Precedent-setting District Appeals Committee decision on apartment subdivision

The real-estate sector is still digesting the Ministerial Committee for Legislation’s latest decision: to allow owners of detached houses to subdivide their homes into an additional apartment under a temporary provision lasting five years. But before it became clear whether this decision really promised an increased supply of apartments by legalizing

apartment subdivisions, the District Appeals Committee inHaifa, chaired by Attorney Dikla Musari Tal, has now issued a precedent-setting decision. Under it, subdivided apartments should not be disconnected from electricity, water and telephone infrastructure in every case. The decision concerns section 157A of the Planning and Building Law, which gives the municipality broad interpretive scope.
The Appeals Committee accepted the position of Attorneys Uri Shiloh and Lior Datz that, although the building had originally been intended as a single unit, it had in practice been divided into small separate apartments for years, apparently since shortly after its construction. Eight are occupied by subtenants and one is used for storage.
During a site visit, Committee members saw that each subdivided apartment had a shower, toilet, kitchenette, bedroom and living room, and that each was separate and locked behind its own door. They concluded that the building had functioned in this condition for several years, was rented to several residents, and presented no immediate danger to its occupants.
The Committee stated that, despite a substantial and blatant departure from the original permit, this was not a case in which disconnection from infrastructure should be allowed. In addition, the Local Committee was currently conducting criminal proceedings against the appellant, and it would not be appropriate to interfere in those proceedings.
Attorneys Datz and Shiloh noted that the Planning and Building Law does permit a municipality to disconnect tenants from infrastructure where an apartment has been subdivided without a permit. Until now, the courts had taken a strict approach. For the first time, a District Appeals Committee was signaling that it is not appropriate in every subdivision case, particularly one that has existed for years, to harm owners by disconnecting their apartments from infrastructure. In certain cases, there is indeed room to legalize subdivisions subject to conditions.
Attorney Datz emphasized that the Appeals Committee’s decision established a precedent and new guidelines on apartment subdivision: “It refuses to become a route that bypasses the ordinary statutory process, under which the Local Committee must pursue proceedings in the local court for a decision on whether a building offense has been committed. The Local Committee should not turn to the Appeals Committee whenever it has difficulty conducting proceedings, as in this case. The decision further states that an order will be issued only where the allegedly illegal construction endangers human life and the Local Committee has acted promptly, rather than knowing about building offenses and doing nothing.”

https://www.mynet.co.il/articles/0,7340,L-4887972,00.html