Checks to make before buying a parcel

Every parcel published on Manzel has been through our own verification before it appears. We confirm that the seller is entitled to sell, review the documentation that exists, and establish the parcel's classification.

This is the list an independent buyer should work through regardless. Not because we expect to be doubted, but because on a purchase of this size nobody should have to take anyone's word for anything, ours included.

Establish who is legally entitled to sell. Not who presents himself as the owner and not who the family says the owner is, but who the documentation records as owner. Match identification against the name on the title. If the person signing is acting for someone else, read the power of attorney itself rather than accepting that one exists.

Establish whether the parcel is registered and on what documentation, because a registered parcel and a parcel held on older evidence are different purchases with different work attached. Our guide *Is this land registered? Tabu, unregistered land, and what sits between* covers what you may be shown and what each document proves.

Establish whether the parcel is held in undivided shares, whose consent a sale needs, and whether you are being offered the whole parcel or one co-owner's share — which is a different thing to own. Ask specifically about heirs who are not accounted for, obtain the inheritance documentation, and match the names on it against the people signing. Our guide *Inherited land, scattered heirs* sets out how this works and how these sales are actually completed.

Obtain a current registry extract and read it for mortgages, for attachments registered by a court or by the execution department, and for any annotation restricting disposal. It must be recent — dated within days of your signature, not the copy the seller produced months ago — and it should be checked again immediately before the transfer is executed, because an attachment can be registered in the interval.

Check for disputes and pending proceedings, through the registry annotations and through enquiry at the courts where the parcel lies. Require the seller to warrant in the contract that no claim is pending, and state the remedy if that turns out to be untrue.

Establish whether a pre-emption right (شفعة) applies. Pre-emption allows a co-owner, and in defined circumstances a neighbouring owner, to step into a sale made to an outsider by paying the same price. It is claimed through the court and the period for claiming it is short, running from when the claimant learns of the sale. Where it could apply, obtain written waivers from those entitled to claim before you complete rather than after.

Compare the registered area against what you are being shown and quoted, and establish whether the figure is net or gross and whether any part of it falls under a road or a right of way. Our guide *The dunum: how land is measured, priced, and compared* explains where a per-dunum figure is useful and where it stops being useful.

Have the boundaries located on the ground. A licensed surveyor is warranted where the parcel is unregistered, where boundaries are marked by trees, stones or old walls rather than survey points, where a neighbour has cultivated up to or across a line, where the parcel has been subdivided or is about to be, and whenever the price turns on the exact area.

Establish legal access. Road frontage on a public road and a track across a neighbour's field are different propositions. A right of way survives a change of ownership only if it is registered against both parcels; an accommodation with the current neighbour binds neither the next owner nor that neighbour's heirs. Check the registry for a registered easement and the outline plan for a planned road. Where there is neither, treat the access as unresolved — either make a registered right of way a condition of completion, or price the parcel as landlocked, because that is what it is.

Look at the ground. Slope determines how much of a parcel is usable and what retaining work will cost, rock determines excavation cost, and drainage determines what happens in February. Ask what the parcel looks like after heavy rain, and see it in winter if you can.

Establish what is on the land and who owns it — structures, trees, standing crops, a cistern or a well — and whether anyone is farming or occupying it and on what basis. Put into the contract what is included in the sale and what the seller is removing before completion.

Establish the parcel's classification, and whether it straddles a boundary, before anything else about buildability. Our guide *Area C and building permits* explains which authority issues a permit in each area and what that means in practice.

In Areas A and B, establish whether the parcel is inside an approved outline plan and in which zone, and what that zone permits: use, building percentage, number of storeys, setbacks. Ask the municipality or village council directly. What a seller expects to be possible is not the same as what the plan allows.

Establish whether existing structures are licensed and whether an occupancy certificate was issued. An unlicensed structure carries exposure to fines and removal, and complicates registration, and it is the buyer who inherits the problem.

Work out the total cost rather than the price: transfer tax and registration fees at the Land Authority, the lawyer, the surveyor, translation and authentication where documents are executed abroad, and where a parcel needs it, the cost of partition or of bringing it onto the register. Transfer tax is calculated on the value the Land Authority assesses, which is not always the figure in your contract, so ask what the assessed value is before you budget.

Establish who pays each item. Custom places registration and transfer costs on the buyer and each side pays its own lawyer, but custom is not law and the allocation is negotiable — so put it in the contract rather than assuming it.

Ask what is owed on the parcel and whether it follows the land rather than the seller. Municipal property tax, land tax where it applies, and water and electricity arrears where a meter is connected are the usual items. Obtain clearance from the municipality and from the utility providers, and make settlement of any arrears a condition of completion.

Stage the payments against registration steps rather than paying in full at signature, and pay by traceable transfer against receipts. Our guide *Paying for property in Palestine* covers this in detail.

Establish the commission — how much, to whom, and when it falls due. Ours is two per cent from the buyer and two per cent from the seller on a sale. The buyer's two per cent is already inside the displayed price, so nothing is added afterwards and the figure you see is the figure you pay. It is payable only on completion of a purchase arising from a Manzel introduction, and nothing is due if nothing completes. Whoever you deal with, get that answer in writing before you view anything; our guide *Agent or samsar?* explains why the timing of that question matters.

Engage a lawyer before you sign anything and before you pay anything, including a deposit. A deposit paid on a handshake is the point at which most of your leverage disappears.

Ask the lawyer to do specific things rather than to look at the file: obtain a current registry extract; verify the seller's identity and entitlement, including the scope and validity of any power of attorney; check for mortgages, attachments and restrictive annotations; establish the pre-emption position; draft the contract with payments staged against registration; and attend the registration itself.

Instruct a licensed surveyor wherever boundaries or exact area affect the price or the buildable footprint.

If you are abroad, decide who acts for you and read their power of attorney against every step it must cover — signing the contract, paying fees, signing the transfer at the Land Authority, and completing the registration. A power of attorney that stops short of the final step strands the purchase at the last stage. Our guide *Buying property from abroad by power of attorney* sets out what the document needs to say and how it is authenticated.

Why is this parcel being sold?

There is usually an ordinary answer. An inheritance is being settled and the heirs want money rather than shares. A family is raising funds for a house, a business, a wedding, a treatment abroad. Someone intended to build and the plan changed. None of these is a warning, and most parcels reach the market for reasons like these.

Ask anyway, and pay attention to the manner as much as the content. A seller who cannot give a straight reason, who gives a different reason on a different day, or who becomes impatient at being asked, is telling you something the papers may not.

Most problems with a parcel are visible in the documentation, and the checks above are how you find them. The few that are not are sometimes visible in the seller.

This article is general information and is not legal advice. Every parcel is different and the consequences of getting this wrong are significant. Speak to a qualified lawyer about your own situation.