The Tel Aviv District Court rejected the municipality claim compensation should be based on property values set by its own assessor.
A precedent-setting ruling by the Tel Aviv District Court means that the Tel Aviv-Jaffa Municipality and government company Metropolitan Mass Transit System Ltd. (NTA) will have to pay property owners in Tel Aviv's Gat Rimon neighborhood tens of millions of shekels more than planned in compensation for expropriations made for the Red Line light railway.
The court dismissed the claim by the Tel Aviv Local Planning and Building Commission and NTA against brothers David and Yitzhak Shaltiel, and ruled that they will receive triple the amount of compensation set by the municipal assessor. The ruling sets a precedent for other landowners in the area, including the owners of Beit Romano on Jaffa Road.
The Tel Aviv-Jaffa Municipality expropriated land along the route of the Red Line two years ago, and signed agreements with property owners to vacate their properties in exchange for compensation. The municipal assessor valued the Shaltiel's property at $39,000, while their assessor gave a value of $150,000. An appointed assessor, whose ruling was to decide the figure, set a value of $107,000. The court ruled that this was the minimum amount of compensation to be paid.
Published by Globes [online], Israel business news - www.globes-online.com - on January 21, 2010
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