It is quite fascinating how Jewish tradition and customs have such a strong effect on home design, both in Israel and around the world. Aside from the obvious: the impact that keeping Shabbat has; the location and size of the sukkah and its distance from the kitchen; planning a dining room to accommodate major Shabbat and holiday meals, sheva...

Thanks to the warm climate in this country, most people do not give much thought to the various methods of heating homes in Israel. Since heating isn’t necessary most of the year, the vast majority of Israelis have settled for using the heating mode of their wall-mounted air conditioning units. The last decade has seen...

Dampness and condensation are probably the most common construction/structural issues found in homes in Israel and can be the cause of serious and expensive problems to repair. If neglected they can dangerously harm a property and seriously affect the quality of life of those who occupy it.  The accumulative damage caused by dampness can result...

As we cautiously look forward to an exit from the Covid crisis, Marc Rosenberg of Nefesh B’Nefesh reports over a 100% increase in Aliyah requests from North American Jewry, despite the fact that this year’s process will be more complex than in the past. The large conferences that the organization usually holds have been moved...

While for a long time, developers avoided building small homes, within just a few short years, the rate of new 2-room apartments being constructed has more than tripled. Today, the small apartment has become a sought-after product among investors. An analysis conducted by the Real Estate Appraisers Association in Israel found that the Return on...

The following article concentrates on the obligations of a UK taxpayer when buying a property in Israel and focuses on some of the issues to be considered from a UK perspective. Any UK resident buying property abroad remains exposed to UK tax on that property. This may include UK Income Tax on rental income, UK...

When purchasing a second-hand home in Israel, it is customary for the purchaser’s attorney to conduct negotiations with the vendor’s attorney by discussion, exchange of correspondence, and drafts of the contract of sale which reflect each party’s concept of how the transaction should be structured. The following is a selection of some of the more critical issues that a purchaser’s attorney will address during the process of a second-hand transaction:

The municipal property tax in Israel, known as “Arnona,” is levied by the local authorities in order to finance their activities and services. It is calculated according to a variety of parameters, including the purpose of the building, its size, the socio-economic status of the neighborhood, and more. These variables can result in an enormous...

A common trend nowadays in Israel is to build a basement beneath a house. The addition of a basement to an existing property, can provide the owner with a large amount of additiona living area and can also add significantly to the value of the property. However, basement excavations and conversions, carry many regulations and permissions with them. They are each unique and very much depend upon the condition and structural ability of the existing property.

Purchasers of new apartments in Israel, directly from developers, could find themselves paying a significantly higher price than they’d agreed upon when they initially closed the deal. The reason for this comes down to fluctuations in the residential construction cost index, published monthly by Israel’s Central Bureau of Statistics (CBS), which estimates changes in construction...