Welcome to Israel! You’ve made a major decision in your life by choosing to leave your familiar surroundings and come on Aliyah. Coming to Israel is not an easy process. It means going through an extensive learning process involving your having to learn a myriad of rules, regulations, customs and modes of behavior as well as making many critical decisions. Often the most crucial decision you’ll have to make is deciding where to live taking into account your budget, social and religious affiliation, employment opportunities, schools for your children, size of your home, and special needs.

Handicapped Accessibility

All public buildings such as shopping malls, government offices, courts, bus stations etc. must have wheel chair accessibility. Most older public buildings have introduced similar accommodations. Unfortunately widespread awareness of handicapped access has not yet taken hold in residential areas. In older neighborhoods wheel chair access is almost non-existent. Newer neighborhoods were built with a greater awareness of handicapped needs but the situation is still far from ideal. For example, neighborhoods that were built in the 1980’s such as Ramot, Gilo, and Pisgat Ze’ev were built on mountain slopes which means that getting to and from a building involves either stairs, inclines or both. Nevertheless, there is still a good probability to find apartments suitable for handicap access. Furthermore, the municipality is generally accommodating in granting building permits to make building entrances more handicapped accessible.

Today more and more healthy, mobile people, with an eye toward the future, look for homes with easy external and internal access. Before purchasing any home, all buyers should research their intended neighborhood thoroughly as well as the accessibility of both the exterior of the building and interior of the apartment. Choosing the right neighborhood often involves either a compromise or a tradeoff. For example, being within easy access to shopping, banking, medical services, synagogues, schools, parks and public transportation generally means sacrificing peace and quiet and putting up with population density and parking congestion. On the other hand living on a quiet street or community often negates having easy access to these essential services.

The following check list has been prepared by Bayit Beyisrael as a public service. All measurements are according to the metric system. To convert from metric measurements to feet and inches and reverse please click: calculations:http://www.worldwidemetric.com/metcal.htm 

External Access:

1. Two requirements are needed to allow for a wheelchair ramp from the sidewalk level to the building entrance: There should be a maximum of 3 stairs and a minimum sidewalk width of 1.2 meters between the stairs and the street. Another optional requirement is for the width of the stairs to be a minimum of 1.6m to allow for an 80cm wide wheelchair ramp and still leave 80cm for stairs space.

2. Check the distance from the parking to the building and inquire if it is possible to convert the nearest spot to handicapped parking.

3. Measure the gradation of the path leading from the parking to the building to ascertain its steepness.

4. Check the smoothness and level of repair of the pavement stones leading to the building.

5. The door of the building entrance must have a minimum width of 90 cm to allow for easy wheelchair passage.

6. The building’s hallway needs a minimum width of 1.5 meters in order to allow room for a wheelchair to turn around.

7. The elevator door must have a minimum width of 80cm and the interior a minimum of

105cm X 90cm.

8. Measure the hallway space just outside the elevator to insure there’s a minimum width of 1.5 meters to allow for easy entry, exit and turning around of the wheelchair.

9. In the event that changes are needed to the building’s exterior you may be required to get municipal approval and/ or the permission of the other tenants in the building. Getting municipal approval can sometimes be a long process. Try to find an experienced architect/engineer who can navigate your request speedily through the municipal bureaucracy.

10. Minor changes such as converting a regular hallway door to operate via remote control can be done with approval of the other tenants and does not require municipal approval.

Internal Access

1. Check the interior support walls and beams to make sure they do not impede upon your need to make internal changes.

2. The minimum access width between door-posts should be 80cm.

Door handles should be placed a minimum of 40cm from the wall.

3. The apartment hallway needs a minimum width of 1.5 meters in order to allow room for a wheelchair to turn around.

4. Electric outlets should be placed between 80cm to 100cm from the floor

5. Bathrooms should be as spacious as possible. Nevertheless, there should be a minimum space of 1.6 meters from the doorway to the opposite wall/sink/tub/toilet. The middle of the bathroom should have a radius of 1.5 meters to allow for easy rotation or transfer from the wheelchair to the bathing facility.

6. Showers should not be higher than floor level.

7. The space between the toilet and walls should be a minimum of 85 cm on one side to allow for a parallel park of the wheel chair on one side and a minimum of 45 cm from the opposite wall to allow for elbow room.

8. For easier wheelchair access make sure to install a wall sink with no cabinet or leg base underneath.

9. Install all necessary handgrips in the bathtub, shower, and near the toilet.

10. For persons who are pain insensitive, it is advisable to install special faucets with thermostats to avoid accidental burning.

11. Install anti-slip flooring.

12. Consult with a professional occupational therapist who is familiar with the handicapped persons case when planning: The height of bathroom and kitchen sinks, kitchen counters and cabinets, electrical appliances and outlets.

13. Israel has electronic systems known as Bayit Chacham (Smart House) whereby most appliances, electricity, windows, doors etc can be operated by remote control.

14. Israel also has showrooms that display model apartments with easy access equipment and furniture known as Derah Negisha. [list addresses and phone numbers of these showrooms].

Exemptions and Other Benefits:

Persons with a permanent disability of 20% or higher are entitled to the following benefits when purchasing a home in Israel.

  • A 95% discount in purchase tax on the price of the apartment or land for building.
  • A full exemption of the of property ownership registration fee (TABU).
  • A discount on mortgage registration at the Israel Land registry office.

Persons with a permanent disability of 50% or more who own a home situated on land belonging to the Israel Land Authority are fully exempt from paying the property transfer tax (D’mei Haskama) when selling the property.

Annual Property Tax (Arnona) Discounts:

Persons with a permanent disability ranging from 10% are entitled to various discounts in municipal property taxes. The size of the discount is decided by the local municipality and is dependent on the number of occupants living in the apartment. Discounts are given to handicapped beneficiaries whose names appear on the National Health Institute list which is updated annually.

Persons with a 100% disability are entitled to an additional 40% refund on the reduced Arnona payments. In order to receive this additional refund please bring proof of payment and all other pertinent documents.

DISCLAIMER: THE INFORMATION ON THIS WEBSITE AND THE LINKS WE PROVIDE IS FOR INFORMATION PURPOSES ONLY AND IS MEANT TO SERVE AS A GENERAL GUIDE AND IS SUBJECT TO CHANGE. IT IS NOT INTENDED TO BE LEGAL ADVICE AND SHOULD NOT BE RELIED UPON AS SUCH. PERSONS SEEKING LEGAL ADVICE CONCERNING ISRAELI LAW, MUNICIPAL AND GOVERNMENT REGULATIONS AND SERVICES SHOULD CONSULT WITH A QUALIFIED ATTORNEY ADMITTED TO PRACTICE IN ISRAEL OR THE PERTINENT ISRAEL GOVERNMENT AND MUNICIPAL AUTHORITY.

This article has been reprinted with permission from Bayit BeYisrael