The Main Points Of The Reform That Abolished Building Concessions ' Amendment 134 To The Planning And Building Law

• Published date: 01 February 2023
• Subject Matter: Real Estate and Construction, Construction & Planning
• Law Firm: Efraim Weinstein Law Offices
• Author: Hanan Efraim and Tsippy Bengi

Introduction

On January 1, 2023, Amendment 134 to the Planning and Building Law, 5725 - 1965 (hereinafter, the 'Law') entered into effect, the main purpose of which is to cancel the vast majority of building concessions that can be applied for as part of a building permit. The purpose of the amendment, according to the amendment's explanation, is to streamline the licensing process in issuing a building permit and to create certainty on the part of the developers and permit applicants so that the licensing process will deal with licensing and not planning. Hence, making the building permit process shorter and efficient.

Background

The original purpose of the building concessions was to facilitate the licensing process in cases where a specific amendment was required in the plan that was the basis on which a building permit was issued. So that instead of requiring a complete change of the plan itself, a matter that may take several years, the local authorities were authorized to approve concessions, and thereby hopefully saving a lot of time in the process.

A concession, as defined in section 1 of the Law, is 'authorization to perform work that requires a permit under section 145, in deviation from the provisions of a plan or other regulations that applies to the place in question and which does not constitute use that is in violation' (emphasis is not in original).

The mechanism for concessions was intended to allow flexibility in the permit issuance phase in cases where there is a planning justification for deviating from the plan's provisions. There can be justification for such deviation from a plan when it is necessary to adjust the valid plan to the features of the specific plot of land or when it is a very old plan that needs to be adapted to the actual reality.

Over the years, the use of concessions gained momentum and became so frequent that concessions within the framework of a building permit became a matter of routine, while licensing that conforms to the plan (without any applications for concessions) became the exception.

Thus, the use of the concessions actually became a bypass tool for the planning procedures and instead of the licensing process being short and efficient, the concessions mechanism turned it into a kind of additional planning procedure that complicated the process of obtaining the permit and delayed for many months and in some cases even years.

A prominent example of the use of the concession mechanism is an application for...