This is the English version of a Turkish article. The original, with further detail and linked petition templates, is at Yanlış Hesaba Para Gönderdim: Sebepsiz Zenginleşme.
A person enriched from another's assets without lawful cause must return that enrichment (Article 77 of the Code of Obligations). A transfer sent to the wrong account, a payment made when nothing was owed, and benefits conferred on a cause that never materialised all fall within this. The claim must be brought within two years of learning of the right to recover and in any event within ten years of the enrichment (Article 82).
You typed the account number wrongly and the money went to a stranger. Or you paid the same invoice twice. Or you paid under a contract that turned out to be invalid.
The remedy in all these cases is unjust enrichment. This article explains the claim and its short limitation period.
What Is Unjust Enrichment?
Article 77: a person enriched without lawful cause from another's assets or labour is obliged to return that enrichment.
The obligation arises in particular where the enrichment rests on a cause that is invalid, that never materialised, or that has ceased to exist.
The typical cases in practice:
- A mistaken transfer — money sent to the wrong account
- A duplicate payment — the same debt paid twice
- An overpayment — more paid than was owed
- Payments made under an invalid contract
- A cause that has ceased — performances rendered where the contract is later rescinded
- Expenditure on another person's property
Can a Mistaken Payment Be Recovered?
Article 78 lays down a special rule: a person who voluntarily performs an obligation they did not owe can recover it only if they prove that they performed believing themselves to be under an obligation.
In other words, if you knew when you paid that you owed nothing, you cannot claim it back.
The second paragraph of the same article makes important exceptions: enrichment arising from the performance of a time-barred debt or from the discharge of a moral duty cannot be recovered.
Article 81 applies to things given in order to achieve an unlawful or immoral result: the judge may order that the thing be forfeited to the State.
For a mistaken transfer the position is clear: the sender paid not believing themselves to be a debtor but by mistake, and the claim to recover succeeds.
How Much Must Be Returned?
Article 79: the enriched person must return the enrichment except so far as they prove that it was no longer in their hands when it was reclaimed.
But where the enriched person disposed of it otherwise than in good faith, or had to reckon with the possibility of having to return it, they must return the whole of the enrichment.
That distinction matters: a person who knows the money arrived by mistake and spends it anyway must return the whole sum.
Article 80 adds that the enriched person may claim the necessary and useful expenditure they incurred on the enrichment. One not in good faith may claim only the necessary expenditure.
As to interest: on the obligation to return, interest runs as a rule from the date of the formal notice or of the claim. Against an enriched person in bad faith, interest may be claimed from an earlier date.
| In good faith | Not in good faith | |
|---|---|---|
| Obligation to return | Limited to what remains | The whole enrichment |
| The part disposed of | Not returned | Returned |
| Interest | Not as a rule claimable | Claimable |
| Necessary expenditure | Deducted | Deducted |
| Useful expenditure | Deducted | Deducted only to a limited extent |
A person who pays knowing that they owe nothing cannot as a rule reclaim what they paid (Article 78).
Within What Period Must the Claim Be Brought?
Article 82: a claim in unjust enrichment is time-barred two years after the person entitled learns that they have a right to recover, and in any event ten years after the enrichment occurred.
This is one of the shortest limitation periods in Turkish law and it is frequently missed.
The second paragraph adds that where the enrichment consisted in the enriched person acquiring a claim, the other party may always refuse to perform that obligation, even after the right to recover has become time-barred.
So act the moment you notice a mistaken payment.
What Steps to Take
For a mistaken transfer, in order:
- Call the bank immediately. If the transaction has not yet reached the recipient's account it can be cancelled. If it has, the bank can pass on your request for return but cannot take money from the account without the recipient's consent.
- Ask for the recipient's details. The bank may not give them directly because of data protection; they are then obtained from the court or the prosecutor.
- Send a formal notice. Put your demand in writing; it fixes the date from which interest runs and establishes the recipient's bad faith.
- Bring proceedings or start enforcement. A claim founded on unjust enrichment, or enforcement without a judgment.
The criminal dimension: keeping and spending money that arrived by mistake may, where the conditions are met, constitute the offence under Article 160 of the Criminal Code of dealing with property that has been lost or has come into one's hands by mistake. That offence is prosecuted upon complaint.
A criminal complaint can also work as leverage that speeds up the return.
A claim in unjust enrichment is time-barred two years after you learn of the right to recover and in any event ten years after the enrichment. And keeping money that arrived by mistake may itself be an offence under Article 160 of the Criminal Code.