Some neighborhoods in Turkey see a 200-percent rent increase, show reports

* Photo: Klas Haber

Click to read the article in Turkish

Amid deepening economic crisis and poverty in Turkey, the rents have also been increasing dramatically. While the Turkish Statistical Institute (TurkStat) has set the official rate of rent increase as 19.60 percent, rents in some neighborhoods, especially in İstanbul, Ankara and İzmir, have seen a 200-percent increase, which leads to an increase in foreclosure suits.

As reported by Ali Can Polat from Cumhuriyet newspaper, rents have increased by 63 percent on average across Turkey in a year. However, the rate of increase has seen 200 percent in mega cities such as İstanbul, the capital city of Ankara and the Aegean province of İzmir.

The data of the National Judiciary Informatics System (UYAP) has shown that 203 thousand new files arrived in the foreclosure and bankruptcy departments in the first weeks of this year.

In one of these files, a person who has been living in a rented house in İstanbul's Moda for 10 years pays 3,750 lira for the house for a month. However, the house owner who took legal action against the tenant wants 13 thousand lira a month. While the tenant offers to pay 8 thousand lira, the house owner still wants the tenant to be ordered out of the house.

In similar files, while a teacher in İstanbul's Kurtuluş, who currently pays 3,300 lira a month for the rented house, is facing a requested rent of 5,000 lira, a house owner in İstanbul's Üsküdar wants a student who currently pays 2,850 lira a month to pay 8,500 lira a month instead.

Lawyers recall that house owners often take legal action about the past rent increases, noting that the legal actions may end in favor of house owners considering that there is no written agreement indicating that the price increases postponed during the pandemic will not be paid.

The right to housing

With Turkey as a party as well, the Article 11 of the International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights says:

1. The States Parties to the present Covenant recognize the right of everyone to an adequate standard of living for himself and his family, including adequate food, clothing and housing, and to the continuous improvement of living conditions. The States Parties will take appropriate steps to ensure the realization of this right, recognizing to this effect the essential importance of international cooperation based on free consent.

2. The States Parties to the present Covenant, recognizing the fundamental right of everyone to be free from hunger, shall take, individually and through international cooperation, the measures, including specific programmes, which are needed:

(a) To improve methods of production, conservation and distribution of food by making full use of technical and scientific knowledge, by disseminating knowledge of the principles of nutrition and by developing or reforming agrarian systems in such a way as to achieve the most efficient development and utilization of natural resources;

(b) Taking into account the problems of both food-importing and food-exporting countries, to ensure an equitable distribution of world food supplies in relation to need. (AEK/SD)