A construction site in the city of Ashkelon/ShutterStock
186 winners of the "Resident's Price" program, who purchased an apartment in the Ir Yamim neighborhood in Ashkelon, recently filed a lawsuit in the district court against the project's construction company - in which they demand compensation of approximately NIS 4 million due to the delay in delivering their apartments.
According to the lawsuit, which is currently being discussed in the Be'er Sheva District Court, the company committed in the sales agreement to deliver their apartments to the plaintiffs no later than June 30, 2022, but in practice, it delivered them to them about five months late on average.
If that is not enough, the tenants claim, the company refused to compensate the plaintiffs for the delay, contrary to the obligation of the sales agreement and contrary to the provisions of the Sales Law, and even increased doing so, when it chose to blatantly ignore all their requests.
According to attorney Emmanuel Yuzuk of the Yuzuk-Malkin law firm, who filed the lawsuit on behalf of the tenants, the delay in handing over the apartments caused the plaintiffs heavy financial damages, since many of them had to pay both rent and mortgage. Also, according to him, many of them took on financial obligations different, and now they have difficulty meeting them.
"The apartment buyers lived in complete uncertainty"
According to what is claimed in the lawsuit, many of the apartment buyers lived in complete uncertainty, for many months, in regards to registering their children for kindergartens and schools and in regards to finding a place of employment in the city or outside of it.
According to the claim, throughout the entire period of the delay in delivery, the company did not indicate an estimated time of entry into the apartments, and prevented the buyers of the apartments from planning their future.
According to Attorney Yuzuk, Section 5A of the Sales Law (apartments) establishes a very clear compensation mechanism for late delivery of an apartment. According to the law that was valid at the time of the lawsuit, if the contractor was late in delivering the apartments by more than 60 days (grace period), he must compensate the The buyer retroactively from the delivery date specified in the agreement until the actual delivery date of the apartment, when the amount of compensation will be equal to 150% of the monthly rent of an apartment of similar size and location, multiplied by the number of months of the delay.
The statement of claim was accompanied by a professional opinion of the appraisers Moshe Menashrov and Ruth Buskila, which estimates the amount The rent due to the plaintiffs. According to this calculation, each family receives compensation of tens of thousands of shekels, and in total an aggregate sum of 3,748,837 shekels for all the plaintiffs together, plus interest and attachment. In the lawsuit,
Attorney Yuzuk asks the court to award punitive damages to the company as well In order to "be seen and be seen", at the rate the court deems appropriate, and this "in light of the severity of her actions, her indifference to the plight of the plaintiffs and their damages and her blatant disregard for the provisions of the law".
"This is a troublesome and vexatious lawsuit"
In the statement of defense, the defendant rejects the allegations against her, and attributes the delay in delivering the apartments to the Corona crisis.
According to the company, this is a troublesome and vexatious lawsuit, which was filed in bad faith, and therefore it should be rejected outright.
According to the defense, it is a complex project, built on dunes in front of the sea, and includes four buildings of nine and ten floors, and a total of 136 apartments.
According to the company, most of the sales agreements were signed before the outbreak of the corona epidemic, and within them the estimated delivery date was set for June 30, 2022.
However, according to the company, in March 2020, the corona epidemic broke out, which changed world orders beyond recognition.
The plague, it is claimed, paralyzed the country in general and the construction industry in particular, including the project, the subject of the lawsuit, for a long period of time.
The company also claims that the apartments were handed over to the plaintiffs even before being claimed by them, although before they were connected to electricity, under circumstances unrelated to it.
In practice, it is claimed, this is a minimal delay of less than two months after the 60-day grace period.
This minimal delay, according to the company, was mainly due to the corona epidemic, and therefore it is a justified delay, in circumstances of 'force majeure', which does not entitle the plaintiffs to any compensation.
More on the same topic:
real estate
Price per tenant
Ashkelon