Two apartment owners refused to sign a TAMA 38 agreement (demolition and reconstruction) in a building in Tel Aviv, claiming a violation of the principle of equality and their proprietary rights.
The Supervisor of Real Estate Registration accepted the claim and ordered the enforcement of the TAMA agreement, subject to providing compensation to the prejudiced apartment owners for the benefits withheld from them. The Real Estate Law (Strengthening of Apartment Buildings against Earthquakes) authorizes the Supervisor to approve works in the common property even without the consent of all apartment owners, provided that the required majority has been met and the works do not unreasonably harm the rights of the minority. The principle of equality requires providing identical considerations to apartment owners with similar characteristics. However, a deviation from "mathematical" equality is possible if it is based on relevant and planning considerations intended to achieve a just result for the entire building. In this case, one of the apartment owners received additional floor space and excess considerations relative to others, inter alia, as a result of utilizing building rights in favor of the rooftop apartment in the building. In order to ensure substantive equality, an order was issued allowing the project to proceed subject to compensating the prejudiced apartment owners for their relative share of the rights and benefits withheld from them.