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(Live here real estate) - 126 families are waiting to receive their apartments in a construction eviction project called "Europe Tower", at 4-6 Europa Exit Street, in the Shaar Aliya neighborhood in Haifa. The developer, who owns the construction companyMahamid Toufik", who took on the project about 5 years ago, fell into a debt of about NIS 2022 billion, as a result it became "insolvent" and therefore, since January 10, XNUMX months ago, the tenants stopped receiving payment for rent that they pay for Alternative apartments until their apartments are ready. In addition, they do not know, at this stage, when the construction of the apartments will be completed and when they will be able to move into the new building.

A new high-rise building in Haifa - the Europe Tower in Kiryat Shaprintak in Haifa (Photo: Yaron Karmi)
The entrepreneur ran into difficulties during construction • Europe Tower in Kiryat Sheprintsk in Haifa (Photo: Yaron Karmi)

Enormous debts of the entrepreneur

The old buildings that stood in the Shaar Aliya neighborhood were in a bad condition, so it was decided to demolish them, in the middle of urban renewal, and build in their place multi-story buildings with apartments for 126 families. The tenants are accompanied by a lawyer and the whole issue is currently being discussed in court in order to find a way for the construction company to complete its obligations, despite the huge debts it is in.

Evacuation of a building on the exit of Europe street in Haifa (photo: Haifa Municipality)
The demolition of the old buildings in the outline of building evacuation on the street of the exit of Europe in Haifa - July 2018 (photo: Haifa Municipality)

The developer reached insolvency

One of the tenants is Ofer Habov, who describes his and other tenants' sense of frustration: "We appointed a representative office that I am a member of along with 4 other tenants. We did work from the ground up. We brought in contractors, recruited a lawyer to represent the tenants and also an architect. It took a long time to sign the tenants and to move forward, about two years. Then we also chose a developer. Today we have almost reached the end of the construction, but he is insolvent.

The situation at the moment is that there are settlement managers, who manage the construction on behalf of the banks. The tenants are currently not accepting the apartment, we have not received rents since the beginning of January and the situation is very difficult for people. They kicked the people out of their apartments and don't pay them rent."

Europe Exit Street - eviction of a building that is not progressing - the tenants are frustrated (Photo: Nega Karmi)

"Construction is progressing very slowly"

"At the moment I understand that there is a commitment for the month of February 23," says Habov, "We thought that it would be ready at the end of October 22. At the moment we understand that until our apartments are ready it may take a long time. We are very disturbed by the fact that there are very few workers working in the building and therefore The construction is barely progressing. I understood that within a month it would be possible to finish, if they worked quickly. There are already kitchens and flooring, the apartments are almost ready."

"We informed the lawyer that we demand the rent we deserve and compensation. There was a hearing last Monday in my district. The judge asked them why they don't finish and why the tenants don't accept the rents. The tenants here don't have the option of not accepting the rents and holding on to themselves."

Shaar Aliya neighborhood - eviction of the European exit building - the rent has been stopped and there are no new apartments (Photo: Nega Karmi)

Habov is very frustrated that construction is barely progressing. "In the morning, a few lone workers arrive and walk leisurely. I don't understand why no one is working to promote the construction. People have moved out of their apartments and for 10 months they are not getting the rent. Now they have been given an extension until February. We will see if the building will really be prepared".

"The tenants will reach a situation where they will not have a roof over their heads"

The tenants' lawyer is Mord Biki: "You have to understand the situation the tenants found themselves in," says Attorney Biki, "Since January, they have not received rent, and they are afraid that they will not have a roof over their heads at this rate. We reached a district hearing with Judge Bettina Tauber last week, and now we await her decision. We are very satisfied that the court is taking our case very seriously."

