Who owns the property
The starting point is the registration of the property. Most properties are registered in the Land Registry (Tabu), and an extract shows the registered owners, mortgages, warning notes and attachments. Some properties are recorded with the Israel Land Authority or with a housing company instead, and the checks differ accordingly.
What is registered against it
A mortgage, an attachment or a warning note in favour of someone else does not necessarily prevent a purchase, but the agreement must deal with it, usually by paying off the mortgage from the purchase price and removing the registrations before the transfer.
Planning and building
The municipal building file shows whether the property was built according to its permits and whether there are known building violations. It is also worth checking the plans that apply to the area, which can affect the property's value and any betterment levy.
Buying from a developer
When buying a new apartment from a developer, the buyer's payments must be secured, typically by a bank guarantee or an insurance policy, as required by law. The agreement and the technical specification should be reviewed carefully before signing.
The agreement and payments
A well-structured agreement ties each payment to a stage in the transaction, sets dates for handing over possession, and says what happens if either side does not perform.
After signing
Registering a warning note in the buyer's favour soon after signing protects the buyer against later transactions in the same property. Purchase tax must be reported and paid, and the transaction ends with registration of the buyer's ownership.
