Inheritance
You have inherited an apartment in Israel
The apartment is in Israel. You are not. Between the succession order, the charges that keep running and the choice to let or to sell, here is what has to happen, and in what order.
The situation
An inherited apartment does not wait
From the day of the death, the apartment does not stop costing money. Arnona runs on, vaad bayit runs on, so does the insurance. If a tenant lives there, it happens that they stop paying, simply because nobody answers any more.
An empty flat deteriorates quickly in Israel: damp, shutters, water heater, and post piling up at the door, which tells everyone that nobody comes. The heirs, meanwhile, are often in two or three different countries, and they do not always agree.
In order
What has to be settled before anything else
Nothing can be sold, or even registered in the heirs’ names, until the estate is opened. The order of these steps is not negotiable.
- The succession order. The tsav yerusha, or the tsav kiyum tsavaa where there is a will, is issued by the Registrar of Inheritance or by the court. Until it is in hand, nothing is signed.
- Registration in the heirs’ names. The transfer at the tabu comes next, handled by the lawyer who runs the file.
- The debts attached to the property. Unpaid arnona, vaad bayit arrears, water and electricity bills. They follow the apartment, not the person.
- The condition of the property, and the keys. Who holds the keys, what state the apartment is in, and how long it has been since anyone walked in.
- The lease in place, if there is one. The contract continues. The rent is owed to the estate, and the tenant needs to know who to pay and where.
Then
Three roads, and only one question to settle
Once the estate is open and the property registered, there are only three ways forward. Keep it and let it: the property earns, and somebody looks after it on the ground. Sell it: then capital gains tax, mas shevach, comes into play, along with the costs that can be deducted from it. Wait, because the heirs do not agree: that is legitimate, but somebody still has to open the door to the plumber.
The question to settle is not « let or sell ». It is: who looks after it until then.
Our part
What we do, and what we do not do
We do not replace the estate lawyer. It is the lawyer who obtains the order, registers the transfer and draws up the sale contract. The firm that works with us does this regularly, and we work with yours if you already have one.
What we do is everything that happens on the ground. We go into the apartment, we film it room by room, we list what is in it and in what condition. We check the arrears with the municipality and the vaad bayit. We close or take over the utility accounts. Then, depending on your decision, we let it and manage it, or we prepare the sale and run the viewings.
Further reading
The specific points, one by one
- The steps of a property transfer
- The certificate of ownership
- Transferring the title at the tabu
- Checking the debts attached to the property
- Selling during probate
- The costs you can deduct on a sale
- Capital gains tax on an inherited property
- The right of first refusal between heirs
- Declaring an inherited property as a non-resident
- Selling without being in Israel
Good to know
Frequently asked questions about an inherited property
Can we sell before the succession order is issued?
No. The sale cannot be registered until the heirs hold the title. The file can be prepared, the property valued and even shown, but nothing is signed before the order.
There are several heirs, in several countries.
That is the most common case. Everything can be done by power of attorney, provided the heirs speak with one voice, usually through a single lawyer. What blocks these files is disagreement, not distance.
The apartment is let. What happens to the rent?
The lease continues with the estate. The rent is owed to it, and the tenant needs to know who to pay. A tenant left without anyone to talk to often ends up not paying at all.
Nobody has been inside the apartment for months.
Then that is where we start: a visit, a condition report, the debts, the keys, the post and the state of the building. Nothing is decided before someone has looked.
Do we have to come to Israel?
No, provided the power of attorney is drawn up in the proper form and somebody is on the ground to open up, check and follow through. That is exactly what we do.
Let us talk about this property
Tell us where it is and where the succession stands. We will tell you what can move now and what has to wait for the order.