area, use, unit land shares, eave level and setbacks are unchanged, the structure is not adversely affected, and fire, earthquake, insulation, environmental and energy measures are taken. This matters for buildings choosing retrofit over rebuild.

6. Office-to-residential conversion: 60% and one year

Under provisional Article 7:

• in areas where the implementation plan allowed housing before the amendment,
• for buildings with an office permit whose construction has started, or with an occupancy permit,
• an alteration permit for residential use may be issued provided housing does not exceed 60% of the whole parcel,
• and this must be concluded within one year of publication — that is, by 1 July 2027.

What it means for urban transformation projects

The regulation states that only the new lift rules do not apply — and the earlier rules continue — for:

• buildings whose permit application was made before the amendment took effect,
• buildings with a notarised construction contract under Law 6306,
• buildings with a tender decision or tender date.

There is no such exemption for site coverage, the permit deadline or common areas. Projects signing contracts after 1 July 2026 should therefore be designed under the new rules from the outset. See our step-by-step urban transformation process and our guide to flat-for-land agreements.

Assess your project with ÇET Yapı

ÇET Yapı treats the zoning status and floor-area calculation as the first step of feasibility in its residential, school and urban transformation projects in Istanbul. To calculate what your plot allows under the new coverage and lift rules, fill in the pre-application form.

This article is for general information. The rules for your plot are confirmed by its zoning status certificate and the municipality's practice.