This is the English version of a Turkish article. The original, with further detail and linked petition templates, is at İntifa Hakkı: Tapu Sizde Değilken Evde Oturmak.
A pattern common in family transfers: the house is put in the child's name, but a parent goes on living there for life. The legal name for that arrangement is usufruct.
Below: how a usufruct is created, what the holder and the owner may each do, how the costs are split, and how the right comes to an end.
What a Usufruct Is
A usufruct is a limited right in rem giving its holder full enjoyment of a thing or a right. The holder uses the property and takes its fruits — the rental income, for example.
Ownership stays with the owner. That ownership is called bare ownership: the owner holds the title but cannot use the property or take its income.
Over immovable property a usufruct is created by registration in the land register. Without registration the right does not arise.
How It Is Created
- By contract, in an official deed at the land registry. The commonest form is the transferor reserving a usufruct for themselves on transferring the property.
- By disposition on death. A will may confer a usufruct on a named person.
- By court order, in the cases the statute provides.
It is often used in succession planning: the property is transferred during life while the transferor keeps the right to live there and take the rent. But where such a transfer encroaches on the reserved portions of protected heirs, an action for abatement may follow.
Who Can Do What
The usufructuary uses the property, may let it, and takes the rent. They must not damage its substance and must carry out ordinary maintenance.
The bare owner owns the property and may sell or mortgage it. But a buyer takes it subject to the usufruct — that is, cannot use it until the usufruct ends.
The usufruct itself cannot be transferred and does not pass to heirs. The holder may allow someone else to exercise it, but cannot assign the right.
Who Pays
- Ordinary maintenance and repair falls on the usufructuary — decoration, minor works, running costs.
- Extraordinary and substantial repairs fall on the owner. If the owner does not carry them out, the holder may do so and claim the cost afterwards.
- Taxes and charges on the property are as a rule met by the usufructuary.
- Insurance premiums, where cover is taken out, are paid by the holder.
The parties may agree otherwise; writing that detail into the official deed at the outset prevents later argument.
How It Ends
- Death of the holder. For a natural person the right ends automatically and does not pass to heirs.
- Expiry of the term, where it was created for a fixed period.
- Cancellation — removal from the register on the holder's renunciation.
- Destruction of the subject matter.
Although the right ends automatically, cancelling the entry in the register is a separate step. On death, application is made to the land registry with the death record and the certificate of inheritance; until then the register continues to show the encumbrance.
Compared with a Right of Habitation
The right most often confused with a usufruct is the right of habitation. Both are personal and both end on death, but their scope differs.
A right of habitation gives only the power to live in a building or part of one. The holder cannot let it or take its income, and as a rule cannot transfer the right.
A usufruct is wider: it combines use and the taking of fruits, so it permits letting and collecting the rent.
In a family transfer, if the aim is only to secure a place to live, a right of habitation is appropriate; if the income is also to be protected, a usufruct is. Which of the two is written into the deed changes a great deal later.
If you buy a property burdened with a usufruct, you acquire the ownership but cannot use it. Examine the annotations on the register before the transaction — this is the situation met most often in transfers described as "just putting it in a name".
Frequently Asked Questions
Can the usufructuary let the property?
Yes. The powers of use and enjoyment are theirs, and so is the rent.
Can the bare owner sell?
Yes, but the buyer takes the property subject to the usufruct and cannot use it until the usufruct ends.
Does a usufruct pass to heirs?
No. For a natural person it ends automatically on death.
Who pays the property tax?
As a rule the usufructuary; the parties may agree otherwise.
How is it removed from the register after a death?
The right ends automatically, but cancellation is a separate step: apply to the land registry with the death record and the certificate of inheritance.