Buy from Abroad
Remote purchase in 2026: lawyer, apostille, Tabu, tax, and keys.
Confirm you can buy, then hire the team
Israel does not ban overseas buyers from residential property. A non-resident can sign a presale in Sde Dov the same way a resident can. There is no foreign-only inventory in the marketed projects. What you cannot do is skip Israeli counsel. Minimum team: an Israeli real-estate lawyer who does not work for the developer; a tax adviser for mas rechisha; a bank or broker who has closed non-resident files; and a wire path your lawyer names in writing.
Shavnu is an independent guide. We do not negotiate units, hold deposits, or act as your attorney.
Power of attorney, apostille, and not flying in
If you will not sign in Israel, your lawyer prepares a power of attorney (ייפוי כוח, yipui koach). You sign it in your home country, usually before a notary, then apostille it under the Hague Convention so an Israeli registrar will accept it. Some banks and the Tabu still want originals, not scans. Build two to four weeks into the calendar, more if your country is slow with apostilles.
The POA should be specific: sign this contract, file this tax form, register this caution, receive this bank guarantee. A vague “handle my Israeli apartment” letter is how people discover, too late, that the agent could also sell.
Due diligence on the lot, not the brochure
The lawyer pulls the Tabu (land registry) extract for the gush/chelka, not the marketing lot number. They check that the seller is the RAMI tender winner or the private landowner, that there is no surprise lien, and that a caution (הערה אזהרה, heara azhara) can be registered in your favour after signing. They pull the heter bniya file, or they tell you there isn't one yet.
Sde Dov-specific: ask for the environmental report on your migrash. PFAS from airport firefighting foam was announced in soil and groundwater in February 2026. On 23 July 2026 the Environment Ministry named nine plots with PFAS indications (103, 105, 106, 107, 301, 303, 2102, 2206, 2207), three of them under projects on sale (UTOPIA, DIMRI YAMA, half of GINDI VOGUE). ASHIRA's lot 101 tested clean. A plot missing from the list has not necessarily been tested. District averages are not a lot report.
Sign the presale, pay tax, lock the guarantee
You sign a contract to buy an apartment off-plan (dira al ha-neyar) from the developer, with payments tied to milestones or dates. Hetel bniya means a building levy and should not be used for a presale. Read the payment table against the Sale Law, 1974: the developer must secure buyers' money, typically with a bank guarantee (ערבות בנקאית, arvut bankait) covering payments as they are made, The developer may not take more than 7 percent of the price unless it gives one of five securities: a bank guarantee, an insurance policy, a first-ranking mortgage, a caution note under the law's conditions, or transfer of ownership. In an accompanied project you pay only through the voucher book, and the bank must issue a guarantee for each payment within 14 business days; the guarantee excludes VAT, which a state fund repays. Your lawyer explains which security you have in a letter you keep.
The declaration goes in within 30 days of the sale, for a purchase from a developer on Form 7000/B (7000ב), and the tax on the self-assessment is due within 60 days. Purchase tax is assessed on the full contract price. The lawyer registers the heara azhara so a later buyer or creditor cannot jump you.
Construction, indexation, and handover
For contracts signed from 7 July 2022 the price may be linked only to the construction inputs index (madad tsumot ha-bniya): the first 20 percent is unlinked, at most half of each later payment is linked, 40 percent of the price at most, and linkage stops at the contractual delivery date. A 20/80 plan that looks cheap on signing day is not the same number in 2029. Ask for a worked example at 2, 4, and 6 percent annual indexation.
At handover you want: occupancy certificate (טופס 4, tofes 4), keys, parking and storage as specified, and a written registration timetable: the developer must register the building as a condominium within one year of the later of the parcel registration or handover, and your rights within six months of the later of the condominium registration or handover (Sale (Apartments) Law, section 6B). Arnona (municipal tax) and va'ad bayit (building committee) start when the city says they start, not when you first sleep there. Remote buyers appoint someone in Israel to take keys and punch the snag list.
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