On a viewing, the two heating systems can look alike. After you move in, they give you very different control over the bill: with a kombi you pay for your own gas, with merkezi you pay a share of the building's heating.
Turkish rental listings usually name the heating system in one word. Before you sign, find out which one the flat has and what it means for your payments.
What a kombi is
A kombi is a specific appliance, not a general word for individual heating. It is a wall-mounted gas combination boiler inside the flat that does two jobs: it heats the flat (kat kaloriferi) and heats water on demand (şofben). The name comes from that combination, as an energy-management note by the Bursa directorate of Turkey's Ministry of National Education explains.
For a tenant, kombi in a listing means a gas appliance in the flat itself, with gas billed by your own meter. Heating with air conditioners or an electric boiler is a different cost and a different arrangement.
What merkezi means
Merkezi is central heating: one system heats the whole building, and each flat pays a share. The cost usually reaches you through aidat, the monthly building charge.
How the share is calculated is set by a regulation. The regulation of 14 April 2008 on sharing heating and hot-water costs (Resmî Gazete No. 26847) applies to buildings with several independent units that have central or district heating:
-70% of the total heating cost is divided by the measured consumption of each flat, and 30% by floor area; the 30% covers common areas, losses in the system, minimum heating and running costs (Article 8, paragraph 1);
-the flats are fitted with meters for heat and hot water, and occupants must allow them to be installed (Article 5, paragraph 2);
-if a meter is faulty and consumption cannot be measured, the flat's share is calculated from its earlier periods or from similar flats over the same period (Article 11, paragraph 1).
We checked the regulation against its current official text on 20 October 2026.
What to check before signing
See the heating system yourself rather than taking it on trust, and have it written into the contract.
With a kombi, confirm that the boiler really belongs to the flat and that the gas is billed to the flat's own meter.
With merkezi, ask to be shown how this building divides the cost: whether each flat has working meters, how the 70/30 split is applied, and in which months heating is charged.