The Supreme Court ruled: Municipalities will be able to require their residents to pay property taxes for the basements in their homes (Photo: ShutterStock)
A class action lawsuit that was recently filed against the Hod Hasharon Municipality discusses the question of whether the municipality legally collects property tax for basement areas in private residences, when the petition was filed with reference to the property tax order of the Hod Hasharon Municipality and the definition of "residential apartment area".
As part of the lawsuit, the district court discussed the legality of the rate for basements that was added in the property tax order for 1993 of the municipality of Hod Hasharon, and determined that the collection is illegal, but in the petition submitted by the municipality, the supreme judges - the Honorable President Hayut, the Honorable Judge Baron and the Honorable Judge Elron, accepted the interpretation The municipality according to which the areas of the basements are not and cannot be exempted from paying the property tax and that the collection of property tax for basements was in accordance with the decree.
Furthermore, the Supreme Court stated that indeed the municipality's intention over the years was only to give these areas a lower rate, and even assuming that there was a flaw in the 1993 order, there is no need to rule on the issue since it is a flaw that has been rooted in property tax orders for decades.
In doing so, the supreme court canceled the class action and stated that municipalities could charge their residents to pay property taxes for the basements in their homes.
Supreme Court judges accepted the municipality's interpretation (Photo: ShutterStock)
The Hasharon Municipality was represented at the trial by Asher Ilovich and Daniel Zarimani from the Frish, Sperber, Reinhart & Co. attorney office.
Attorney Asher Ilovitz says that the office welcomes the decision of the Supreme Court, "This is a significant and important ruling for the Hod Hasharon Municipality and, in fact, for all the authorities in the country.
This is a correct and just ruling, with very high economic consequences, which grants permission to continue collecting the property tax also in respect of the indivisible basement areas that are used, and exempts the municipalities from returning millions of shekels.
There is order and logic in this, and we are grateful that the honorable court also sees this as a legal and public correction and logic."
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