Beşiktaş is among the most valuable districts in Istanbul, and its building stock spans three different worlds: high-rise residential and office buildings in Levent and Etiler, historic and protected buildings along the Ortaköy to Bebek stretch, and dense apartment blocks in Beşiktaş centre and Gayrettepe.
High values mean high expectations
Owners here expect noticeably more of their management, and that expectation is usually justified: the more a flat is worth, the more the state of the common areas affects that value. A worn entrance hall or a badly run car park is not just a comfort issue here; it is a sale price and rental value issue.
In the Beşiktaş buildings we manage, common-area upkeep runs to a planned renewal calendar rather than a fix-it-when-it-breaks approach.
Ground-floor commercial units
In Beşiktaş’s avenue-facing buildings the ground floor is usually commercial: a café, a shop, an office. That is a permanent source of argument over the division of common expenses. A commercial unit generates more refuse, uses more water and puts more wear on the building than a flat, yet often uses neither the lift nor the stairs.
Article 20 of the Condominium Law governs the split, but where the management plan provides otherwise, the plan prevails. In the buildings we take on we first establish what the management plan actually says and conduct the argument on the documents rather than on opinion.
Parking: the district’s chronic problem
Parking is on the agenda of nearly every building in Beşiktaş. Where the allocation of shared spaces, visitor parking and the rules of use are not written down, nothing damages neighbourly relations faster. We recommend setting those rules by assembly decision and entering them in the decision ledger.
Listed buildings
Along the Ortaköy, Arnavutköy and Bebek stretch, work on facades, roofs and windows requires approval from the Regional Conservation Board. We research the permit process before the decision is taken and give owners a realistic view of time and cost.