A Neighbour Built Without a Permit or Split the Apartment: What Can Be Done

Can I sue a neighbour just because they built without a permit?

Unlawfulness alone is not enough. You need to show that the building actually harms you: privacy, light and air, noise, sewage, parking, or the use of the common property. The harm is what makes it a cause of action the court or the Superintendent can deal with.

In most cases the neighbour lives on an adjoining plot, in a separately registered parcel: an adjoining house, a neighbouring villa or a building on the next parcel. The claim is then in court, in private nuisance and for breach of statutory duty, and the court can order the previous state restored. Only in a condominium, where the building was done in the common property or harms another apartment, is there also a cause of action under the bylaws, heard by the Superintendent of Land Registration (section 72 of the Land Law).

The neighbour built on the boundary or inside your plot

Building that encroaches into your plot, such as a wall, fence, shed or canopy, is building on another person's land. You may demand that the neighbour remove it and restore the land to its previous state.

This is set in section 21 of the Land Law. In addition, ownership of land does not in itself justify an act that causes damage or inconvenience to another (section 14). To establish where the boundary runs, a licensed surveyor compares the structure with the survey map of the parcels. Where the building is entirely on the neighbour's plot but closer to the boundary than the plan allows, or blocks light and air, the questions are whether there is a permit and whether it harms you, and the claim is in private nuisance or for breach of statutory duty.

In a condominium: what may be built in the common property without consent?

The roof, the yard, the stairwell and the external walls are common property. Part of them cannot be attached to one apartment without the consent of all owners, and extending an apartment under the law requires a special majority. Building done without these consents is exposed to an order restoring the previous state.

• Attaching common property to an apartment requires the consent of all owners (section 62(a) of the Land Law).
• Extending an apartment under a valid plan requires a decision of the owners of three quarters of the apartments to which two thirds of the common property is attached, and for building a protected room 60% of the apartments suffice (section 71B). The decision cannot impair each owner's proportional building rights.
• An alteration to an apartment that harms the common property, including harm to the uniform appearance of the building, requires the prior consent of the general meeting (item 2(a) of the standard bylaws).
• An alteration that harms another apartment or its value requires that apartment owner's consent (item 2(b) of the standard bylaws).

Registered agreed bylaws may provide otherwise, so the registered bylaws are always checked before deciding on a step.

Splitting an apartment into housing units

Splitting an apartment or house into separate units is not an "internal alteration": it changes the number of housing units and therefore requires a permit. Where the split harms the neighbours through congestion, parking, sewage or privacy, you can claim an order prohibiting the use of the unit as a separate dwelling.

The definition of a permit-exempt "internal alteration" expressly excludes a change in the number of housing units, as well as an alteration that harms the common property, pipes serving other apartments, or others (section 145(a)(2) of the Planning and Building Law).

Why join the local committee to the claim?

So that the judgment binds it too. When the committee is a party, you can ask for relief directing it to use its enforcement powers, and it cannot later argue that the judgment does not apply to it.

How do you prove the building and the actual use?

With dated documentation over time, by examining the building file at the local committee, and with a court-appointed expert who inspects the structure. When the neighbour denies, comparing what the expert sees with the earlier documentation exposes the gap.

• Dated photos and videos, before and after the building.
• The building file at the local committee: the permits and approved plans.
• Rental ads for the units, in a split.
• The land registry extract, the condominium order and the bylaws.
• A report by an engineer or surveyor.
• A survey map by a licensed surveyor, where the question is where the boundary between the plots runs.

Can the building be stopped immediately?

Yes, by applying for an interim injunction while the building is still under way and the damage would be hard to undo. 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.

The conditions are set in section 73 of the Torts Ordinance. Interim relief is conditional on a personal undertaking to compensate for any damage caused by the order if it lapses, and on security at the court's discretion (regulation 96 of the Civil Procedure Regulations, 5779-2018). Such an application is therefore filed when the documentation is strong.

What have the courts ruled?

The courts order restoration of the previous state where building or a split was done without a permit and harms the neighbours. Without a permit, even slight inconvenience can justify an order, and the burden of justifying leaving the building in place lies on whoever built it.

Civil Case 2523/07 Kenaan v. Yerushalmi

Tel Aviv District Court, 6.4.2010

An apartment was split into four units without a permit. The court held that such a split is not an "internal change", because it changes the number of housing units, and that it is a private nuisance and a breach of statutory duty. It issued a permanent injunction against the split, binding also anyone who takes the defendant's place, ordered a cautionary note to be registered, the external sewage pipes removed and the kitchenette infrastructure removed within 45 days, and awarded costs of NIS 30,000 plus VAT.

Civil Case 14827-02-12 Cohen v. Harush

Jerusalem Magistrates' Court, 21.10.2013

Storerooms in a condominium were converted into living units and an apartment was split in two, without a permit and without the neighbours' consent. The court ordered the storerooms returned to their original use, the split cancelled and a door blocking access to the common property removed. No order was given for a unit that had been sold as a dwelling from the start and renovated years before the plaintiff arrived.

How we work

We check the permit, the land registry extract and the bylaws, send a demand letter, file a claim in court or with the Superintendent, with an application for an interim order where needed, and follow the enforcement of the judgment.

1. Review. What was built, whether there is a permit, what is registered, and how you are affected.
2. Demand letter. A demand to stop and restore the previous state, and sometimes mediation.
3. Proceedings. A claim for a prohibitory or mandatory injunction and compensation, in court or before the Superintendent, with an expert where needed.
4. Enforcement. Following up the works ordered, and going back to court when the order is not complied with.

What should you bring to the meeting?

Photos before and after the building, the land registry extract and the bylaws, the building file if you have it, and all correspondence with the neighbour and the municipality.

• Dated photos and videos.
• The land registry extract, the condominium order and the bylaws.
• The building file or permits, if you obtained them.
• Letters and complaints to the neighbour, the house committee and the municipality, and the replies.

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.

The Superintendent or the court?

Between neighbours on adjoining plots, the court. In a condominium, building in the common property contrary to the bylaws is heard by the Superintendent, and a claim combining an order and compensation is heard in court.