Following a family dispute, a father moved to evict his son from a residential apartment in his ownership after the son and his family resided in the property for years without payment of consideration and without a written agreement.
The Court granted the eviction claim. A commitment to grant a gift in real estate is subject to a double writing requirement under the Israeli Real Estate Law and the Israeli Gift Law, and in the absence of a written document, the official recording prevails over oral agreements. A licensee in real estate is one who receive a right of use in real estate that may be revoked at any time and is granted as a gesture of goodwill without the intent to create a contractual or proprietary obligation. This authorization is terminated upon the owner's expression of intent to end the license, regardless of the duration of residency in the property. In our case, the father is the recorded owner of the real estate and no written agreement exists anchoring the son's rights. The residency was granted to him as a "free license" that is subject to termination and not as a gift or an irrevocable license. Thus, the father's right of ownership prevails and the son must vacate the property.
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