Israel BuyerStart free

For olim and foreign buyers · Netanel Kimchi & Co.

The Israel buyer’s checklist

The documents, deadlines and questions to have ready before you sign. Every purchase is different: use this to prepare, and to know what to ask your lawyer.

Act first

Before you make an offer

  • Know your status for tax purposes: oleh, returning resident, Israeli resident or foreign resident. It changes which questions matter.
  • If you are an oleh or planning aliyah, find out how the timing of your purchase relates to your aliyah date before you commit.
  • Tell your lawyer whether you, your spouse or your minor children already hold rights in any home, in Israel or abroad.
  • Get a mortgage approval in principle early if you need financing, especially if your income is from abroad.
  • Plan how the money will reach Israel, and keep the paper trail: Israeli banks may ask where the funds came from.
  • If you may not be in Israel for the signing, start arranging a power of attorney now. Signed abroad, it usually needs a notary and an apostille, or an Israeli consulate.

Before signing

Before you sign anything

  • Have your own lawyer read the contract. The seller's or developer's lawyer acts for them.
  • Check the Land Registry extract (or the developer's or Israel Land Authority records): who owns the property, and any mortgages, liens or warning notes.
  • Buying new: confirm the building permit and planning status, and how each payment you make will be secured, usually by a bank guarantee per payment.
  • Buying new: read the delivery date, the delays the contract allows, and what counts as a breach.
  • Buying resale: confirm how the seller's mortgage will be cleared from your payments.
  • Check the specification and appendices: what exactly is included, and what can change.
  • Agree in writing who pays which costs: taxes, fees, registration, and the agents involved.

Later

After you sign

  • Make sure the purchase is reported to the Tax Authority and purchase tax is paid on time. Ask your lawyer for the exact deadlines.
  • Make sure a warning note is registered in your favour.
  • Follow registration of ownership through to the end. For new buildings it can take a long time after delivery.
  • Move the arnona, water and electricity accounts into your name at handover.

Have ready

Documents

  • Passport, and Israeli ID (teudat zehut) or oleh certificate if you have one
  • Proof of marital status, where relevant
  • Proof of the source of your funds: bank statements, sale documents, gift letters
  • Mortgage approval in principle, if financing
  • Power of attorney, if someone will sign for you
  • Details of any home you, your spouse or your minor children already hold

Which of these apply to your purchase?

A few short questions return the issues your own purchase raises, ordered by when each one bites. No account needed.

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