Default interest on an overdue hotel invoice: what the Code of Obligations says and what the contract should say

Default interest (temerrüt faizi) is the charge for a late invoice. Under article 120 of the Code of Obligations, the annual rate is whatever the contract sets; if the contract is silent, the rate fixed by the rules in force when the interest debt arose applies. A contract rate cannot exceed the statutory rate by more than one hundred percent, that is, it cannot be more than double the statutory rate (Cumhurbaşkanlığı Mevzuat Bilgi Sistemi, 6098 sayılı Türk Borçlar Kanunu, madde 120, 14.11.2026). For commercial debts, which most hotel invoices to agencies are, the reference rate is the commercial default interest rate published by the Central Bank of the Republic of Türkiye, not the general statutory rate. Confirm which rate applies to your own invoices with your accountant or legal adviser.

The invoice went out on the first of the month, the agency pays on the sixtieth day, and on day sixty-one nobody at the hotel can say what the delay is worth. The contract usually says nothing about it, and the person who would answer is on leave. After reading this article you will be able to place default interest on an overdue hotel invoice in Türkiye on a correct footing: what article 120 actually provides, what the contract should say, and what routine makes the claim provable.

When does an unpaid hotel invoice fall into default?#

A due invoice that stays unpaid puts the debtor in default, and the hotel's first job is to show the due date in writing, because everything that follows depends on that date. Default is a status, not a feeling. It needs a due date, an unpaid balance and a record that the date passed. The contract or the invoice sets the date; without one, the hotel ends up arguing about the date instead of the money.

Interest compensates the hotel for being without money it was owed, and it gives the debtor a reason to pay before a dispute grows. It is not a penalty and it is not a price for the service. The chain in a hotel runs reservation, city ledger, invoice, due date, statement, reminder. Interest attaches to the last link only if the earlier ones were recorded properly.

A disputed invoice is not the same as a late one. The reminder routine needs a hold flag with a reason and a named owner, so the hotel does not claim interest on a balance it is itself questioning. The Code of Obligations (Türk Borçlar Kanunu) governs the relationship. This article quotes only article 120, the one provision the fact base holds, and treats everything else as practice rather than law.

What does article 120 of the Code of Obligations say?#

Article 120 gives the contract first say on the annual default interest rate, and falls back on the rules in force when the interest debt arose only when the contract is silent. The order of questions is fixed: is there a clause, does it set a rate or a formula, and if it does not, which rules were in force when the interest debt arose.

"The rules in force when the interest debt arose" is a moving reference. The same contract can point at different rates for invoices from different years, which is why a named rate and a reference to the statutory rate behave differently over time.

The ceiling: a contract rate cannot exceed the statutory rate by more than one hundred percent. On a plain reading, a clause may set at most twice the rate the rules set, and anything above that sits outside what article 120 allows. For drafting, this cuts both ways. A number written into an old contract may be far above the ceiling today or far below the market, while a formula tracks the rules but needs a defined source and a reading date.

What the article does not do: it does not fix the rate, it does not classify the debt, and it does not tell a hotel how to document the charge in its books.

What should an interest clause in an agency or company contract say?#

A usable clause names the due date, the rate or the rule that fixes it, the day interest starts and how the hotel will evidence the delay. Due date first: the clause should state when the invoice is payable, for example a set number of days from the invoice date rather than "on receipt", because interest cannot start before the debt is due.

Rate second. Either a number the parties agree, kept inside the article 120 ceiling, or a reference to the statutory rate with the source and the reading date named in the clause. Start and stop: say on which day interest begins, whether it runs on partial balances, and that it stops on the value date of the payment rather than the day someone at the hotel notices the money arrived.

Evidence. The clause should accept the hotel's statement of account (cari hesap ekstresi) and the invoice record as proof of the due date and the outstanding balance. What the clause should not do: it should not try to replace the statutory framework, it should not blur a late-payment price (vade farkı) with default interest, and it should not be signed before the other side's advisers have read it. The wording below is an example of structure, not legal advice. The parties' own advisers should settle the final text.

This clause sits inside the wider question of tour operator payment risk: interest is one of several protections for receivables, and it works best when the credit terms around it are explicit.

How do you build a reminder routine tied to due dates?#

Put the due date on the invoice, in the ledger and in a diary, and let the diary, not a person's memory, decide when each reminder goes out. The due date is printed on the invoice and entered in the city ledger on the day the invoice is issued, by the same person who issues it.

The statement of account goes out on a fixed day each month and lists invoice number, invoice date, due date, amount and days past due. Reminders follow a fixed sequence: one before the due date, one on the due date, one a set number of days after, each from a template and each with a named owner. Disputed invoices carry a hold flag with a reason and an owner, so interest is not claimed on a balance the hotel is itself questioning.

Escalation is written down: who calls, who writes, and at what point the file moves to the accountant or the lawyer. The closing check: payment matched to the invoice, interest recalculated on the actual value date, and the result written back to the statement.

The same diary discipline protects the other side of the ledger. The weekly supplier payment run works because due dates, not memories, drive it, and the receivables side should be no different.

How does interest appear on the statement and in the books?#

Interest is a separate line with its own basis, never a quietly increased invoice, and how it is documented is a question for the hotel's accountant. Show the working on the statement: principal, due date, days late, the basis of the rate and the date it was read, so the debtor can check the arithmetic without asking.

Keep principal and interest apart in the ledger. A single blended figure hides the dispute and distorts the ageing of the receivable. Whether interest is invoiced at all, and with which document, is a tax and accounting question. This article does not answer it, and the hotel's accountant should.

If the principal becomes doubtful, the interest line follows it rather than sitting on its own as a healthy balance. An interest line does not reset the age of the principal. The original due date stays the reference for both, otherwise the ageing report quietly improves while the money stays out. The point at which an unpaid invoice can be treated as doubtful is covered in the doubtful receivables explainer.

Where does the text stop, and where does the rate come from?#

Article 120 tells you where the rate comes from, not what it is, and any figure printed in an article would be wrong within months. Rates change. Take the current figure from the official source on the day you calculate, and write that reading date on the statement you send. Check the ceiling at the same moment as the rate, because a clause that sat inside the ceiling when it was signed can fall outside it later.

Whether a specific debt is commercial or ordinary, and which rules apply to it, is a classification this article does not make. Keep a one-page file per dispute: the contract clause, the invoice, the statement, the reminders, the payment record, the rate source and the reading date. That file is what an adviser needs to answer quickly. Rates and regulation move. Confirm the current position with your accountant or legal adviser before you claim a figure from a debtor.

What to do next#

Take one agency or company contract this week, find the sentence that sets the due date and the sentence that sets interest, and if either is missing, fix the contract before the next invoice leaves the building. Then run the reminder routine from the due date, not from the day someone remembers. Article 120 gives the right, the clause gives it a shape, and the record of the due date is what makes both usable.