ISRAEL Law and Practice Contributed by: Hagit Bavly and Adi Daniel Zamir, Arnon, Tadmor-Levy
changes have been made (or are intended to be made) to facilitate planning and construc - tion procedures, and to speed them up. Such changes include the following: • the powers of local planning committees to approve city plans were expanded; • the pre-conditions for filing an appeal against a decision to approve a plan were tightened; • a special planning committee is to be estab - lished, whose role is to advance residential plans; and • changes are to be made to speed up the approval procedures for building permits. Following the October war, a temporary order was approved to allow construction of a protect - ed area (a concrete shelter) in residential units without a building permit. 2. Sale and Purchase 2.1 Categories of Property Rights Israeli law recognises five types of property rights:
Other statutes govern specific areas and stipu - late further provisions, which are usually binding on the seller or the landlord and which protect the buyer or the tenants. An example is the Sale Law, which applies primarily to the sale of resi - dential units. 2.3 Effecting Lawful and Proper Transfer of Title Article 7(a) of the Land Law prescribes as fol - lows: “A transaction in immovable property requires registration. The transaction is completed by registration, and the time at which the Registrar approves the transaction for registration shall be regarded as the time of registration.” In other words, a real estate transaction is com - pleted only by registration in the applicable Land Registry. Registration is computerised and accessible via the internet, both for viewing and for registration of transactions. Israel does not have registration or title insur - ance, as in the United States and other jurisdic - tions, perhaps because there is no need: in Isra - el, registration is conclusive and is relied upon. One element that affects timing of registration is the demand for tax authorisation as a condi - tion for registration of transactions. However, it is possible to facilitate tax payment and authorisa - tion automatically against payment by the buyer of fixed advances on account of tax payments (also those that apply to the seller). Article 13 of the Land Law stipulates that “a transaction in immovable property extends to the land… and a transaction in respect of a spe - cific part of the property is invalid”. Therefore, title (as opposed to leasehold) cannot be reg -
• ownership; • leasehold; • mortgage; • right of way; and • easement.
A very important element of Israeli real estate law is that an obligation to perform a real estate transaction has to be in writing, excluding lease rights that do not exceed five years. 2.2 Laws Applicable to Transfer of Title The Land Law stipulates the principles for exe - cuting a real estate transaction for all types of property – residential, commercial, offices, etc.
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