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Land Law, 5729-1969

חוק המקרקעין, תשכ"ט-1969

Published: 1969-07-27Consolidated Hebrew text as of 2024-07-08 · Last amended 2024-07-04✓ Amendment status checked against the Knesset legislation record on 2026-09-28
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Unofficial English translation — for reference only. It may contain errors or omissions and cannot be relied on as a legal text. Only the Hebrew text published in Reshumot is legally binding.More

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Despite these checks, it may contain errors, omissions, or imprecise renderings of legal terminology and cross-references, and it may not yet reflect the latest amendments. It cannot be relied upon as a legal text.

The Hebrew text as published in Reshumot (ספר החוקים) and on the Knesset website is the sole authoritative and legally binding version. In any discrepancy, the Hebrew text prevails.

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Section C: Management of the Common House

By-laws§
61.

A common house shall be administered in accordance with by-laws regulating relations among apartment owners and their rights and obligations in connection with the common house.

Consensual by-laws§
62.
(a)Apartment owners may draw up by-laws and amend their provisions by a majority of apartment owners to whose apartments two-thirds of the common property is appurtenant, however no rights of apartment owners may be prescribed or amended in by-laws, nor may obligations or payments of a type or at a rate not set out in this Law be imposed on them, except with their consent, and no appurtenance of a particular part of the common property to a particular apartment may be prescribed except with the consent of all the apartment owners.
(a1)Where a particular part of the common property has been made appurtenant to a particular apartment, it may be transferred to another apartment in the building without the consent of the other apartment owners, provided that the provisions of section 145 have been complied with.
(b)For the purposes of subsection (a), "apartment owner" – includes the lessor under a long-term lease of an apartment leased under a long-term lease and the sub-lessor of an apartment leased under a sub-lease for generations.
(c)By-laws and any amendment thereto are registrable, and upon registration they are also effective against a person who subsequently becomes an apartment owner.
By-laws drawn up by a single person§
63.

By-laws may be registered even when the common house with all its apartments is owned by a single person.

The model by-laws§
64.

Where no by-laws have been registered pursuant to section 62, and to the extent that the registered by-laws contain no provision on the matter, the model by-laws in the Schedule shall be regarded as by-laws registered by the apartment owners.

Management committee of the common house§
65.

Every common house shall have a management committee for the purpose of managing the affairs of the common house; the management committee shall be constituted and shall act in accordance with the provisions of the by-laws.

The first management committee§
66.
(a)Upon registration of the building in the register of common houses, the Inspector who issued the registration Order shall appoint a temporary management committee for that building until the first management committee is constituted pursuant to the by-laws; the composition of the temporary management committee shall be in accordance with the recommendation of the apartment owners who requested the registration; in the absence of such a recommendation, the Inspector shall appoint a temporary management committee at his discretion from among the apartment owners in the common house, or – if it was not practically possible to do so – from persons not among the apartment owners, and may prescribe remuneration for it to be paid by the apartment owners.
(b)The status of a management committee appointed as referred to in subsection (a) shall, for all purposes, be the same as the status of a management committee constituted pursuant to the provisions of the by-laws.
Procedure in the absence of a management committee§
67.
(a)Where a management committee has not been constituted in a common house pursuant to the provisions of the by-laws, or where the management committee is not functioning, the Inspector may appoint a management committee for that building, and the provisions of section 66 shall apply, with the necessary modifications, to the appointment of the management committee, the fixing of its remuneration and its status.
(b)Where the by-laws of the common house prescribe the election of the management committee at a general meeting, the Inspector shall not exercise his power under subsection (a) unless he has convened the apartment owners to a general meeting for the election of the management committee and the management committee was not elected at the meeting, or unless he is satisfied that in the circumstances of the case convening the meeting would not be practicable.
Remuneration of the management committee§
68.

The remuneration prescribed by the Inspector for a management committee appointed as referred to in section 66 or section 67 shall have the same status as an expense in which apartment owners are obliged to participate as referred to in section 58.

The management committee – authorised agent of apartment owners§
69.

The management committee shall serve as the authorised agent of all apartment owners in every matter relating to the proper maintenance and management of the common house, and in such matters it is entitled to enter into contracts and to be a party to any legal proceeding and to any other negotiation on behalf of all the apartment owners.

General meeting§
70.

Where the by-laws of a common house prescribe provisions regarding the holding of a general meeting of apartment owners and the meeting has not convened at the appointed time in accordance with the provisions of the by-laws, the Inspector may convene it and set its agenda, and the provisions of the by-laws regarding a general meeting shall apply as though it had been convened in accordance with those provisions.

