A team of lawyers hired by people who bought apartments in a shared equity housing project gone bad denounce what appears to be a court practice of dispossessing such homeonwners.

The lawyers held a press conference to tell reporters there are over 50 people who have separately sued the developer Elat Neocons. Apparently its associates split up, and now the company refuses to acknowledge the people’s ownership over their apartments, claiming that the money they paid is not recorded in the company’s books.

While in some cases the lawsuits have been successful – and only to a certain point, in others the court decided cash receipts and invoices were not good enough evidence.

Lawyer Victoria Donica-Gamurari says she was hired in 2019 by a man who paid “a huge amount” for an apartment constructed by Elat Neocons in a shared equity scheme. When the apartment was finally built, the man went to the company to ask for a certificate acknowledging his ownership so that he could register his property with the cadaster authority. But he was refused, on grounds that his money hadn’t been entered into the books. Her client then sued the developer.

Donica-Gamurari says most such lawsuits end favorably for the plaintiff in the district court. But as a rule the developer appeals. At this point, sometimes “legally inexplicable” things happen. In her client’s case, the appellate court fully reversed the initial ruling. “This means Elat Neocons has ended up with both the money and the apartment”, says the lawyer, adding she hopes the Supreme Court will settle the matter in a fair way.

Laywer Denis Dobrioglo suggests “the crooked, abusive practice” of such court decisions extends beyond Elat Neocons. “Of course we will go to the Supreme Court to demand justice in these cases. It will be unfortunate if the Supreme Court, too, fails to deliver justice. The damages caused to our clients, I am sure, will eventually be ordered to be paid through decisions of the European Court of Human Rights. That means, however, that the respective amounts will be paid not by Elat Neocons, but by the government, by everyone of us”, Denis Dobrioglo noted.