Adv Mored Biki (Photo: Rana Biki)

Attorney Biki explains that in January, 10 months ago, 94% of the construction work was ready. "10 months have passed and during this time the progress was minimal. Today the building is at 96%, there has been almost no progress despite all the months that have passed. The expected delivery of the apartments is February 2023. I toured the building and saw that in order for it to be ready, some external things are missing. Soon there should be the initial handover, meaning the tenants will be invited to the building to see their apartments and see if there are things that need to be fixed or changed before the final handover. We very much hope that it will indeed be carried out as planned."

"I hope the project will come to an end"

Council member Hadva Almog She was the head of the engineering department for the previous mayor, Yona Yahav, and worked hard to get the project off the ground. It was one of the first and largest projects of Pinoy Binui in Haifa.
"The project at the exit of Europe 4-6 was one of the pioneers in the urban renewal program in the area of ​​the coastal neighborhoods. It was one of the projects that was supposed to solve the problem of the old and collapsing housing. The plan was well planned. I am not familiar with what happened or is happening today with the continuation of the construction, and I actually moved a number of years ago Days on the spot and I was surprised, because there was no end in sight for the project, and upon inspection I was told that there was a problem with the developer.

I hope that a solution will be found, especially for the residents, who are entitled to all the compensation until they move into the new apartments. I hope the project will come to a proper conclusion. As mentioned, I am currently not familiar with all the details, but basically, before an entrepreneur enters into a project of this magnitude, checks are made and accompanied by a bank and a company."

Hadva Almog (Photo: Samer Odeh Karantinji)
Hadva Almog (Photo: Samer Odeh Karantinji)

"The situation of the tenants is relatively good compared to the rest of the company's creditors"

Adv. Lior Mazor is one of the 3 trustees appointed to handle the Mahamid Toufik construction company:
"The Mahamid Toufik construction company is in the process of debt settlement, which has been administered by the district court in Haifa for about a year," he says Advocate Mazur, "In the framework of this arrangement, attorneys Lior Mazor, Ron Hakim and Erez Hevar serve as trustees on behalf of the court. This is a strenuous, unusual and complex procedure, as the trustees and their teams work to settle debts amounting to about a billion NIS to hundreds of creditors."

"Some of the victims of the company's settlement procedure are the tenants of the project in Migdal Europa, which the company built and whose trustees and their teams are working together with the company to complete it and deliver all the apartments to the tenants already in the coming months.

With all understanding, the tenants of Migdal Europa are in an immeasurably better situation than most of the other creditors of the company, since the tenants of the project will receive apartments of considerable value within a few months (which the trustees are working to complete), while the rest of the creditors will be forced to waive a significant part of the debt towards them."

"Without getting worse, the trustees and their teams are working night and day to promote as quickly as possible the completion of the project in Migdal Europa and to reduce as much as possible the plight of the tenants there. It is clarified that a legal hearing is being held regarding the claim of the tenants regarding their entitlement to receive rent and naturally, while such a hearing is being held, the trustees do not believe that There is room to comment on the issue and their detailed position has been delivered to the court."

Reminder: Haifa Municipality's announcement on the start of the project and the demolition of the old buildings - July 2018:

contact: At watsapBy email

Michal Grover
Michal Grover
Michal Grover Education reporter • Real estate • Company Contact: 054-4423911 Mail to the container: [email protected]

Articles related to this topic

31 תגובות

  1. What a failed prefect, it's a shame they destroyed the place, it would have been better to leave a train building with 8 tenants, a failed building and endanger everyone who took a mortgage for this stink?

