The Bnei Brak municipality will not be able to claim property tax and water payments after years of 'silence,' District Court Judge Avigail Cohen ruled today within the 'Court of Appeals'.
The legal proceedings began in 2008, when the Bnei Brak Municipality sued a city resident for 82,000 shekels for property taxes and water fees between 1997 and 2006.
However, the apartment was occupied by tenants, and the owner of the apartment repeatedly claimed that he did not live in the apartment and therefore had no right to charge him for these years. According to him, the municipality refused to change the 'name of the owner' and the debt remained with him. In the lawsuit he filed with the Magistrate's Court, it was ruled that the debt to the municipality was outstanding and that the owner of the apartment and the tenants were responsible for paying it.
The apartment owner did not give up, and through attorney David Shove, known from the shop owners' "Sabbath Petition" against the Tel Aviv Municipality, filed a petition with the District Court in which he seeks to overturn the Magistrate's Court ruling, relying on two grounds: A. The apartment owner did not reside in the apartment, and did not benefit from the municipality's services. Furthermore, the municipality knew that he did not 'own' the property. B. The lawsuit was filed against the apartment owner in 2008, when the debt relates to the years 1997-2006, meaning a lawsuit for an 11-year-old debt.
The district judge, as mentioned, accepted his arguments presented by the lawyer, and overturned the first ruling. In addition, the municipality was ordered to pay legal costs and attorney's fees.
Lawyer David again explains to Haredim 10 that this is an important ruling: "When a person sells or transfers property, he must bring a certificate from the municipality that he has no debts so that they can register him in the land registry. Otherwise, the land registry does not register. In this case, the owner of the apartment transferred the property in the land registry and received a certificate from the municipality that he has no debts. However, in that certificate, they write a note at the bottom that although they wrote at the top that he has no debts, if it turns out in the future that he has debts, they will be able to demand it.
This is playing a double game, and the judge accepted this argument. "This matter has great significance, quite a few people have received such permission, and they need to know that the municipality is being silenced from coming to them again.".
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