Lawyer for Neighbour Disputes

Which neighbour disputes do we handle?

Unpermitted building and apartment splits, noise and parking congestion, a business operating in a residential street or building, representing owners against a developer in TAMA 38, and representing an owner who objects to a project. Each topic has its own page, with the law and the practical steps.

• A neighbour built without a permit or split an apartment: additions, building on the boundary or inside your plot, taking over common property, splitting into rental units.
• Noise, parking congestion and nuisances: unreasonable noise, air conditioners and compressors, parking in the common property, and congestion caused by an apartment split.
• A business in a residential street or building: a villa rented out for parties, events and weekends, customers, noise, smells and delivery trucks in a quiet street, and use of an apartment contrary to the bylaws.
• Representing owners against a developer in TAMA 38: choosing a developer, the agreement, securities, and follow-up until delivery and registration.
• An owner who objects to TAMA 38 or pinui-binui: defence against a claim by the neighbours and the developer, and equal consideration.
• A leak from the upstairs neighbour: how to prove the source, and who repairs.

The court or the Superintendent of Land Registration?

It depends on where the neighbour lives. A neighbour on an adjoining plot, in a separately registered parcel, is sued in court: you share no common property and no bylaws, and the Superintendent does not hear the dispute. Only a dispute between owners in the same condominium under the bylaws is heard by the Superintendent. Choosing the right forum from the outset saves months.

• The court, between neighbours on adjoining plots: private nuisance, breach of statutory duty where the neighbour acts contrary to planning or licensing law, and building that encroaches into your plot. You can obtain a prohibitory or mandatory injunction, and compensation (sections 44, 63 and 71 to 76 of the Torts Ordinance, section 21 of the Land Law).
• The Superintendent of Land Registration, in a condominium: alterations to an apartment that harm the common property or another apartment, use of the common property, parking that has not been attached to an apartment, and registered bylaws restricting the use of apartments (section 72 of the Land Law). More on the page Representation before the Superintendent of Land Registration. Even in a condominium, a nuisance and compensation claim against a neighbour is heard in court.
• The Magistrates' Court, under the environmental nuisances law: an order to stop noise or smell amounting to an environmental nuisance, after 60 days' advance notice to the neighbour and the authority (sections 2 and 5 of the Prevention of Environmental Nuisances (Civil Claims) Law).
• Two houses on the same parcel that was not registered as a condominium, such as a semi-detached house: the arrangement is different. Details in the article An addition in a house not registered as a condominium.

The municipality does not enforce. What can be done?

You do not have to wait for the municipality. Enforcing planning law is the authority's role, but a civil claim protects your rights as neighbours and can end in an injunction and compensation. Sometimes it is worth joining the local committee as a defendant, so that the judgment binds it too.

The guiding principle: it is not enough that the building or the business is unlawful. You need to show actual harm to you, such as noise, loss of privacy, sewage, parking congestion or other interference with the use of your property. The documentation decides the case.

How we work

Four stages: documentation and legal review, a demand letter and an attempt to settle, proceedings in the right forum including an interim order when the harm is urgent, and enforcement of the judgment or the settlement.

1. Documentation and review. What was built or what is actually happening, whether there is a permit, what the land registry extract and the bylaws say, and how you are affected.
2. Demand letter and settlement. A formal letter to the neighbour, and sometimes mediation. Between neighbours, an agreed solution saves time and leaves room to go on living side by side.
3. Proceedings. A claim in court or before the Superintendent. When the harm is urgent, an application for an interim order: the court grants one only where there is a substantial question to be tried, the claimant is likely to succeed, and it would be hard to do full justice later (section 73 of the Torts Ordinance).
4. Enforcement. Monitoring compliance with the order. When a neighbour does not comply, we go back to court.

What should you bring to the meeting?

Dated documentation of the harm, the land registry extract and the condominium bylaws, and all correspondence with the neighbour, the house committee and the municipality.

• Dated photos and videos, and an incident log.
• The land registry extract and, in a condominium, the condominium order and bylaws.
• Letters, messages and complaints to the neighbour, the house committee and the municipality, and the replies.
• Reports or measurements already made: engineer, noise surveyor, appraiser.
• In TAMA 38: the developer's offer, the draft agreement and the key-terms document.

Timing and cost

Timing: the first conversation gives an initial assessment. If the documentation is sent in advance, the assessment is better founded. A demand letter and an attempt to settle usually take weeks. A claim takes longer, and an application for an interim order is heard faster when the harm is urgent.

Cost: the fee is set in a written fee agreement after the case has been reviewed. Court fees, expert reports (engineer, noise surveyor, appraiser) and other expenses are paid separately.

A complaint to the municipality or a civil claim?

The municipality enforces planning and licensing law, but it does not award you compensation and is not bound by your timetable. A civil claim targets the harm to you: an order that stops it and compensation for the damage.

Cases from the office

We have represented neighbours against a villa rented out for holidays and parties, a neighbour against a house split into housing units without a permit, an owner facing a recurring leak from the apartment above, and an owner who did not sign a TAMA 38 agreement. Each case turns on its own facts, and the outcome of one case is no promise of the outcome in another.

• A villa in Zichron Yaakov rented out for holidays and parties: a permanent injunction against renting the villa for holidays, parties and events (we represented the plaintiffs, in joint representation).
• The neighbour split the house into housing units without a permit: a permanent injunction and an order to carry out works removing the split.
• A leak from the upstairs neighbour, who denies it: a court-appointed expert determined the source and the order of repairs.
• One owner against the whole building in TAMA 38: an appraiser appointed by the Superintendent examined the equality of the consideration.