  2. Neve David and Shaar Aliya are neighborhoods without high-tech demands. Ramat Hanasi and Neot Peres were new neighborhoods that came up with all services included, while Neve David and Shaar Aliya require intensive care to add kindergartens, schools, clinics, community centers, commercial stores - their streets are deserted and there is no normal place to hang out and shop except for a trip to the Haifa Mall in the neighborhood within reasonable walking distances. They are also not connected to the promenades but by a large sewer pipe under the road through Hagana or at busy and scary intersections.
    The municipality does not know how to carry out normal urban construction before large-scale construction evacuations are carried out, and as a result the public is afraid of investing in the old neighborhoods, including contractors who are afraid to start on a large scale - here it is only one tower and it ends up in debt.
    We need the municipality to take root in the neighborhoods that are undergoing construction clearance to make them in demand and thus help the contractors reach economic viability in construction clearance without multiples of 5 or 6 new apartments for each one that is demolished because then what will be destroyed is the entire environment that will collapse in transportation, education and the sewers and what not. The municipality is not making the necessary preparations for renewal on a large scale, including the financial treatment of entrepreneurs who will choose renewal in Haifa. This will drive away large companies from entering projects in Haifa.

  3. Transferring the project to another contractor, what's the problem???? Only in Israel do you take your soul out until something moves

  4. If you or someone you know bought an apartment in the aforementioned project, we have opened a group to unite and demand that the bank and the settlement managers respect our winnings and promote the completion of the project. At the moment, all the evicted tenants are already in the group and some of the buyers have already joined.
    Link to the Facebook group: https://www.facebook.com/groups/1832042130466837

  5. The guarantor bank is Bank Hapoalim - disclaims responsibility towards the evicted tenants in providing rent

    • I wish you to get what you deserve and for Bank Hapoalim to lose what it does not deserve.

    • During the week, both the Arabs and the Hapoelians lost
      It is clear that the tenants will also lose.

  6. Guarantees? where are they
    Where is the Shekhd guarantee? Where is the seller's law guarantee?
    Why doesn't the bank (the guarantor) step into the developer's shoes, how can it be that the tenants pay?
    Didn't do anything? The Ministry of Housing and the tenants' lawyers.

  7. The story is strange - if 126 tenants whose apartments were destroyed - stopped receiving rent - how many apartments did the contractor build in the new building? Apparently there are more than the 126 apartments that were originally there, and the tenants are entitled to these additional apartments to guarantee the contractor's obligations.
    The rights of the tenants who own the land almost always precede the rights of the contractor, bank, and new buyers.

  8. That the tenants will enter the apartments by force, otherwise they will stay on the street. The developer will not complete the construction and the lawyers do not care.

  9. Evacuation - destroy fast. Construction - in question! It is certain that your apartment is destroyed, but it is not certain that you will have another apartment

  10. Lucky I didn't buy there...
    What stopped me was that the contractor keeps one apartment for himself on each floor and it was impossible to buy them, the plan was to sell them to the residents of Umm Al Fahm.
    And now there is no prospect of finishing construction either...

  11. Why did the tenants not receive a bank guarantee for the rent?
    An important and fundamental condition in the construction evacuation deal!!

  12. Let them not cry, they get a beautiful and almost perfect building, except for the finishes in the apartments, they can get form 4 and finish light interior work by themselves, rent in Shaprintsak 2000 shekels, they are also unable to absorb how they will maintain a building and elevators.

  13. This is the biggest fear in any evacuation-construction project. The tenant's previous house was completely destroyed, and apart from the developer's promise to build him a new apartment, he was left with nothing. He did not sell his apartment and received a considerable sum for it. Therefore, the tenants are in a very vulnerable and weak position vis-a-vis the developers and the contractor. It is not clear if there is an immediate compensation system for a case like this, where the contractor/developer runs into serious problems. Talk and promises are not enough, when the tenants depend on the contractor for their rent payments and have not made any other arrangements to guarantee them. In my opinion, sufficient legislative work has not been done on the whole subject of eviction-construction, to anticipate such problems in advance and to ensure that the tenants are not harmed. After all, it is the state that is pushing to carry out these projects, within the framework of all the so-called "urban renewal", therefore it has the ultimate responsibility to take care of the tenants.

