Moving Into a Flat in Istanbul: Electricity, Water, Gas and the Building Fee (Aidat)

Signing the lease is the start, not the end. To live in a flat in Istanbul you need the electricity, water and gas in your own name, and you need to know what the building fee (aidat) covers. Doing things in the right order saves wasted trips.

This guide is practical information for tenants. Requirements change and vary by situation, so check each company's current list before you go.

1. Before you move: the lease and DASK

• A written lease. Keep the original handy: İSKİ asks to see it, and the electricity company asks for it if someone else's subscription is still active at the flat.

• Compulsory earthquake insurance (DASK). A valid DASK policy is checked when electricity and water subscriptions are opened. It's normally the owner's, so ask your landlord for the policy details before you apply. See our earthquake preparedness guide for what DASK covers.

2. Your registered address

İSKİ only opens a water contract for a foreign tenant at the address registered with the population registry (NVİ), so complete your address registration before you apply to İSKİ. Other providers' requirements differ — and the migration office may itself ask for a utility bill or contract as proof of address — so check the address-registration documents required for your situation.

If you hold a residence permit and you move, you must register the new address with the Provincial Directorate of Migration Management within 20 working days. See our residence permit guide.

3. Put the utilities in your name

In Istanbul, each utility has its own company:

• Water: İSKİ

• Natural gas: İGDAŞ

• Electricity: CK Boğaziçi Elektrik on the European side, Enerjisa on the Anatolian side

Open new subscriptions in your own name rather than paying the previous tenant's or the landlord's account. Before you apply, photograph each meter and note its number and reading on the day you move in.

Water (İSKİ)

Foreign nationals apply at their local İSKİ branch — İSKİ does not accept foreigners' applications through its digital channels. As a tenant, bring:

• your current lease (the original, plus a copy) and a copy of the title deed (tapu) — ask your landlord for it;

• your NVİ address record;

• a residence permit registered in Istanbul — or a work permit or another accepted foreigner ID card.

İSKİ gives a foreign tenant one active contract, at the registered address. If someone applies for you, they need the original notarised power of attorney.

Electricity

For a home, the electricity company asks for the account or meter number; accepted identification — as a non-Turkish citizen, your passport number or an equivalent internationally valid document; the DASK policy; and, if the flat still has someone else's subscription, your lease or the title deed. Confirm the provider's current requirements before you go.

When you sign, you pay a security deposit (güvence bedeli), calculated from the connection's power, and stamp duty. The deposit is refunded when your contract ends, offset against your final bill.

Natural gas (İGDAŞ)

Expect to show your identity document (your residence permit) and your lease. İGDAŞ charges a security deposit (güvence bedeli) at the amount set by the energy regulator (EPDK).

Signing the contract doesn't switch the gas on by itself. You book an appointment, and İGDAŞ — or a certified firm working for it — checks and tests the flat's internal gas installation, within 5 days of your appointment request under its contract terms. The gas is opened only if the installation passes; if it doesn't, the faults have to be fixed and the check done again. This applies to a new contract at a flat that already had gas, too.

4. The building fee (aidat)

Most apartment buildings charge a monthly aidat for shared costs — cleaning, the lift, the caretaker, lighting in the stairwell, sometimes shared heating.

Two different things decide who pays:

• Your lease. Leases usually say who pays the monthly aidat — often the tenant. If yours makes you pay it, that is your own obligation, on top of the rent.

• The building's right to collect. Under the Condominium Law (Kat Mülkiyeti Kanunu, article 22), the management can claim the owner's share of common expenses from the owner, from the tenant living in the flat, or both. If it collects the owner's debt from you this way, your liability is limited to the rent you owe, and what you pay is deducted from your rent.

Agree it in writing before you sign: how much the aidat is, what it covers, and who pays for big one-off works.

Internet

Home internet is covered in our SIM and home internet guide — check the exact address with the provider before you sign a contract.

When you move out

Close each subscription in your name, pay the final bills, and ask for your security deposits back. Take photos of the meter readings on the day you leave.