The sale specification: the document that defines exactly what you are buying

In every dispute between a buyer and a development company one document decides the matter: the sale specification. Not the brochure, not the render, not what was said in the show apartment — the specification. It is not a marketing document but a form whose structure is fixed by order, which is exactly what makes it comparable between projects.

The framework is the Sale of Apartments Order (Specification Form), and it defines four parts. Anyone who knows what belongs in each part immediately sees what is missing.

Part A: identification details and area calculation

This holds the data every legal check begins with: the location — town, street, house number, block and parcel; the landowner's details and the type of right, freehold or lease; apartment number and floor; the list of rooms; calculation of the apartment's area under detailed rules; and details of additional areas — balconies, parking, storeroom and garden.

This is also where permitted deviations appear, including a deviation of up to 2% in area. Anyone who reads only the square-metre figure and not the permitted deviation has read half a number. Measurement and deviation are covered at length in the article on apartment area.

Part B: description of the building, the structure, the apartment and its equipment

This is the body of the specification, organised by system:

• Description of the building — construction type, number of floors and their use.
• Building and finishing materials — including the material and thickness of the floor slab, and external walls, roof and thermal insulation.
• Description of the apartment — ceiling heights, itemised tables per room and per finish, and cabinetry.
• Sanitary installations — the fixtures and their locations.
• Electrical systems — lighting points, sockets, television points and intercom.
• Cooling and heating — air conditioning, boilers and radiators.
• Safety, development and infrastructure — firefighting, parking and drainage.

The logic is quantitative: not "full electrical installation" but a number of points; not "central air conditioning" but the type of system and where it sits. A buyer comparing two projects compares the tables, not the headings.

Part C: common property

Here the common areas, lifts and storerooms are set out, along with those parts that may not be removed from the common property. This is the part that determines what will still belong to all the owners in twenty years — which makes it most relevant to the buyer who is not thinking about the house committee today.

Part D: the condominium

The by-laws, the share of the common property attaching to the apartment, and expenses. That share is not a formality: it fixes the key for dividing building expenses and the weight of the apartment's vote at the owners' meeting.

Two duties beyond the lists

1. Attached drawings at a prescribed scale — so the specification is not text alone, but text and drawing that must agree.
2. Maintenance instructions for all systems. It looks technical and carries legal weight: failure to maintain as instructed can become the seller's defence during the warranty period.

How to read a specification in practice

1. Read Part A against the land extract: block, parcel, type of right, landowner's name.
2. Mark every item in Part B phrased qualitatively rather than numerically, and ask for a number.
3. Check that everything shown in the show apartment or the render appears in the specification — and if not, understand that it is not part of the deal.
4. Read Part C and identify what is being removed from the common property.
5. Check in Part D the apartment's share and the expense key.
6. Cross-check the attached drawings against the text — a contradiction between them is a negotiating point, not a detail.

What a thorough specification says about a developer

A detailed specification is a burden on the seller: every number written into it becomes a measurable undertaking. A data-rich specification is therefore itself a signal — it points to a company willing to be measured. The projects in marketing are presented on the Zidan Tower page and the Mitzpe Kalaniyot page, and the full project documents are available through the contact page.