Banking, Payments & Financial Compliance
Because the price arrives through an Israeli bank, and the transfer is examined as closely as the contract.
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Practice 07
Real Estate & Investments
A property transaction in Israel is a legal matter and a banking matter at the same time. We act on the transaction itself, on the inquiries that have to be made before anything is signed, and on the payments that have to clear alongside it.
How we work on these matters
Foreign buyers and investors are usually working at a distance, on a market whose registers, standard practice and payment routes are unfamiliar to them. The first job is to establish what is actually being sold, who is entitled to sell it and what travels with it — and to do that before anything is signed.
The second job is the money. A purchase by a foreign resident is paid for through an Israeli bank, and the bank examines where the funds came from as closely as the seller examines the buyer. Where the payment side has not been prepared, a transaction that is legally in order can still stall. We build both halves of the file together.
After signing the work becomes procedural: the filings, the payments and the steps a transaction has to go through in order to be recorded. We carry those out and report on them in English, and where a transaction turns into a disagreement we conduct that as well.
What this practice covers
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Acquisition and sale of Israeli real estate
Acting for the buyer or the seller across the whole of a transaction, from the first inquiries through to the closing steps.
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Representation of foreign buyers and investors
Acting for a purchaser who is not in Israel, and whose file therefore has to be built out of documents and instructions.
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Legal due diligence
Establishing what is being sold, who is entitled to sell it, and what rights, obligations and encumbrances travel with it.
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Purchase and sale agreements
Drafting and negotiating the contract itself: price, payment schedule, conditions, and what follows if they are not met.
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Registration of rights
Handling the filings by which a transaction is recorded in the relevant Israeli register, and the documents each of them requires.
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Banking and payment coordination
Arranging the banking side of the deal with the Israeli bank that will receive or release the funds.
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Cross-border transfers for real estate transactions
Preparing an incoming transfer for a purchase so that the bank's questions about it are answered before the payment is due.
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Financing coordination
Working with the lender and its counsel where part of the price is borrowed, so that the finance and the deal keep to one timetable.
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Commercial real estate
Offices, retail, industrial and income-producing property, including leases and the arrangements between the parties to them.
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Development and investment projects
Longer projects with several participants: the agreements between them, and the structure the investment sits in.
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Real estate disputes
Disagreements arising out of a property, a contract or a project, conducted in correspondence and, where that fails, in court.
Related practices
Discuss Your Business or Legal Matter in Israel
Tell us what you are dealing with and where it stands. We will tell you what it involves in Israel and who at the firm will handle it.
Discuss Your Matter