Buying and selling a resale apartment — buyers and sellers
The contract is your security.
In a deal between private individuals there is no Sale Law bank guarantee, no supervised project account, no voucher book. What protects your money is what was checked before signing — and what was written into the contract. We do both thoroughly, whether you are buying or selling.
What changes when the seller is a person, not a developer?
No statutory safety net
Buying from a developer, the Sale Law mandates a security for every payment. Between private individuals there is no such mechanism — protection is built into the contract, or it does not exist.
The money moves directly
No supervised account. Payments go from your account to the seller's — so the payment order, the escrow and the safeguards are the heart of the deal.
The apartment comes with its past
Building violations, liens, tenants, defects. Whatever was not discovered before signing becomes your problem after it.
Two sides, two mortgages
The seller's mortgage to pay off, your mortgage to draw down — and a payment schedule that coordinates the banks, the escrow and the registration.
Eight checks. Before the contract.
These are not negotiation items — this is what we check in every resale deal, before a single word of the agreement is written.
A fresh title extract
Who the registered owner is, and what sits on the apartment: mortgages, attachments, caution notes, court orders. Pulled close to signing — never relying on an old extract.
Where the rights are registered
Land Registry (Tabu), a housing company, or the Israel Land Authority — each registry has its own transfer track, different documents and different timelines.
The sellers' identity
That every rights holder signs the deal: spouses, heirs, holders of power of attorney. A deal missing one signature is not worth the paper it is written on.
The seller's mortgage
How much remains to pay off, and what the bank requires to release its lien — a current payoff letter, before a single shekel moves.
Permits and building violations
The permit file at the municipality against what actually exists: additions, enclosures, splits. The seller's violation today is your fine tomorrow.
The condominium
The condominium order and bylaws: what is actually attached to the apartment — parking, storage, roof — and what was only ever said out loud.
Planning around you
What is approved on the neighboring plots and what is moving through the committees — so the view from the balcony does not become a wall.
The tax picture — both sides
Your purchase tax, and on the seller's side capital gains tax and levies. An unplanned tax liability can stall a whole deal — or change its real price.
The sale agreement and the chain of safeguards
In a resale deal there is no off-the-shelf contract. Every agreement is built around the specific deal: who the seller is, what is registered, what is not yet, and where the money comes from. The distance between "I paid" and "the apartment is registered in my name" is closed by a chain of safeguards built into the contract, step by step — from the first shekel to registration.
- A caution note right after signing — no conflicting deal can be registered
- Staged payments against milestones — not against trust
- Escrow for the balance — until every tax and municipal certificate is in hand
- A payoff letter and discharge of the seller's mortgage
- The property's condition, handover of possession, and what stays in the apartment
- Full registration of title in your name — the deal's true ending
And if you are the seller — the exact same chain, from the other direction: possession and title move only when the full price is in hand or in escrow.
A smart sale starts with tax — not with price.
Capital gains first
How much tax the sale will cost — single-home exemption, linear calculation, recognized deductions. You want to know that before setting a price, not after.
Upgrading to a new home
Selling and buying in parallel? The law sets time windows between the two deals — and coordinating them properly is worth real money.
Securing the price
Possession moves only when the full amount is in hand or in escrow — with proper safeguards for every step of the way.
Certificates on time
Reporting to the Tax Authority on schedule, capital-gains, and municipal certificates — one delayed certificate delays the entire registration, and the balance waiting in escrow.
The apartment as presented
Condominium documents, permits and the apartment's condition — organized in advance, so no buyer's check stops the deal midway.
A sale with no loose ends
A handover protocol, removal of old notes and liens, a final accounting — so that after registration, nobody comes back to you.
From the first check — to the key and the registration
- 01
Due diligence
Title extract, registry, permits, condominium, taxes — the full picture before a word of contract.
- 02
Agreement and safeguards
A sale agreement built for your deal, with a complete chain of safeguards for the money and the rights.
- 03
Signing and caution note
An orderly signing, a caution note registered immediately after, and tax filings on time.
- 04
Payments and certificates
Every payment released only against its safeguard, the seller's mortgage discharged, tax, and municipal certificates in.
- 05
Possession and registration
Keys handed over under protocol — and title registered in your name. Only then is the deal truly done.
What we are asked before a resale deal
We found an apartment. Should we sign a memorandum of understanding?
Better not. A zichron dvarim — the Israeli "memorandum of understanding" — is a binding agreement in every sense: it triggers tax liability, locks in terms that were never checked, and sometimes hands the other side exactly the pressure they need. If the apartment matters to you, move fast to a proper contract — don't sign an interim document.
Who drafts the contract — the seller's lawyer or ours?
Customarily the seller's counsel prepares a first draft, but that is not a rule. What truly matters: in the biggest deal of your life, someone should represent only you — reading every clause from your side, and building the safeguards around your money.
What is a payoff letter, and why can't we do without it?
When the seller's mortgage sits on the apartment, their bank issues a letter committing: pay this amount by this date — and the lien comes off. Without it, you are paying for a mortgaged apartment and hoping for the best. With it — the first payment discharges the mortgage, straight to the bank.
How long does a resale deal take?
From signing to handover — usually a few months, per the agreed payment schedule. Final registration waits for the tax and municipal certificates, which is why part of the price stays in escrow until everything clears. A well-run deal does not get stuck on the way.
A caution note — what does it actually give us?
From the moment it is registered in the land registry, no conflicting transaction can be registered on the apartment, and it prevails even over attachments registered after it. It is a buyer's most important protection in the window between signing and registration — which is why we register it immediately after signing, not "later on".
A conversation with a real estate lawyer, wherever you are in the process.
An apartment you're buying or selling, a building entering renewal, or a contract waiting on a decision. Leave a name and a number and a senior lawyer on the team will call you back: we hear you out and tell you what the next step is — even when it isn't with us.