Massive lawsuit in the 'Mechir Lemishtaken' program: 43 apartment buyers against the contractor

43 apartment buyers have recently filed a lawsuit for approximately 1.95 million shekels against the construction company Korat Gag Villa Ltd., after their apartments in the 'Mechir Lemishtaken' project in the Galil neighborhood of Nazareth were delivered with a delay of many long months — as often happens outside the program as well.

The buyers claim that they entered into sales agreements with the real estate company during 2022, in which a uniform delivery date was set for the end of April 2024. In practice, the apartments were not delivered on the scheduled date and only began to be delivered in March 2025. The lawsuit was filed in the Magistrate's Court in Krayot through attorney Emmanuel Yuzuk from the Yuzuk-Malkin law firm, on behalf of buyers who purchased 26 apartments in the project.

Most of the apartments were delivered during the months of April and May 2025, additional apartments were delivered in June, while the last of the apartments included in the lawsuit was delivered only at the end of July 2025 — a delay of more than a year from the promised date.

Until the filing of the lawsuit, the parties conducted correspondence in which the buyers repeatedly complained about the delay in the delivery of their apartments, while the company, for its part, claimed that the delay was caused mainly by the 'Iron Swords' war.

According to the construction company, the war caused a severe shortage of manpower, disruptions in the supply of building materials and products, and delays in carrying out work on the project. The company relied on provisions in the sales agreements which, it claims, allow for the postponement of the delivery date when the delay is due to circumstances beyond its control.

In September 2025, the company rejected the buyers' demand for compensation and claimed that under the circumstances that arose, the delay does not constitute a breach of the sales agreements and therefore does not entitle the tenants to compensation.

According to the lawsuit, the mere existence of a war does not automatically exempt a construction company from responsibility for delays in the delivery of apartments. According to Adv. Yuzuk, "The question is not whether the war affected the construction industry, but what was the actual extent of its impact on this project, and whether it can justify a delay that lasted many months and even more than a year." He adds that the construction company did not present a clear picture to the buyers in real time, and did not provide them with a substantiated alternative date for the delivery of the apartments.

It is claimed in the lawsuit that during the delay period, the company published few notices regarding expected delivery dates, but even these did not materialize, leaving the buyers without any real possibility to plan their move and their lives.

The buyers claim that they were forced to pay rent and a mortgage simultaneously for many long months. Others were required to extend rental contracts, postpone the move date, and deal with financial obligations taken on the assumption that the apartment would be delivered on time.

Furthermore, it is claimed in the lawsuit that the apartment buyers suffered severe damage to their daily routine: parents who did not know where to register their children for kindergartens and schools, families who were forced to continue living in temporary apartments, and buyers who could not plan their place of residence and their work due to the changing delivery dates.

At the end of July 2025, the buyers contacted the company with a warning letter before taking legal action. In the letter, they demanded compensation for the delay period, and also raised claims regarding amounts collected from them as part of linkages to the construction input index and the issue of registering rights in one of the project's plots.

In response to the letter, the company confirmed that there is a certain problem with the registration of one of the plots and that it is handling it, but rejected the demand for compensation for the delay.

After the company refused to compensate them, the buyers turned to a real estate appraisal firm for the purpose of assessing the appropriate rent for each of the apartments. During November 2025, appraisers visited most of the apartments and examined their area, location in the project, the floor on which they are located, balconies, storage rooms, parking spaces, air directions, and other characteristics.

In the expert opinion, which was completed in January 2026, the rent for the apartments was estimated at amounts ranging from approximately 3,100 shekels to over 5,100 shekels per month, depending on the characteristics of each apartment.

According to their representative, individual calculations were made for each of the buyers, based on the actual duration of the delay and the rent determined in the expert opinion for an apartment similar in size and location.

It is further claimed in the lawsuit that the total compensation due to the buyers for the delay in the delivery of the apartments stands at approximately 1.95 million shekels, which also includes the cost of the appraiser's expert opinion. To the claimed amount, interest and linkage, legal expenses, and attorney's fees should be added. The lawsuit was filed in the Magistrate's Court in Krayot. A statement of defense has not yet been filed.