The Tel Aviv Municipality demanded that apartment owners in the building renovate the building in which the apartments they own are located, and in the process also demanded that the shape of the windows on the building’s facade be unified, claiming that the apartment owners had changed them in violation of the permit.
The court ruled that the Tel Aviv Municipality can require a building to be renovated but not to require the unification of the windows even if the apartment owners changed them in violation of the permit. The Tel Aviv Municipal By-Law states that the Municipality can carry out renovations and then demand that the rights holders pay for the expenses incurred in carrying out the renovation, each according to their proportional share, or demand that the apartment owners renovate the building themselves. Regarding the essence of the renovation, the requirement is to maintain the proper appearance of the facade of the house and to carry out renovations in order to prevent the deterioration and neglect of the facade of the house, while the Municipality can also consider the need for uniformity of its shape, but unification cannot include a requirement to change the windows even if they were changed in violation of the permit. Here, the Municipality demanded the unification of the appearance of the windows, which goes beyond the requirement for a proper appearance, and the lack of uniformity is not enough to establish a requirement to replace windows. In addition, the municipality cannot take action against a tenant who changed the window without a valid permit to correct the deviation by requiring renovation according to municipal law.
