Turkish family left homeless after landlord increases rent by five-fold
A family were evacuated from their house when they were unable to pay the five-fold increase in rent, despite the government’s 25 percent rent cap. The family have been living in a park with their two children for over a month now.
Duvar English
A Turkish family living in the Aegean province of İzmir were left homeless after their landlord increased the rent from 1,500 liras to 7,000 liras following a one-year-long legal battle.
The family, with two children, were living as tenants for two years at the flat in question when the landlord demanded a five-fold rise in the rent.
The Tıraş family instead suggested the legal capped 25 percent increase. The landlord did not accept it and also declined to receive the 1,500 liras wanted to be given by the family.
The landlord took the case to court and argued that the rent was not being paid for the last year. The court accepted the landlord’s evacuation demand, leaving the Tıraş family on the streets in July. The family has been unable to find an unaffordable house for the last one month, trying to survive at a park in the city.
Begüm Tıraş told the state-run Anadolu Agency that her husband works as a porter (“hamal” in Turkish) whenever he can find a job and she is unable to work as she has to take care of their two children.
Over the past couple of years, rent prices in Turkey have spiked by an unprecedented degree. And a new exodus from the country’s eastern region following the major earthquakes of Feb. 6, has caused a further increase in the already soaring rent prices.
Reports suggest that the Justice Ministry is working on an amendment that would introduce jail sentences for landlords who ask for exorbitant rent prices.