Decisions of apartment owners§
71.
(a)A decision of the apartment owners that was adopted in accordance with the by-laws and recorded in the book of decisions shall bind every apartment owner, whether he was an apartment owner at the time the decision was adopted or became an apartment owner after its adoption; the book of decisions shall be open for inspection at any reasonable time to every apartment owner.
(b)
(1)apartment owners may determine, in the by-laws or in a decision adopted by a majority of apartment owners to whose apartments two-thirds of the common property is appurtenant, that the management and proper maintenance of the common property, in whole or in the greater part, shall be carried out by a person with whom the apartment owners shall contract for that purpose (in this Law – a maintenance contractor);
(2)a decision regarding the engagement with a particular maintenance contractor or regarding his replacement shall be adopted by apartment owners to whose apartments more than half of the common property is appurtenant.
(c)The remuneration of a maintenance contractor shall have the same status as an expense in which apartment owners are obliged to participate, as referred to in section 58(a).
(d)The obligations imposed on a treasurer under regulation 16 of the model by-laws in the Schedule shall apply to the maintenance contractor with regard to the keeping and approval of accounts and the furnishing of information to apartment owners.

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Section C-1: Changes in Common Property and Building Rights

Definitions§
71a.

In this Section:

"Planning and Building Law" – (deleted);

"building rights" – rights to build in a common house pursuant to a valid plan as defined in Chapter III of the Planning and Building Law;

"extension" – an increase in the area of an existing apartment in the common house in respect of which a building permit may be obtained pursuant to a valid plan.

"protected space" – a shelter as defined in section 11 of the Civil Defence Law, 5711-1951, in the form of a space built within the building envelope, designed to protect those sheltering therein from attack and planned in accordance with the provisions issued under that Law;

"apartment protected space" – a protected space located within the bounds of the apartment and designated to serve the residents of that apartment only;

"floor protected space" – a protected space designated to serve several apartments and whose entrance is from common property on the floor.

Changes in Common Property and Building Rights§
71b.
(a)
(1)Notwithstanding the provisions of section 62(a) in fine, or section 12(b) of the model by-laws in the Schedule, those who own three-quarters of the apartments and two-thirds of the common property adjoined to their apartments may decide on the exclusion of certain parts from the common property and their adjoining to a particular apartment, for the purpose of construction aimed at enlarging that apartment, and may likewise decide on the distribution of the building rights required for that purpose; however, where the subject of such a decision is the enlargement of one or more particular apartments for the purpose of constructing a residential protected space or a floor protected space, those who own sixty percent of the apartments may decide thereon;
(2)For the purpose of enlarging an apartment for the construction of a residential protected space or a floor protected space as referred to in paragraph (1), a wing or a structure in a complex building within the meaning of section 59 shall be regarded as a common house, provided that the enlargement of the apartment as aforesaid does not require the carrying out of construction work in another wing or structure in the complex building;
(3)Nothing in the provisions of paragraph (2) shall derogate from the rights of an apartment owner in another wing or structure in the complex building, under subsections (b) to (g) and section 71c.
(a1)In a common house in which it is not possible to construct a residential protected space or a floor protected space, the provisions of this Section dealing with construction for the purpose of establishing a residential protected space or a floor protected space shall apply also to the construction of protective improvements in accordance with the provisions of the competent authority within the meaning of the Civil Defence Law, 5711-1951.
(b)A decision as referred to in subsection (a) shall not be adopted if it would harm the proportional building rights of any apartment owner to enlarge under this Section.
(c)An apartment owner whose apartment has been enlarged shall be deemed to have consented to a similar enlargement of any other apartment in the same building.
(d)Where a decision as referred to in subsection (a) has been adopted, an apartment owner whose apartment is capable of enlargement at a proportional rate exceeding his share in the common property and who wishes to enlarge it shall, at the time of the enlargement decision, pay equalisation payments to an apartment owner whose apartment is not capable of enlargement or whose enlargement is less than his proportional share in the common property.
(e)If the apartment owners have not reached agreement as to the amount of the equalisation payments, the payments shall be determined by a land appraiser to be appointed by agreement.
(f)The costs of the appraisal shall be borne by the apartment owners in accordance with their proportional share in the common property prior to the enlargement decision.
(g)An enlargement decision that would prevent an apartment owner from the possibility of erecting a sukkah, if he had been accustomed to doing so prior to the decision, shall not be adopted.
Filing a Claim with the Inspector§
71c.
(a)An apartment owner who objects to a decision adopted as referred to in section 71b(a) and claims a substantial infringement of his rights, an apartment owner who requests the appointment of a land appraiser in the absence of agreement, or an apartment owner who disputes the determination of the appraiser, may apply to the Inspector with a claim.
(b)The claim shall be filed within 30 days of the date on which the decision was adopted, and if the apartment owner was not present at the time the decision was adopted, within 30 days of the date of delivery of the decision; the Inspector may extend the time for filing the claim for special reasons that shall be recorded.
(c)The provisions of Section D of this Chapter shall apply to the proceedings before the Inspector, with the necessary modifications.
(d)Where the Inspector finds that the right of an apartment owner has been infringed in a substantial manner, or that the land appraiser appointed as aforesaid erred, he may order the cancellation of the decision that was adopted, amend it or subject it to conditions, all as he sees fit, whether by way of equalisation payments or in another manner, and he may likewise give directions regarding registration procedures at the Land Registry Office.
(e)An application to the Inspector shall not, in itself, constitute grounds for a stay of execution of the enlargement, unless the Inspector has ordered otherwise.
Application§
71d.
(a)The apartment owners in a common house may determine, in an agreed by-law, that the provisions of this Section shall not apply to them, except for provisions dealing with the construction of a residential protected space or a floor protected space, or with the construction of protective improvements in accordance with the provisions of the competent authority within the meaning of the Civil Defence Law, 5711-1951.
(b)Nothing in the provisions of this Section shall derogate from a special provision existing in an agreed by-law concerning the enlargement of an apartment or building rights.