  14. At this time, all Tama 38b projects are at a huge risk of failure. Do not close your eyes and run! If there is even a small drop in apartment prices after the demolition of the building (which is something that can actually happen) then there will be no more profitability for the contractor in selling his apartments intended for sale on the free market. And the project will not be profitable for any contractor. This is a huge risk for tenants like in this case who will remain without money for rent and without a home for many years!

    • Apartment prices in Israel have never been alarmed, on the contrary, they have only gone up and up..!

  15. At this time, all Tama 38b projects are at a huge risk of failure. Do not close your eyes and run! If there is even a small drop in apartment prices after the demolition of the building (which is something that can actually happen) then there will be no more profitability for the contractor in selling his apartments intended for sale on the free market. And the project will not be profitable for any contractor. This is a huge risk for tenants like in this case who will remain without money for rent and without a home for many years!

    • You are a journalist like I am the CEO of Bezeq...apart from licking the ass of all the public officials in Haifa, you have not done any journalistic work...! You are a curmudgeon...!

  16. In any case during the eviction of a building, every tenant at the time of signing the contract
    Must oblige the contractor to give a bank guarantee and if the contractor does not meet the conditions, the bank must foreclose the building in favor of the tenants
    Otherwise, no one will agree to build a building

    • You will be amazed at the audacity of Bhi Adam... with us, the developer/contractor in the project asked us, the owners of the existing apartments, to provide a bank guarantee for the developer's debts. Have you ever heard such a thing?
      There is always a first time to learn that in Israel everything is hacked!
      The laws in the country do not protect apartment owners and apartment buyers (but the developers and contractors).

  17. Wasn't there a bank guarantee for both the project and the rent payments??? Who enters such an adventure?

  18. It's a shame that they don't check the executing company, what state they are in before allowing them a project of this magnitude and why do the authorities authorize a company in difficulties to continue projects and the one who suffers is the tenants, I am also currently at the stage of a project that will not be finished and the company pulls us away, does not pay rent, water, electricity and has won more projects with the contempt of the authorities

  19. What happened to the banks' letter of guarantee? They are obligated to pay the rent

  20. They did not write the main point in the article. If the owner of the apartment had a lawyer, he must have made sure that there was an autonomous security deposit that would be deposited before the process of evicting the tenants began. If it didn't happen, you should find out why.

  21. This is an important lesson for tenants - to choose only a large construction company with collateral
    And also for entrepreneurs - eviction is simply not profitable in Haifa in such neighborhoods, the demand is low. Benue David also had to sell 90 apartments in the tower to the apartment rental company Magorit because there was no demand.

    • Look for one apartment for sale in Ramat Hanasi, look for one apartment for rent in Ramat Hanasi, in Benaot Peres or in Kiryat Eliezer in the new projects.. Before you write nonsense, go to real estate websites and search, keep up to date with the data. The size of a balcony and an elevator in a flat environment, we bought them for 900,000 and today 4 rooms is 2.3 million and that is simply not there either. Every new apartment that goes on the rental market flies within a few days while the surrounding in Kiryat Eliezer/Bashar Aliya/Bneva David in the old housing estates apartments at half the price rents are standing A month and even two months until they are rented. It is better for someone who does not understand real estate not to make fun of himself.

  22. They have a lawyer!!! It's strange.. In a project like this, a bank guarantee is required a. for the rent of the tenants and also for the value of the new apartment. Otherwise, the bank is supposed to pay it. If the tenants didn't get such bank guarantees, they probably didn't hire a lawyer who knows my business It's vacant and built. If they took it, they shouldn't have any problem because the bank pays everything!!!

  23. All the best to Hadva Almog. Member of the Haifa City Council. Good night

  24. Usually (which is in other words always) choose an entrepreneur who has a bank guarantee, Usually (which is in other words always) choose an entrepreneur who has a bank guarantee,

    This means that if for one reason or another he cannot meet the financial obligations he has entered into - the bank guarantees to pay the apartment owners.
    Who is the bank tonight and where is it in the whole story?

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