Globes, Guy Nardi, 11.04.2021

At the end of March , the Ministry of Justice issued an amendment to the Planning and Building Law , proposing seemingly small changes that would make the promotion of urban renewal, at the level of the individual apartment and also on the wider scale of the complex, simpler.

What do the regulations say about expanding an apartment or balcony, and how might they fundamentally change the term "evacuation-construction"? Globes makes an order.

What innovation does the amendment offer regarding the expansion of an existing apartment?
Under the proposed amendment, the initiative to expand the apartment or balcony in the common building will be possible in a situation where the areas are attached to the property and no consent of the other tenants will be required. Advocate Ron Burnett explains: “The amendment is welcome, because it will reduce cases where it can prevent the expansion of an apartment and save extortion. This strengthens the status of proprietary linkage to a particular apartment. Let’s say I have a garden or roof attached to me exclusively, and I have building rights, but I still needed the consent of the neighbors who would drag me on committees and appeals. Although I have a percentage of construction that I am allowed to use, it was a burdensome and unnecessary condition. "

In the context of apartment expansion. What does the consent form mean?
Anyone who wanted to add to his apartment has so far been required to apply for a permit together signed by the other neighbors. The innovation that the amendment offers is that it will be possible for the neighbors to sign only a consent form. What it means? Adv. Oren Katz from the law firm Yosef Yeshurun ​​explains: "The idea is that whoever wants to make an addition in a shared house, will not be a hostage of his neighbors. Local committees would require that the plan be submitted jointly by all tenants. The amendment allows for the signing of a consent form that removes the warranty from the signing neighbor. Suppose someone is harmed by the plan, and he files a claim based on section 197 (apartment value unit). On the face of it, anyone who submits the program should speak it. The idea is to simplify the process for those who want to make catches. "

What was the difficulty that the amendment sought to resolve regarding the promotion of evacuation-construction plans?
The Planning and Building Regulations of 2016, which deal with the rights of tenants in promoting planning in condominiums, stipulated that the first step in submitting a plan is to receive signatures from 60% of the apartment owners in the complex and 50% of the apartment owners in each of the homes. The problem was that advancing the plan involved a preliminary announcement by the local authority about the complex, which included, among other things, the consent of the authority engineer. The new regulations stipulate that it is possible to be satisfied with the signatures of the apartment owners, to promote the plan in the district committee while skipping the engineer's approval.

Advocate Adam Tsaswan, partner and head of the urban renewal department at Adv. Gindi Caspi, explains the meaning of the amendment: "It sounds like fur, but it is a big barrier. "An evacuation-construction initiative is something that takes a lot of time. It caused many evacuation-construction complexes that wanted to submit a plan to get stuck in the local planning and building committee. The amendment says that if there is a majority of apartment owners, a plan can be submitted even if there is no announcement."