Globes, Uri Khodi, 24.06.2020

The Urban Renewal Authority has issued comments on a new shelf agreement on the relationship between attorneys and apartment owners in Tama 38 projects . What are the guidelines that should appear in the contracts?

Indeed, the shelf agreement includes a series of important clauses aimed at enlightening the apartment owners' eyes in some cases and even determining issues such as attorney's fees or responsibilities and commitment by the apartment owner that are not always clear today.

Another important issue that appears in the agreement relates to a situation that was not clear to date, and is a case in which an attorney has ceased to represent the tenants, and what the rules are. The number of actual housing units and not future profits as much of the industry currently operates (which may often give rise to a built-in conflict of interest for the benefit of the developer).

It is important to note that the shelf agreement has not yet been made public, but only for comments. It is also important to note that, like other shelf agreements, it is an agreement that, even with its publication to the public, would be a recommendation but not a legal obligation.

As mentioned, while this is an important step, the current shelf agreement is causing a stir this morning because it appears that the Urban Renewal Authority has released it without consulting the Bar, despite the fact that preliminary discussions on the matter have been made. Thus, this morning, the Bar Association found that the agreement includes a number of extreme issues, which they claim impose 38 severe restrictions on a landlord's lawyer in the TAMA projects.

For example, "the lawyer may not represent other parties and / or representatives and / or individuals who may have a conflict of interest with the project, including neighboring neighbors and / or buildings which are not part of the project and their representation will cause a conflict of interest." This section states that the limit on attorneys will be much wider than initially thought and cases where neighboring buildings would like to promote a project after seeing the building across the road begin a process will be closed to the attorney. It's important to explain that this is not a hypothetical case In the market.

Sources at the Urban Renewal Authority explain that meetings have taken place with attorneys' representatives recently and it is known that some of the issues are agreed and some are not. The same officials also said that the purpose of distributing the Shelf Agreement for comments is now to whiten the disagreement and try to reach the Equal Valley. That is, the wording in question is not final and some of the sections are likely to change.

The Government Renewal Authority said: "The purpose of the shelf agreement is to allow tenants in urban renewal projects to sign an agreement that protects their rights and enables increased certainty in the field. The agreement is currently being discussed with the Bar, as well as other relevant parties, with a desire to cooperate And reach mutual agreements. Only afterwards will it be disseminated to the general public through the government website. "

Attorney Avraham Lalum, a member of the National Council and chairman of the National Land Forum, addressed the proposed shelf agreement today, saying: She has every connection to reality in some of the times. "