Practice area
Real Estate Transactions
Buying, selling and developing property in Israel: the checks before the contract, the security between signature and registration, and the registration itself.
David Melnik Law Office has practiced from Tel Aviv since 1996 in property transactions and in the work that surrounds them: taxation, planning and building, succession and estates, and litigation. The office acts for buyers and sellers, for landowners, for developers and investors, and for clients who are not in Israel.
A transaction is examined before it is committed to. What the checks find is what the contract has to reflect, and the payment schedule is built on the security that can actually be given between signature and registration.
Before the contract
The first question is how the rights are held, because that decides what security a buyer can be given at all. Property registered at the Land Registry, a lease from the Israel Land Authority and a right recorded in the books of a housing company are not the same thing. Alongside that the building file at the local authority is examined, the plans in force, the encumbrances, and who is in possession in fact rather than on paper.
The contract and the security
The findings are written into the agreement, and the payment schedule follows them: a caveat or the equivalent undertaking before money moves, a trust account where one is needed, and releases against defined milestones. A power of attorney signed outside Israel has to be notarial and to carry an apostille, and that is arranged at the start rather than at registration.
Development and land
Combination transactions, option agreements, urban renewal and evacuation and reconstruction projects, joint ownership and division arrangements, and the agreements between landowners and developers that precede them. In these the structure chosen at the outset governs both the commercial outcome and the tax, and it is settled before it is fixed in the contract.
Registration and after
Filing to the tax authorities and the local committee, obtaining the confirmations without which a transfer is not registered, and registering the rights. Where the property is then let or held from abroad, the office continues with the letting, the collection and the standing representation in Israel.
Stages at which advice is needed
Before signature
Title and the planning position, encumbrances and possession, the tax charge on both sides, and a contract drafted to reflect what the checks found.
Securing the buyer and the transfer of funds
The security for the buyer, the trust account, the notarial power of attorney, and arranging the transfer of funds into Israel with the banks and the compliance requirements applying to cross-border transactions.
Through the holding period
Managing the property, choosing the taxation route for letting, filing on time, and standing representation in Israel.
On sale and on transfer between generations
Calculating the gain, the confirmations required to register the transfer, and the documents an exemption depends on.
Where to go next
Israeli property transactions
Telephone: +972-3-620-6444
Email: david@melnik.org.il
Office: Tel Aviv, Israel. Correspondence in English or Hebrew.
Last updated: 28 August 2026
The content of this page is general information only. It does not constitute legal or tax advice and should not be relied upon in making decisions. The law, the amounts and the brackets change from time to time. Specific circumstances require individual advice.