September 13, 2024

Objection Lawsuit to Renewal and Implementation Cadastre in Turkish Law

Renewal cadastre and implementation cadastre are important processes carried out to eliminate and update errors in existing cadastral maps. The renewal cadastre, which came into force in accordance with Law No. 2859, and the implementation cadastre carried out within the scope of Article 22/2-a of the Cadastre Law No. 3402, ensure that necessary corrections are made in the land registry in Turkey. These processes are essentially considered as mapping technique activities.

Objection lawsuits filed against these cadastral procedures are aimed at inspecting whether the update activity was carried out in accordance with the method. These lawsuits are definitely not filed to revive or resolve property disputes. On the contrary, the aim is to determine the technical errors made during the establishment cadastre and to make the maps secure in a way that is compatible with the ground and responds to technical needs.

While performing the implementation cadastre, fixed points that are understood to have existed on the ground during the initial cadastre, as well as maps and similar data produced for different purposes belonging to the same period or before, are utilized. However, the establishment cadastre maps are processed on orthophotos, and in the block report to be prepared, if the map does not match the ground, it is shown where the differences originate from. Additionally, if there are any errors, it is explained how they were corrected.

Courts should place special importance on the evidence to be collected in these cases in the Turkish legal system. First of all, it is mandatory to bring the originals of the implementation-renewal cadastre minutes of the immovable properties subject to the lawsuit and to give the defendant’s annotation. In addition, copies of the implementation-renewal cadastre minutes of neighboring immovable properties need to be collected. Along with these documents, the cadastre minutes of the disputed immovables belonging to the first establishment cadastre, the land registry record resulting from the cadastre and all its transactions, the measurement sketch and calculation chart belonging to the first establishment cadastre should be obtained from the cadastre directorate.

During the trial and implementation, it is of great importance for the court to conduct an on-site inspection. The inspection committee should include local experts, party witnesses, and a technical expert who is a map or geodesy engineer. In some cases, when the geological structure of the ground needs to be evaluated, an expert agricultural expert and a geological engineer expert should also be included in the inspection committee.

The technical expert should be asked to inspect the implementation cadastre by using the information and documents brought into the file to constitute data for inspection and benefiting from expert and witness statements. This inspection should include issues such as which methods and techniques were used for the establishment cadastre, what the error margins of the applied methods are, and where and for what reasons the difference originates if the produced maps are found to be incompatible with the ground.

In a Supreme Court decision in Turkey, it was ruled that “In lawsuits objecting to renewal and implementation cadastre minutes, ownership claims that have or have not been recorded in the land registry cannot be subject to examination,” clearly defining the boundaries of these lawsuits. Therefore, lawsuits regarding ownership claims should be concluded by giving a decision of lack of jurisdiction to the general courts.

Finally, since the subject of the lawsuit consists of the surface areas of the disputed immovables, the courts should only give a registration decision regarding the surface area. It should be considered that it would be inaccurate to give a registration decision for the owners. This point once again emphasizes the technical nature of the lawsuits objecting to renewal and implementation cadastre.

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