Court Orders Property Owners to Pay for Full Public Lot After Minor Encroachment

A magistrate's court in Kiryat has ordered four property rights holders in the town of Julis to pay the Israel Land Authority (ILA) NIS 73,065 for unauthorized use of adjacent public land over several years. The defendants had claimed their encroachment was minimal, only a few centimeters, but Judge Yuval Waserkrug ruled that their actions effectively prevented the state from utilizing the entire 488-square-meter lot.

The dispute dates back to 2009 when the ILA first sued for eviction. A 2013 ruling ordered the removal of construction elements, a concrete slab, and plantings that extended onto public land. However, the ILA contended that the defendants continued to use the land even after this judgment.

In 2020, enforcement proceedings began, leading to a financial claim for usage fees from 2014 to 2020. The defendants argued that they had removed most of the encroaching structures, with only a 10-centimeter intrusion remaining along a 4-meter length. They also claimed they shouldn't be charged for the entire lot and that the ILA itself had failed to remove a concrete fence and iron gate as previously ordered.

However, court-examined inspection reports and photographs showed a different picture, including a concrete slab, a fenced yard, a gate, and balcony elements. A 2016 photo showed a vehicle parked on the slab, and 2020 documentation indicated the slab occupied a significant portion of the lot. The judge determined that even if parts of a balcony were later dismantled, the use of public land persisted throughout the relevant period.

The court accepted the ILA's argument that the use of the concrete slab and other elements prevented the land from being marketed or leased to others. The ruling was based not just on a boundary line violation but on the overall use of the land and the impairment of the lot's full utilization. The ILA's claim for usage fees was based on an appraiser's opinion valuing annual usage at 6% of the land's value, a calculation the defendants did not contest with their own appraisal.

The ILA initially sought NIS 77,730, but the court reduced the claim due to the statute of limitations, allowing charges only from June 17, 2014. The final sum of NIS 73,065, including VAT, was ordered, along with NIS 7,000 in court costs and NIS 8,700 in attorney fees, totaling NIS 88,765 before interest and linkage adjustments. The judge noted the ILA must still remove the fence and gate as per the earlier ruling, but this does not exempt the defendants from the payment.