How is an expropriation plan prepared in Türkiye? Registered area, area taken, remainder and the area table
Every figure in an expropriation file comes from a line drawn on the plan.
Field takeaways
- Law No. 2942 requires a scaled plan showing the boundary, area and type of each property.
- The plan does not start until current cadastral data and the project are in the same coordinate system.
- For each parcel, the area taken plus the remainder must add up to the parcel area.
- Easement area and ownership area are separate columns; the same ground is never counted twice.
- The plan is a technical basis; determining official boundaries and areas is licensed survey engineering work.
What the law asks for
Under Türkiye's Expropriation Law No. 2942, the administration carrying out the expropriation makes, or has made, a scaled plan showing the boundary, area and type of the properties to be expropriated or on which an easement will be established by expropriation. Owners are identified from land registry, tax and civil registry records, and where there is no title record, possessors are found by enquiry. In short, the plan is the document the rest of the file rests on: valuation, notification and registration all run on the areas and the parcel list in the plan. The technical steps described here follow practice in Türkiye; in another country the document format follows that country's rules.
First the base: cadastre and project in the same system
The plan has two inputs: the project's expropriation boundary (a road platform, a reservoir area, a facility site, a line corridor) and current cadastral data for the affected parcels. Cadastral data should come from the official source in its current state; do not digitise from a screenshot or an old map sheet. Tools such as TKGM Parsel Sorgu are useful for finding your way, but they are not the base of the plan. Both datasets must be in the same coordinate system: in Türkiye that is usually a 3-degree TM zone based on ITRF96. When ED50 and ITRF96 are mixed, the boundary shifts by tens of metres across the parcels and the whole table is wrong.
The expropriation boundary and parcel pieces
The expropriation boundary splits each parcel into at least two pieces: the part taken and the remainder. For each parcel the areas of these pieces are computed from coordinates, and their sum must equal the parcel's computed area; if it does not, the drawing has a gap or an overlapping polygon. Where the boundary crosses a parcel more than once, along a winding road for example, the remainder can fall into several pieces; show each piece separately. Where the boundary runs very close to a parcel corner, strips of a few square metres appear; they belong in the table too.
Registered area and computed area
In the table, the parcel's registered (title) area and the area computed from coordinates sit side by side. Small differences are normal; in older surveys and in parcels formed by different methods the difference can grow. If it is marked, it is something to settle with the relevant cadastre directorate before the plan is finished; do not scale the expropriation area on your own to close the gap. Which area the compensation is based on, and how the difference is handled, is for the administration and the regulations to decide.
Remainder, easements and shares
Always show the remainder in its own column. Article 12 of Law No. 2942, which governs partial expropriation, deals with changes in the value of the remaining part and, in certain cases, with expropriating the remainder as well; those assessments rely on the remainder being clearly visible on the plan. Areas where ownership is not taken and only an easement is established (Article 4 of the Law) go in a separate column and are not added to the area taken. In parcels with several owners, the area is computed per parcel, and the owners and their shares are carried into the table from the title record.
From plan to file
When the plan is complete, the parcels, the expropriation boundary, the remaining pieces, any easement areas and the area table appear together on the sheet or in its annex, with the scale, coordinate system and sheet details written on it. The plan and table are the start of the administration's file, leading to valuation, notification and registration; the administration also asks for the expropriation to be annotated on the property's title record. This article covers the technical preparation: determining official boundaries and areas is licensed survey engineering work, and registration and compensation are decisions for the competent authorities.
Prepare the plan, declarations and sketches together.
MapLab Kamu quickly prepares expropriation plans, declarations and measurement sketches and tracks the process; for power lines it builds the easement corridor from the tower schedule, with Netcad NCZ and DXF output. Built for Türkiye's procedures and adaptable to other countries on request. Web and Windows, on request.
Frequently asked questions
Who prepares the expropriation plan?
Under the law, the administration carrying out the expropriation makes the plan or has it made. The technical preparation and the determination of official boundaries and areas are licensed survey engineering work.
What if the registered area and the computed area do not match?
Note the difference and settle it with the relevant cadastre directorate before the plan is finished. Which area is used is for the administration and the regulations to decide.
Why is the remainder shown separately?
The law deals with changes in the value of the remaining part in partial expropriation and, in certain cases, with expropriating the remainder too. Assessing that requires the remainder to be clearly visible on the plan.
What does MapLab Kamu do in this process?
It quickly prepares expropriation plans, declarations and measurement sketches, tracks the process, builds the easement corridor from a power line's tower schedule and delivers Netcad NCZ and DXF output. It runs on the web and Windows and is available on request. It was built for Türkiye's procedures and can be adapted to another country's on request.
Technical references
The field guidance in this article is aligned with the technical and official references below.
Related: Easement corridor calculation · Registry area comparison · ED50 to TUREF · MapLab Survey