(live here in real estate) - The Ministry of Construction and Housing opened an investigation to investigate suspicions of violations of the Sales Law in the student dormitory project in Haifa. According to the suspicion, the buyers of the apartments in the project collected money in excess of what is allowed by law, and this without providing them with security. It is also suspected that the developer did not explain to the buyers the rights they are entitled to according to the sales law and that the transactions were not reported to the supervisor - all of this contrary to the provisions of the law.
The Ministry of Construction and Housing has opened an investigation to investigate suspicions of violations of the Sales Law in the student dormitory project in Haifa. The project at 5 Hassan Shukri St. in the Hadar neighborhood. The project's publications indicate that it is a plan to build approximately 1,300 dorm rooms at a cost of approximately NIS 529,000 per unit. In the promotional video for the project, called the Steps Project, the apartment buyers are offered an expected return of approximately 7% per year.
The Sale (Apartments) Law 1973, is a law that anchors the contractor's responsibility for new apartments that he has built, with the goal being to protect those who purchase a new apartment from construction that deviates from the building regulations, negligent construction, or construction contrary to the approved plans. The law allows the buyer of the apartment to sue the contractor An amount that will allow the correction of defects of this kind.
Who wouldn't want to be a student? "A different learning experience"
The project is being marketed by the Psagot Group (2005), a real estate investment house. From the Psagot Group's website it appears that the dormitories are going to be very luxurious and include a pool, sauna, gym, synagogue, joint study complex and a conference hall. The company offers whoever buys the apartment to operate it for him and take care of his maintenance.
The Ministry of Housing updates potential buyers
Recently, information was received in the Department for the Protection of Apartment Buyers in the Ministry of Construction and Housing, according to which there is a suspicion of violations of the Sales Law in the student dormitory project. It should be noted that the Ministry of Housing usually informs the public about similar offenses after the investigation. In this project, the Ministry of Housing informed the public upon the opening of the investigation, in order to warn potential apartment buyers before they purchase property in the project.
The sales law commissioner at the office has initiated an administrative procedure that includes a financial sanction that may reach a total of NIS 2.7 million. A financial sanction is a financial penalty imposed by an administrative authority without criminal proceedings. This is a relatively "soft" tool for imposing a fine, which is imposed by the court. A financial sanction is imposed on entities that are supervised by a regulator. Those parties are supposed to know what obligations apply to them, so there is no need for criminal proceedings. In this case the regulator is the Ministry of Housing.
The suspicion: although there was no bank guarantee, the apartment buyers paid more than 7% of the apartment's value, in violation of the law
An investigation is currently underway in the office of the Sales Law Commissioner at the Ministry of Construction and Housing Amit Grady, according to which it appears that hundreds of apartments were sold in the "Student Dormitory" project at 5 Hassan Shukri Street in Haifa. The suspicion in this case is that money was collected from the buyers in excess of what is allowed by law without providing the buyers with security, a bank guarantee or registering a warning note. The intention is that those who buy a new apartment can be charged 7% of the price of the property, if the contractor does not receive a bank guarantee. According to the suspicion, the contractor in this case received from the apartment buyers a higher amount than allowed by law.
It also appears, as mentioned, that the developer did not explain to the buyers the rights they are entitled to according to the Sales Law, and the transactions were not reported to the supervisor - all in violation of the provisions of the law. In addition, an inquiry with the Haifa municipality revealed that the project has not yet been approved by the relevant planning institutions and there is doubt as to whether it can be implemented as planned.
I don't understand where is the city engineer? When they say that the chances are low that 200 apartments above Beit May will be approved, did it reach the city engineer? Has the program passed any preliminary testing stage? Why doesn't the city engineer express himself clearly on the issue - does it have a chance to move forward or not?
Why this ambiguity? I understood that the developer was a person who went bankrupt in 2019, and promises mountains and hills - a pool, a gym, maintenance services and much more for 200 apartments of only 20 square meters, does not sound like a dormitory, does not sound like a hotel, mostly sounds like an attempt to trash many innocent buyers that they deposit a huge amount and then bankruptcy or an excuse that it did not progress because of the municipality but there were costs of planning and promoting the project that swallowed the money. Caution Caution Caution.
A project like this and more without collateral and without a valid TBA - all the red lights should be turned on.
About student dormitories.... You have no shame and surely you will not have a drop of income.