Who Needs to Pay for the Installation of an Elevator in an Apartment Building?

Q: In my building, the apartment owners want to install an elevator, but I live on the ground floor. Do I need to chip in and pay for the installation or maintenance of the elevator?

A: First to reiterate the disclaimer: This blog is for information purposes only; it is not a source for legal advice. We do not accept any liability to any person who does rely on the content of this website.

That being said, Section 59(F) of the Land Law deals with the law regarding installation of an elevator in a building. The law says that 2/3 of the apartment owners in a building can vote to install an elevator. Those who vote for the elevator must pay for its installation except that ground floor owners can vote for the installation but are  not required to pay for it. On the other hand, all apartment owners (including ground floor owners) are obligated to pay for the costs of maintenance and repair of the elevator unless a majority of the apartment owners who own 2/3 of the common property of the building vote to insert language in the the articles of association to suspend the provisions of this section.

So it appears that you would not need to pay for the installation of the elevator but you would have to pay for maintenance and repairs unless you can get the other owners to exempt you.

Although it may seem strange that a ground floor owner needs to pay for the maintenance and repairs of the elevator, I think the rationale is that the elevator increases the value of all the apartments in the building (not to mention that it makes it easier to visit your friends upstairs). 

There are some buildings where only the owners who have paid for the installation of the elevator have a key to use it. It seems that such a practice would be legitimate if voted on and included in the articles of association.

The text of the law is after the jump:

Rosh Hashana Bonus Pay

Besides the really cool desk calendar I saw in my Google Reader (pictured above), I saw some interesting labor law questions from datafax.co.il (although the website is not working for me.)

Since this year Rosh Hashana falls out on Thursday and Friday, most people have an extra day off from work (namely Thursday, because Friday is usually a day off anyway, see my earlier post on that here.)

Does a worker get paid for Thursday, even though it is a holiday?

A worker who gets paid monthly would still get his normal pay even though he is working one day less during the month. A worker who is paid a daily wage however will only get paid for Thursday if he has been employment at the same place for the last three months and as long as he works the day before and after (Sunday?) the holiday- unless he has permission to miss those days as well. If there is a collective bargaining agreement or other agreement, that may take precedence over these rules.

The Hours of Work and Rest Law states that a work day shall be no longer than 8 hours. (There are exceptions to this rule, of course.) On the day before a holiday, the work day shall be no longer than 7 hours.

Since this year, Yom Kippur falls on Shabbos, does a worker get paid for the holiday anyway?

No. I assume that since the worker never generally gets paid for Shabbos, he does not get holiday pay for this Shabbos.

I will hopefully add more to this page next week.

Have a happy, healthy, and sweet new year everyone!