Büyükdere Insurance: Who Insures What – Owner or Tenant?

Büyükdere is one of Sarıyer’s long-established Bosphorus neighbourhoods. Older apartment blocks, new buildings, local shops and families renting their homes all live side by side, and more foreign tenants are settling here too. This mix raises one question again and again: who should arrange which policy? The owner, the tenant, the building management or the shopkeeper? This page answers exactly that.

Who insures what?

• Owner: DASK for a registered home is the owner’s responsibility and is compulsory under Law No. 6305. An owner who wants the building protected against risks other than earthquake can also take out a home policy with building cover.
• Tenant: protecting your own belongings and your liability towards neighbours is the tenant’s job. The home’s DASK is issued in the title holder’s name, not the tenant’s.
• Building management: the management may insure common areas, the lift and the shared parts of the building. That policy does not cover the inside of individual flats, and flat owners knowing this prevents disappointment built on “the building is insured”.
• Shop owner or tenant shopkeeper: stock, fixtures and third-party liability need business insurance.

The most common damage in old blocks: water

In ageing buildings, a leak from the plumbing can travel from one flat to the next and affect several households. Then comes the question: who pays? The water damage and liability-to-neighbours sections of a home insurance policy exist for exactly this. When you ask for a quote, make sure both are clearly written into the policy. If water is coming through from upstairs, photograph it, inform the neighbour and the management, and contact your insurer promptly.

Add one line to the lease

Many disputes between owners and tenants after a loss arise because nobody agreed at the start who would buy which policy. A clause stating that the owner keeps up the DASK and building cover, while the tenant maintains a home policy for their own belongings and liability, protects both sides. For expats signing a Turkish lease for the first time, this is worth raising before signing. If you sit on the building’s management board, sharing a copy of the common-area policy with flat owners answers “are we insured?” before anyone has to ask.

Practical advice for local shopkeepers

The grocers, butchers, barbers and tailors on Büyükdere’s main street are mostly family businesses. Their policy should be simple enough not to add to the owner’s workload yet broad enough to meet real risks. We talk through the approximate value of stock, cash kept in the till and the equipment in the shop, and leave out cover you do not need. Before busy periods such as religious holidays, when stock rises, it is wise to ask whether the insured value is still enough. A street-facing window calls for glass breakage cover; a chilled display cabinet raises the subject of electrical breakdown.

The shopkeeper’s vehicle

Whether it is a small van for collecting goods or the family car, traffic insurance is compulsory. We track renewal dates on your behalf. Whether the vehicle is registered to the business or to you personally determines whose name the policy is issued in; we check this on the registration together.

How we work

At the first meeting we listen and establish which policies you need as an owner, tenant or shopkeeper. Then we collect offers from several insurers and explain the differences in cover. You can visit our office at Maslak Mah. Atatürk Oto Sanayi Sitesi 1. Kısım, 40. Sokak No: 296, Sarıyer, Monday to Friday 09:00–18:00 and Saturday 09:00–13:30, or handle everything by phone and WhatsApp on +90 530 375 89 61, in English if you prefer.

Our office and contact