Repair of stone houses and registered (listed) buildings: which work needs permission?

What is renovation and maintenance?

The Regulation on the Building Principles and Supervision of Immovable Cultural Properties Requiring Protection uses the term 'renovation and maintenance' (tadilat ve tamirat) instead of 'simple repair': work aimed at continuing the building's use. Joint repointing, interior and exterior plaster, paint, whitewash, gutters, joinery, flooring, electrical and plumbing repair, roof repair and re-laying tiles, and work that does not affect the structure fall in this category.

The same regulation also includes renewing a decayed timber, metal, terracotta or stone architectural element with the same material and in its original form, and renewing plaster and coverings in their original form with matching colour and material.

Who gives permission?

• Renovation and maintenance: done in line with the original form and material, under the permission and supervision of the Directorate General of Foundations, KUDEB or, where there is no KUDEB, the Regional Conservation Board Directorate
• Substantial repair: survey, restitution and restoration projects are submitted to the Regional Conservation Board and carried out according to the approved project and conditions
• Municipality: cannot change the restoration project approved by the board; it examines technical and health conditions and zoning compliance. Board approval does not replace a municipal permit

How do you know whether your building is registered?

The conservation group is recorded in the annotations section of the title deed register. Legal sources also stress that the absence of an annotation on the title deed does not prove that the building is unregistered. The current title deed record, registration decision, conservation group, board decisions and the municipality's zoning file should be checked together. We did not find an online query address in the sources we read; we also could not verify the name and address of the Muğla Regional Conservation Board Directorate or the relevant KUDEB information.

Sanctions and responsibility

The regulation says those responsible for deviations from the approved project may be barred for five years from acting as project preparer or applicant. A legal website lists prison sentences for unauthorised interventions; since we could not read the relevant article text of Law No. 2863, we do not quote those figures here.

General principles in repairing stone houses

• The original material and form are preserved; stones are replaced with stone of the same type where possible
• For first-group buildings, craftsmen experienced in stonework are employed; a restorer architect is required for the project
• Damage, material and intervention analyses can be included in the project file
• Elements such as windows are renewed with the original material (for example, PVC instead of timber is considered outside renovation in the source)