The choice of an attorney in Real Estate transactions in Israel.

The purchase of an apartment is generally the largest transaction that that a couple will be involved in during the course of their lives. We are speaking of the purchase of an apartment whose price is likely to range from half-a-million New Shekels to millions of Dollars. It is unnecessary to stress that in most cases the couple will need a Mortgage loan for the purchase, and this matter greatly complicates the transaction.

More than once I have dealt with buyers or sellers who request the services of an attorney to handle the transaction, while they choose the attorney according to the price of the services rendered and not on the basis of his experience in the field or on his knowledge of the Real Estate market. Here are some living examples that present a warning to every potential buyer or seller.

A couple wanted to purchase a used apartment that had on it a mortgage equivalent to 40% of the value of the transaction. The attorney who represented the sides did not set up a mechanism for verifying the disposal of the mortgage on time, and did not verify the deposit of a sum of money in a trust fund for covering the mortgage payoff. The attorney was required by the court to pay the cost of the mortgage on the apartment, to the buyers, as well as other expenses. In another case, the attorney did not verify the required sum for payment of the property-improvement levy in the transaction for the purchase of the apartment. He was required by the court to fully pay the property-improvement levy for the sellers.

The importance of the choice of an experienced attorney in the field of Real Estate, and for that matter in any field, is more decisive today than any time in the past. The number of attorneys in the market has increased from year to year, and about 80% of the complaints that get to the Lawyers Bureau in the matter of negligence of attorneys, are in the field of Real Estate. This large percentage of complaints derives primarily from the fact that Real Estate in our country is very complicated, and also from the fact that any lawyer has the right to deal in Real Estate transactions even if he has no experience or previous background in the field.

My recommendation is as follows: ask friends who have purchased or sold apartments who their attorney was in the transaction. Find out how they got to him, and whether in their opinion he worked efficiently and in keeping with the demands. The preference of the consideration of the cost of the services rendered as a deciding factor in the choice of attorneys is not wise and is likely to cause unnecessary expenses and distress in the future.

Dror Cohen-Orgad Adv. English speaking advocate.  Office situated in Country Centre, Ginat Hahula 76/212 Modiin. E-mail: dcor@012.net.il    Tel: 08-9708471