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Section D: Settlement of Disputes between Apartment Owners

Jurisdiction to Adjudicate in Disputes§
72.
(a)A dispute between apartment owners in a common house concerning their rights or obligations under the by-laws or under sections 58, 59 or 59a to 59c and 59e to 59j, under section 1a of the Real Property (Replacement of a Gas Supplier Supplying Gas through a Central Gas System) Law, 5751-1991, under the Real Property (Strengthening of Common Houses against Earthquakes) Law, 5768-2008, or under sections 6bg to 6bi, 21b, 21d and 27c of the Telecommunications Law, 5742-1982, shall be adjudicated by the Inspector.
(b)A dispute between apartment owners in a common house concerning trespass by an apartment owner in relation to another apartment or in relation to the common property, the plaintiff may bring, at his election, before a competent court or before the Inspector.
(c)The provisions of subsections (a) and (b) shall apply also where the person holding the apartment on behalf of the apartment owner or the maintainer is a party to the dispute, and if the apartment was leased under a long-term lease or a sub-long-term lease — also if a party to the dispute is the long-term lessor or the sub-long-term lessor.
(d)Nothing in this section shall derogate from the validity of an agreement to submit disputes as aforesaid to arbitration.
The Right to Bring a Dispute§
73.

The following are entitled to bring a dispute before the Inspector for adjudication:

(1)any apartment owner or other party to a dispute as defined in section 72;
(2)the representation of the common house.
Powers of the Inspector§
74.

An Inspector adjudicating a dispute shall have all the powers vested in a judge of the Magistrate's Court adjudicating a civil claim.

Hearing of a Dispute§
75.
(a)An Inspector adjudicating a dispute may deviate from the rules of evidence and the rules of procedure followed in courts, if he was satisfied that doing so would assist in the discovery of the truth and the doing of justice; having decided to deviate from the rules of evidence and the rules of procedure followed in courts, he shall record the reasons that motivated him to do so.
(b)Where an Inspector has commenced adjudicating a dispute and is prevented from completing the hearing thereof, another Inspector shall continue the hearing from the stage reached by his predecessor, but may permit the re-adduction of the evidence, in whole or in part.
(c)The decision of the Inspector shall be in writing, shall be reasoned, and shall be delivered to each of the parties.
Enforcement of Decisions and Orders§
76.

A decision of the Inspector in a dispute and an interim order issued by him shall have, for the purpose of enforcement and execution and for the purpose of section 6 of the Contempt of Court Ordinance, the same force as a judgment or interim order of the Magistrate's Court.

Appeal§
77.
(a)Any party to a dispute who considers himself aggrieved by a decision of the Inspector may, within a period prescribed in Regulations, appeal against it to the District Court within whose jurisdiction the common house is situated.
(b)The filing of an appeal shall not stay the execution of the decision unless the Inspector or the court before which the appeal has been filed has so ordered.
(c)An appeal against a decision of the Inspector under section 72(b) shall be heard by the District Court by three judges.
(d)The judgment of the court on an appeal under subsection (a) is subject to appeal by leave as provided in section 19(b) of the Courts Law, 5717-1957.

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