Nessah Tabou: reading the land registry extract line by line

Before signing to purchase an apartment in Israel, a document of a few pages says the essentials: the land registry extract, the Nessah Tabou (נסח טאבו). Public and accessible online in a few minutes, it remains illegible to most French-speaking buyers. Here is how to go through it section by section, and what it will never tell you.

I. A public document that serves as proof

Rights over properties are recorded at the land registration offices, the Lishkat Rishoum Mekarkein (לשכת רישום מקרקעין), which everyone calls the Tabou. The 1969 Land Law establishes two principles: the registers are open to the public, anyone can consult them and obtain a copy; and, for 'settled' land, meaning land with a definitive cadastral survey, the registration constitutes conclusive proof of its content. For unsettled land, it only amounts to a simple presumption.

The Nessah is ordered from the Ministry of Justice website using three numbers: the Goush (גוש), the cadastral block, the Helka (חלקה), the plot, and, for an apartment in a condominium, the Tat-Helka (תת-חלקה), the sub-plot, whose number does not necessarily correspond to that of the apartment. Three versions exist: the ordinary extract, which gives the current situation; the historical extract, which shows deleted entries; and the consolidated extract, which summarizes the rights of all apartments in a building. The extract bears an electronic signature and only has the value of an original in its digital form: a paper printout does not have that force.

II. The header: which property are we talking about?

The first part identifies the property: competent office, cadastral numbers, issue date. It specifies whether the building is registered as a Bayit Meshoutaf (בית משותף), a condominium, and describes the unit: floor, designated use, registered area. This area is the one from the condominium deed; it often differs from the one in the listing, which includes balconies or common areas. This discrepancy must be understood before setting the price.

III. Attached parts and the bylaws

Next comes the section on Hatsmadot (הצמדות), the common parts attached to the apartment: parking space, cellar, garden, portion of roof. Every apartment carries an undivided share of the common areas, and co-owners can, through the bylaws, attach a specific part to a given unit. What is not attached does not belong to you: a parking space 'used' for twenty years, but absent from the Nessah, remains a common area that the seller cannot sell to you.

The extract also indicates whether the building is governed by a negotiated condominium bylaw, the Takanon Mouskam (תקנון מוסכם), or by the standard bylaw provided by law. A negotiated bylaw can carry significant weight: prohibited activities, a particular allocation of charges, reserved building rights.

IV. The rights holders

The owners section distinguishes full ownership, Baalout (בעלות), from long-term lease, Hakhira (חכירה), common on state-owned land. In this second case, the Nessah is not enough: a rights certificate from the Land Authority is also required, and the transaction may need its approval.

Each holder appears with their ID number and their share, expressed as a fraction. Two checks are essential: do the name and number exactly match the seller's identity document? Do all holders sign, including a spouse or co-heir absent from the discussions? If a registered owner has died, their heirs can only sell after they themselves have been registered based on an inheritance order or probate ruling. A seller who is not the owner according to the Tabou cannot transfer ownership to you.

V. Charges, mortgages and notes

This is the decisive section. Here you first find mortgages, Mashkanta (משכנתא) : beneficiary bank, rank and, very often, the mention 'without limitation of amount'. The mortgage does not prevent the sale, but it imposes a mechanism: a letter from the bank indicating the balance, direct payment of part of the price to the bank, release before your rights are registered.

Next come easements, Zikat Hanaa (זיקת הנאה), for example a right of way in favor of a neighbor, and notes, Hearot (הערות). The most common is the warning note: it reveals that a person has made a written commitment to someone else, an earlier buyer or a bank. Other notes indicate a seizure, Ikoul (עיקול), the need for a third party's consent, a limitation on the holder's legal capacity, a court decision, or an expropriation. The law is clear: as long as a note has not been removed, no transaction contrary to its content can be registered. An old, forgotten note can therefore block your registration.

VI. What the Nessah does not say

The Nessah is a snapshot of registered rights at a given date. It says nothing about the compliance of works with building permits, which falls under the municipality's urban planning file; nothing about municipal tax debts, Arnona (ארנונה), or condominium charges; nothing about the physical condition of the property; nothing, in most cases, about a short-term residential lease, which does not need to be registered. And it does not exist for the many apartments not yet registered with the Tabou.

Finally, its value depends on its date. The extract given by the seller at the start of negotiations offers no protection: a new extract must be obtained on the day of signing, then after your own warning note is registered, and one last time when your rights are registered. It is only at that moment that the transaction is complete.

Conclusion – Why be assisted by a lawyer in reading the Nessah Tabou?

Reading a Nessah does not require knowing Hebrew, but knowing what each line implies: a fraction of ownership, a three-word note, or a missing common part change the nature of the transaction and the price it is reasonable to pay. The buyer's lawyer compares the extract against the condominium deed, the Land Authority certificate and the urban planning file, organizes the removal of charges, and drafts the contract accordingly. For a buyer residing in France, who sometimes will only see the property once, this reading is the first real guarantee.