Do I pay a consent fee to the Israel Land Authority when transferring a leased property?

The Israel Land Authority manages the large majority of land in the country, which is held as national land and leased to users under long-term leases (chakira) rather than sold outright. When a leaseholder transfers their rights to a buyer, the historic rule required the lessee to obtain the ILA's consent and to pay dmei haskama, a consent or transfer fee traditionally set at roughly 31 percent of the increase in land value since the lease was granted. Over the past two decades the Israel Land Council has issued decisions that abolished the consent fee for most built-up residential and urban land, and introduced programs allowing lessees to convert their leasehold into registered ownership (hivun leba'alut). Agricultural land, unbuilt plots, and certain commercial leases can still trigger consent or capitalization fees.

For a foreign buyer or seller, the practical step is to order a rights confirmation (ishur zchuyot) from the ILA early in the transaction, which shows whether the plot is leasehold or owned, and whether any consent fee, capitalization fee, or ownership-conversion option applies to your specific parcel. The seller ordinarily bears the dmei haskama unless the contract shifts it, so this needs to be allocated expressly in the purchase agreement. An unresolved ILA fee will block registration of the transfer, whether in the Land Registry or in the ILA's own records, leaving the buyer exposed. Do not assume a listing described as "an apartment" is freehold, because a great many Israeli homes sit on leased land.

From the full guide: Leasehold vs Freehold in Israel: Understanding Your Property Ownership

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