ARTICLE 20- The following additional article has been added to Decree Law No. 633.
"Housing Account and State Contribution
ADDITIONAL ARTICLE 3- (1) To Turkish citizens who do not own a home, a State contribution shall be paid for the first and sole home they will purchase domestically, in accordance with the procedures and principles to be determined under the third paragraph, provided that they open a housing account denominated in Turkish Lira at the domestic branches of deposit or participation banks subject to Law No. 5411, remain in the system for at least 3 years, and apply to the relevant bank following their purchase of the home. The State contribution payment may not exceed 20% of the total amount accumulated in the account and a maximum of 15,000 Turkish Lira. The maximum amount is increased each year by the revaluation rate. The Council of Ministers is authorised to increase the maximum amount up to threefold. The provisions of this article shall not apply to those falling within the scope of Article 28 of Law No. 5901.
(2) The State contribution shall be met in a lump sum from the appropriation allocated for this purpose in the Ministry’s budget and shall be paid to the beneficiary through the bank where the account is held. The bank where the account is held is responsible for the determination of beneficiary status and for the correct and complete calculation of the State contribution to be transferred. The Ministry shall notify the bank in writing that the State contribution determined to have been made unjustly must be paid, together with interest calculated at the late payment surcharge rate specified in Article 51 of Law No. 6183 for the period elapsed from the date it was paid until the date it is collected, within 1 month. In the event that payment is not made within this period, these receivables shall be pursued and collected from the relevant banks by the tax office in accordance with the provisions of the said Law.
(3) Within the scope of this article; the procedures and principles regarding the nature of the homes that will be subject to the State contribution, the payment plans of the account holders, the determination of the entitlement periods relating to the State contribution, the differentiation of the State contribution rate and the maximum amount—within the limits specified in the first paragraph—according to the saving periods and payment plans, the auditing of the accounts and other matters concerning implementation shall be determined by the Council of Ministers upon the proposal of the Minister to whom the Undersecretariat of the Treasury is attached, after obtaining the opinion of the Ministry."
