Tiny houses and caravans as lodging: the mobile home facility type in Türkiye

In Türkiye a mobile home (mobil ev) is a towed vehicle with O2-class type approval, arranged as a lodging unit. A mobile home facility needs 5 to 49 such units on land zoned for camping or rural and eco tourism, at least 250 square metres per unit, valid technical inspections, and no investment certificate is issued for it.

A buyer finds a plot, orders ten tiny houses and only then reads the definition. The units are not vehicles, the land is not zoned for camping, and the project has no certificate route. The regulation is short, and it decides the purchase before the purchase decides anything. This article walks through the licensing rules for a mobile home (tiny house and caravan) site in Türkiye, so you can test a deal against the actual text before you pay a deposit.

What counts as a mobile home under Turkish tourism rules?#

A mobile home is a vehicle, not a building. Article 4(1)(t) of the Regulation on the Qualifications of Tourism Facilities defines it by four conditions that must all hold at once, according to the consolidated text on the Presidency's legislation system (mevzuat.gov.tr) (opens in a new tab).

The unit holds an O2-class type approval certificate under the relevant legislation. Type approval is issued for a design, so the seller must be able to show the document for the model you are buying. The unit is designed to be towed by a motor vehicle; it is not a structure that happens to arrive on a truck. It is arranged as a lodging unit, with a living area, a bed and a bathroom-toilet inside. And it is subject to Highway Traffic Law No. 2918 of 13 October 1983, which means registration and periodic technical inspection follow the unit for as long as it is in service.

The definition entered the regulation through Presidential Decision No. 8112 (Resmî Gazete 18 January 2024, No. 32433). The facility article that goes with it was amended again on 29 August 2024 by Decision No. 8864, so work from the consolidated text in force today, not from a January 2024 news summary.

The definition says nothing about cabins, containers on foundations, bungalows or treehouses. Those are separate questions, and the name on the sales page does not settle them.

What does a mobile home facility need? Units, land and layout#

Article 35/A sets the site: 5 to 49 mobile homes on land zoned for camping or rural and eco tourism, at least 250 square metres per unit, with a fenced, lit site and a reception unit at the entrance.

The facility may not sit on allocated public land. The investor needs land it holds, in an area the zoning plan reserves for kamping or rural and eco tourism use. The facility consists entirely of mobile homes, and the count runs from 5 to 49 lodging units: below five it is not this facility type, and above 49 it does not fit the article.

Units are spread out, and each one sits inside an area of at least 250 square metres. The site is separated by fences, walls or greenery and is lit. At the entrance there is parking for one vehicle per unit and a reception and administration unit. A sketch showing the site layout goes into the application file, so the plan is a document the Ministry reads, not an internal drawing.

Each unit is set up for two people and gets natural light. Inside: a bed, one pillow per person, a pillowcase, a sheet, a light blanket or quilt suited to the climate, a safe, a minibar, hot-drink equipment and the listed bathroom items. The registration certificates of all units must be in the name of the owner, the certificate holder or the operator. A site where the units are registered to a third party does not fit.

Which tourism certificate can a mobile home facility get?#

Only a tourism operation certificate. Article 6(2) of the regulation excludes mobile homes from tourism investment certificates, so there is no investment stage to hold while you build.

The practical consequence is order of work: the site and the units are ready first, and the operation certificate is applied for afterwards. The opening period of up to two years that the Ministry sets for investment-certified facilities does not apply here, because there is no investment certificate to attach it to. If you are weighing the two routes, tourism certificate types in Türkiye are worth reading before you choose a facility type.

The application presents the registration certificate of every unit, and each unit must hold a valid technical inspection under Law No. 2918 on the application date. The duty does not end at the certificate: valid inspection certificates must keep being presented to the Ministry after the operation certificate is issued, so the inspection calendar becomes a permanent part of running the site.

The Ministry of Culture and Tourism issues the certificate. The application file, the current forms and any local requirements should be confirmed with the Ministry and your adviser before you commit to a purchase, since procedures change and this article describes the duty in general terms only. A tourism operation certificate is one document in a sequence, and the order of permits when opening a lodging business is worth mapping before the first payment, because the certificate type you can hold decides what you may build and when.

What the rules forbid: fixed units, meeting halls and large restaurants#

The article protects two things: the unit's ability to move, and the site's character as lodging rather than an events venue. One sentence does most of that work.

Nothing may be done that removes the units' ability to move. Decking, foundations, permanent utility connections and built-on extensions all raise the same question, and the answer belongs to the Ministry and your adviser, not to a supplier. No meeting hall or multi-purpose hall may be built on the site, so weddings, conferences and large group events have no room in this facility type.

A restaurant, café, bar or breakfast hall may together serve at most 100 people, and may not sit inside the total area occupied by the units. Food and drink is an add-on to the lodging, not a second business on the same land. The facility may not be on allocated public land, which removes the coastal and forest allocation route from this type entirely.

Article 35/A was amended on 29 August 2024 by Decision No. 8864. Read the consolidated text in force, because a summary written in early 2024 may describe a version of the article that no longer exists.

Is a tiny house on foundations a mobile home?#

No. Once a unit sits on foundations and is no longer a towed vehicle under traffic law, it is a building, and buildings are assessed under a different set of rules.

The test is the legal status of the object, not the name in the listing. A structure fixed to the ground is looked at as construction, with zoning, construction permission and municipal questions attached. That route also brings a municipal workplace licence, and a fixed structure also brings municipal permissions that sit outside the tourism certificate; confirm the split of authority with the municipality and your adviser. The certificate that fits the property then depends on what is actually built, and the range of certified accommodation types is wider than the mobile home article.

This article does not advise on arranging a unit so that it keeps a vehicle classification while being used in a fixed way. That question should go to the Ministry and your legal adviser in writing, before a purchase, with the site plan attached.

The useful habit is to ask two questions about any unit: what type approval does it carry, and what will the site plan show it standing on. If the two answers point in different directions, stop.

A test to run before you buy units#

Run the regulation against the deal in this order, and stop at the first item you cannot answer with a document. Each check is cheaper before the deposit than after it.

What to do next#

Put the type approval documents and the zoning plan side by side before you pay for a single unit. The regulation is short and it decides the deal early: a vehicle definition, a land rule, a density rule and a mobility sentence. Then confirm the file with the Ministry of Culture and Tourism and your own adviser, because the article was added in January 2024 and amended in August 2024, and the consolidated text is the version that counts.