MyHoze

Do not stay liable for your tenant's arnona

Until the change of occupier is registered, the municipality bills the name on file — yours. Here are the five move-in formalities, the documents each one needs, and the desk for your city.

The desk for your city

Your town is not listed? Search for « חילופי מחזיקים ארנונה » followed by its name.

What it costs you if nobody files it

Arnona is owed by whoever holds the property, not by whoever owns it — but until the municipality has registered the change, you are the name on file, and you are the one it chases. Arrears left by a departed tenant land on you.

Signing the lease does not transfer anything by itself: it has to be declared, with the signed contract attached. The move-in date can be applied retroactively, which makes it worth doing quickly.

One rule catches many owners out: most municipalities will only register the tenant as the holder if the lease runs for twelve months or more. Below that, the arnona stays in your name and it is for your contract to pass the cost on.

The five formalities, in order

On handover day, read the electricity, water and gas meters together, photograph them, and have both parties sign the reading. Without that paper the new occupier inherits the previous one's consumption — and the argument that follows ends up on your desk.

Then, in order: arnona at the municipality, water at the town's water corporation, electricity at the Israel Electric Corporation or a private supplier, gas at the building's supplier, and the vaad bayit with the building's representative.

Each is done on that body's own portal. The final identification stays manual: the municipality, the water corporation and the electric company send a code to the holder's phone, and nobody can enter it for them.

Who pays what during the lease

The tenant: arnona, water, electricity, gas, ordinary building charges, and any service they order themselves.

You: the owner's taxes, the building insurance, and any extraordinary levy the building makes for works or investment. The law forbids you from passing the building insurance on to the tenant.

What the desk will ask for

  • The lease, signed by both parties
  • A copy of the incoming tenant's ID
  • The move-in and move-out dates
  • The municipality's change-of-occupier form
  • The meter reading, for water and electricity

FAQ

My tenant refuses to file it. What can I do?+

The lease puts the arnona on them, but the municipality deals with the registered holder. You can file the change-of-occupier declaration yourself with the signed contract attached: that is the document that counts, and in most towns it is enough.

The lease is shorter than twelve months — what happens?+

Most municipalities will then refuse to register the tenant as the holder. The arnona stays in your name: provide in the contract that they reimburse you, and keep the assessments.

Can I do all this from abroad?+

You can prepare and send the files, yes. But identification on the portals goes through a code sent to the holder's phone, or through Hazdahut Leumit: that step stays with the registered person.

And when the tenant leaves?+

The same in reverse: a signed meter reading, and the declaration putting the property back in your name or in the next tenant's. Without it the meter keeps running in the name of someone who no longer lives there.

The formalities prepared with the contract

MyHoze prepares the signed meter reading, the change-of-occupier declaration in Hebrew, and takes you to your city's desk with your details ready to paste — even if you are not in Israel.

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MyHoze is not a law firm and does not provide legal advice.