A man posts an advertisement for a house for rent in Ankara, Türkiye, on July 11, 2024gamblingmachine. Sevket Benli, a resident of Ankara, Türkiye's capital city, had been shielded from steep residential rent hikes over the past two years due to a government-imposed rent cap. However, with this restriction lifted in July, he now faces a challenging situation. (Mustafa Kaya/Handout via Xinhua)

by Burak Akinci

ANKARA, July 11 (Xinhua) -- Sevket Benli, a resident of Ankara, Türkiye's capital city, had been shielded from steep residential rent hikes over the past two years due to a government-imposed rent cap. However, with this restriction lifted in July, he now faces a challenging situation.

"My landlord has informed me that he wants to raise the rent by at least 50 percent in September when my tenancy agreement ends. But I cannot afford it," this chief electrician told Xinhua.

Benli currently pays 8,000 Turkish liras (about 245 U.S. dollars) monthly for a two-bedroom apartment in a modest neighborhood. His landlord has demanded an increase to 13,000 liras starting in September, threatening eviction if he doesn't comply.

Benli earns slightly above the country's minimum monthly wage of 17,000 liras. "If I pay what the landlord demands, we will be faced with starvation," he lamented.

In late June, Treasury and Finance Minister Mehmet Simsek announced the abandonment of the cap on rent increases effective July 1, citing an expected drop in inflation that would bring relief to consumers.

The cap, imposed in June 2022, set an upper limit of 25 percent on annual rent increases in an attempt to ease inflationary pressures on households.

According to the official data, inflation cooled down for the first time in eight months in June, dropping to 71.6 percent from 75.45 percent a month earlier, signaling a potential downward trend of the country's runaway inflation.

Gaye Yalcin, a real estate agent from Ankara, said that affordable housing has become difficult for households due to high inflation in big cities.

"The lifting of the cap is causing rents to soar, adding pressure on households already dealing with high living costs," she stressed.

Yalcin pointed out that Ankara has seen average rents hit 17,000 liras and that finding decent rental housing has become a headache for low and middle-income people.

"We need to see how the market will react to this new change, which will affect the whole rental housing sector," this realtor added.

Hakan Akcam, head of the Ankara Chamber of Realtors, said they had received many calls from tenants complaining of exorbitant rent hikes by landlords, a trend likely to continue with new university students and civil servants arriving in cities.

Conversely, landlords like Murat Gokturk, who rely on rental income from a single property, welcome the removal of the cap. Gokturk, who bought an apartment five years ago to boost his finances in retirement, faced setbacks due to inflation and the rent cap.

"We are now in a legal dispute because of this cap. I spent more money on lawyers than I made from rent," he told Xinhua.

He expects his tenants to vacate by the end of this year and intends to rent the apartment out at a "more realistic price," in line with market conditions.

Gokturk added that for landlords, the 25 percent rent increase limit was an "unfair" restriction, given the surging rents across Türkiye.

In the past two years, a significant number of legal disputes have been initiated by tenants against landlords who refused to comply with the restriction on rent increases.

Now, the removal of the rent cap has sparked another wave of legal conflicts between tenants and landlords. Eviction proceedings typically endure for several months and may involve subsequent appeal processes, as reported by local media.

Violent altercations between tenants and landlords have occasionally resulted in fatal casualties and arrests in several cities, including Ankara and Istanbul, Türkiye's largest city.■

Photo taken on July 11, 2024 shows houses for sale and rent in Ankara, Türkiye. Sevket Benli, a resident of Ankara, Türkiye's capital city, had been shielded from steep residential rent hikes over the past two years due to a government-imposed rent cap. However, with this restriction lifted in July, he now faces a challenging situation. (Mustafa Kaya/Handout via Xinhua)

A man looks for houses for rent on a website in Ankara, Türkiye, on July 11, 2024. Sevket Benli, a resident of Ankara, Türkiye's capital city, had been shielded from steep residential rent hikes over the past two years due to a government-imposed rent cap. However, with this restriction lifted in July, he now faces a challenging situation. (Mustafa Kaya/Handout via Xinhua)