Buying an apartment in Israel is safe when it is done properly and expensive when it is not. The system is different from what buyers from the United States, the United Kingdom or France are used to: there is no title insurance, no escrow company, no standard contract. Your attorney is the entire safety mechanism. Here is the checklist I run on every purchase for a client abroad.

Before you look: status, budget, structure

  • Your status matters. Resident, non-resident and new oleh are treated differently for purchase tax and for mortgage limits. Decide, with your advisor, in which capacity you will buy and when.
  • Who buys? You, you and your spouse, a child, a company? Ownership structure affects tax now and inheritance later. Settle it before the offer.
  • Full cost, not price. Purchase tax, attorney's fee, registration, possibly VAT and index-linking on a new build, and the cost of moving money. Budget for all of it.

Step 1: The Tabu extract (nesach Tabu)

Every registered property in Israel has an extract from the Land Registry. It tells you who owns the property, in what shares, and what is registered against it: mortgages, liens, cautionary notes (he'arot azhara), easements, attachments. I read it line by line. If the property is not yet registered in Tabu (common with new buildings and some older ones), we check the Israel Land Authority or the developer's registration company instead, and the risk profile changes.

Step 2: Planning and the building itself

Is the apartment built according to permit? Is the balcony legal? Is the storage room or parking actually attached to the apartment in the registry, or only "by agreement"? We pull the building file from the municipality and compare it to what you are being sold. Discrepancies are negotiating points at best and deal-breakers at worst.

Step 3: The seller and the money trail

We verify the seller's identity and authority, check for bankruptcy or enforcement proceedings, and confirm that any existing mortgage will be cleared from the sale proceeds in a way that leaves the property clean on transfer.

Step 4: The contract

Israeli purchase contracts are negotiated, not standard. The points that matter most for a buyer abroad:

  • A payment schedule tied to legal milestones (cautionary note registered, mortgage cleared, possession), not to dates alone.
  • A cautionary note in your favour registered immediately after signing, so nobody else can register a competing transaction.
  • Clear remedies for delay and for defects, and a realistic handover date.
  • For new builds: the bank guarantee or equivalent security required by the Sale (Apartments) Law, issued for every payment you make.

Step 5: Signing from abroad

You do not have to fly. A power of attorney, signed at an Israeli consulate or notarised and apostilled in your country, allows your attorney to sign on your behalf. We draft it narrowly, for this transaction only. Many of our clients see their apartment in person for the first time at handover.

Step 6: Purchase tax (mas rechisha)

Purchase tax is filed within a short statutory window after signing, on a sliding scale that depends on the price and on your status. New olim have reduced rates available within a period around their aliyah date; non-residents pay the higher "additional apartment" brackets. Getting the status and timing right is where good planning saves real money.

Step 7: Moving the money

Funds typically move through the attorney's trust account. Israeli banks ask for source-of-funds documentation for large incoming transfers, and the questions are easier to answer when prepared in advance. We coordinate the transfer timing with the contract milestones and, if there is a mortgage, with the bank's disbursement.

Step 8: Registration and after

The transaction is complete when ownership is registered in your name in Tabu (or the relevant registry). Then comes the practical side: utilities, municipal tax (arnona), the building committee (va'ad bayit), and, if you are not moving in yet, a tenant and someone to manage the apartment.

None of this is exotic. It is simply a sequence that has to be done in the right order by someone who is accountable to you and nobody else. That is the whole point of having your own attorney on the Israeli side of the table.

Niv Blushinsky is the General Manager of Aliyah Partners, a real-estate attorney (LL.M., LL.B.) and co-founder of City Square. General information, not legal advice.