Property & Real Estate Q&A

Usually yes, but only up to half its value. A loan secured on a residence for a purpose other than buying property is an all-purpose loan, and Proper Conduct of Banking Business Directive 329 caps it at 50% of the value of the dwelling. The same 50% ceiling applies to a foreign resident buying, so a non-resident owner has no headroom either way. A permanent relief lets a bank exceed a 70% loan-to-value ratio where the slice above 50% is no more than NIS 200,000, which in practice rarely reaches a non-resident file.

Yes, if you sign after 6 January 2026. Amendment No. 3 to the Contracts (General Part) Law 5733-1973 passed the Knesset on 5 January 2026 and was published the following day. It rewrote Section 25 so that a business contract is now read according to its wording, with the surrounding circumstances brought in only where the wording produces an unacceptable result or the clauses contradict each other. Non-business contracts still turn on the parties' intent. Contracts signed before 6 January 2026 continue under the older Apropim approach.

Only with a building permit, and for a flat inside a condominium block that is harder than most owners expect. Creating an additional dwelling unit is work requiring a permit under Section 145 of the Planning and Building Law 5725-1965, granted by the local planning and building committee. The statutory splitting track added by Amendment 117 applies to land-attached houses rather than apartments, and a split flat also needs the condominium registration order amended at the Condominium Registrar.

A leasehold with a finite term, not ownership. In neighbourhoods such as Rehavia, Talbieh, Baka, Katamon and Nayot the underlying land was leased by KKL-JNF from the Greek Orthodox Patriarchate in the 1950s under 99 year leases expiring around 2051 and 2052, and the Patriarchate has since sold the reversion to private investors. Roughly 1,500 apartments are affected. A Knesset bill to protect the owners has broad support but is not law.

If the option meets all the conditions in Section 49I of the Real Estate Taxation Law 5723-1963, granting it and assigning it are free of both betterment tax and purchase tax, and both taxes fall due only on exercise. The conditions are strict: written, irrevocable on the seller's side, no possession for the holder, a maximum of 24 months, consideration capped at 5%, and notice to the Director within 30 days.

Only if a trust notice is filed almost immediately. Section 69 of the Real Estate Taxation (Appreciation and Purchase) Law 5723-1963 exempts the later transfer from a trustee to the beneficiary, but Section 74 requires the purchaser who bought in his own name for another to notify the Director within 30 days of the acquisition, naming the beneficiary. Miss the 30 days and Israel treats the eventual transfer to you as a second sale, with a second round of purchase tax at the non-resident rate.

Often yes, under Section 71 of the Real Estate Taxation (Appreciation and Purchase) Law 5723-1963, which exempts the transfer of a property right from a dissolving association to its shareholders on liquidation where the section's conditions are met. Regulation 27(b) of the purchase tax regulations gives a matching purchase tax exemption for a transfer to an individual shareholder. The relief is a deferral rather than a pardon: Section 72B(b) carries the company's original acquisition date and cost onto you.

Yes, but on a fast clock and through a track of its own. Section 87 of the Real Estate Taxation (Appreciation and Purchase) Law 5723-1963 gives you 30 days from delivery of the assessment to file an objection on Form 7013, and the Director must decide within eight months or the objection is treated as accepted. If the decision goes against you, Section 88 allows an appeal to the Appeal Committee within a further 30 days.

You cannot register your names on an apartment that has no registered existence, so the building has to be registered as a *bayit meshutaf* first. Chapter 6 of the Land Law 5729-1969 governs it, and the registration order comes from the Supervisor of Land Registration. Budget roughly NIS 8,000 to NIS 15,000 for the surveyor's plan alone, and note that the plan is only valid for six months once drawn.

Sometimes, and the rules changed recently. Amendment 155 to the Planning and Building Law 5725-1965, published on 7 August 2024, revived the split-unit route for ground-attached homes: the existing unit must be at least 120 square metres, the new unit at least 45 square metres, and the new unit can only be rented or given to a close relative, never sold separately. A reduced betterment levy of 34% applies to the added unit.

The municipality does the work and bills you for it. Dangerous building by-laws are made under Sections 249, 250 and 251 of the Municipalities Ordinance [New Version], and they let the municipal engineer serve a written notice fixing the works and the deadline. If the owner does not comply, the authority carries out the works itself and recovers the cost with linkage and interest, collected administratively under the Taxes (Collection) Ordinance 1929 without any court judgment. The order is lifted only against an engineer's opinion confirming the danger has been removed.

A fee set by regulation, not by the branch. The Banking Order (Early Repayment of a Housing Loan) 5762-2002 allows an operational fee capped at NIS 60 per loan tranche, a no-notice fee of 0.1% where you give under ten days notice, and a capitalisation differential fee that can run into tens of thousands of shekels. Section 4(3) removes the capitalisation fee entirely if you repay on a tranche's interest change date, and Section 8 cuts it by 30% where more than five years of the term remain.