The Bnei Brak Municipal Engineering Department has issued a
warning to residents purchasing apartments in the city:
check if the apartment has been built with the proper
building permits before signing any contract.
Municipal Secretary and Spokesman Avrohom Tannenbaum related
that the warning was issued due to particular cases in which
apartment purchasers lost money as a result of shady
deals.
The warning also stresses that upon purchase of an
apartment, one must not rely on false promises by
speculators: anyone purchasing an upper-floor apartment in
the hope of adding a rooftop addition is liable to lose his
investment if no permit has been issued to build on the
roof.
The Engineering Department has clarified the Municipality's
policy regarding rooftop additions, stating that they must
be an inseparable part of the apartment below, as opposed to
a separate dwelling unit. As a result, a purchaser is
advised to examine not only the legality of the particular
unit, but also the conditions of any existing building
permit for any addition, including the number of apartments
permissible in the particular building.
After any opposition is presented, the Planning and Building
Committee of the Interior Ministry in the Tel Aviv region
will publicize the plan of the local Building and Planning
Committee. The committee, headed by the mayor of Bnei Brak
and head of the Engineering Department, Rabbi Yissochor Dov
Beigel, has increased the area on which rooms and shade
pergolas may be built.
In accordance with the new plan, every apartment owner on
the top floor of a building will be permitted to build rooms
and pergolas on the roof. The built up area can be up to 40
square meters, as opposed to the 23 square meters permitted
until now.
Construction of rooftop apartments will not be permitted
above partial floors, rooftop apartments, one story
buildings and "cottage apartments." The additional rooms may
not be higher than two meters. Building of a shaded area on
the roof will be permitted on an area not to include more
than a third of the area of the rooftop porch, and not more
than 15 square meters per apartment.
Permits to build on a roof will be issued either to the
owner of the top apartment listed in the Land Registry
Office, or to three-quarters of the apartment owners in the
building, in a case when the roof rights are jointly held by
all apartment owners.
