The storm system that reached Israel on Friday is expected to peak on Saturday morning. According to the forecast Israel Hayom published on November 6, 2026, rain could fall at a rate of 15 to 20 millimeters an hour between 6 a.m. and noon in Gush Dan, the Shephelah, Lachish and the southern coast, with 75 to 100 millimeters or more expected over the weekend as a whole, mainly in the coastal plain and the Shephelah. Fire and Rescue Services, News08 reported, is reinforcing its crews in anticipation of flooding. Rain in such quantities finds every weak point the summer left in a building: roof waterproofing that dried out and cracked, a gutter clogged with leaves, a pipe joint that worked loose. In many apartments, the coming days will reveal a dark stain on the ceiling or plaster peeling near a window, and right behind it the question that accompanies every leak from a neighbor or from the roof: who has to fix it, and who will pay for what has already been ruined.
The answer turns neither on who lives above whom nor on who first noticed the damage. It turns on the source of the water. A leak from the roof or an exterior wall falls within the realm of the common property (rechush meshutaf), and therefore within the joint responsibility of all the apartment owners. Responsibility for a leak from a private pipe inside a particular apartment rests with that apartment's owner. In a new building, dampness may be a defect the contractor is required to repair. And spread over all of these is the home insurance policy, which often changes who actually pays, and who will later sue.
Leak from a neighbor or the roof: it all starts with identifying the source
Water travels through ceilings and walls in unpredictable ways, and a stain in the living room does not necessarily point to the apartment above. A leak that appears only after rain usually points to the roof, the exterior walls, the gutters or the window frames. A leak that continues on dry days as well, or grows worse during the hours when the neighbors shower, points instead to the plumbing. The distinction is more than technical. It determines who the opposing party is, which forum to approach and under which body of law the dispute will be decided.
The first step, then, is a professional and documented diagnosis, by a leak-detection technician working with a thermal camera or by a plumber who checks the pipes and the water pressure. A written report that identifies the source, with photographs attached, is usually the most important piece of evidence in everything that follows. Policyholders with home insurance may obtain such a finding from their insurer as well. Under the directives the Capital Market, Insurance and Savings Authority issued for the home insurance sector, when a plumber from the insurer's network completes a service call, the insurance company must give the policyholder a written summary that includes the plumber's findings on the source of the damage.
The roof, the exterior walls and the building's shared pipes belong to everyone
The Land Law, 5729-1969, defines common property in section 52 as all parts of the condominium except those registered as apartments, and expressly lists the roofs, exterior walls, foundations and stairwells, as well as water and heating installations intended to serve all or most of the apartment owners, even when they are located inside a particular apartment. That last clause lies at the heart of many disputes. A main water or sewage pipe that runs through the wall of one apartment and serves the entire building does not become the property of the owner whose wall it passes through, and its repair is everyone's obligation.
The division of costs follows from this. Section 58 of the Law requires every apartment owner to contribute to the expenses needed for the proper maintenance and management of the common property, as a rule in proportion to the floor area of their apartment relative to the total floor area of all the apartments, unless the bylaws provide otherwise. Waterproofing the roof before winter, clearing the gutters and repairing cracks in the exterior walls are precisely such expenses. They are carried out by the representative board (netzigut), known in everyday speech as the house committee (va'ad bayit), which section 69 of the Law authorizes to act on behalf of all the apartment owners in any matter of proper maintenance and management, to enter into contracts and to be a party to legal proceedings. A leak from the roof is therefore not a private problem for the residents of the upper floor, even though they are the first to suffer from it.
An owner whose apartment has been damaged has an express mechanism available. The Standard Bylaws (takanon mitzui), set out in the Schedule to the Law, apply to every condominium that has not registered bylaws of its own, and also to matters that registered bylaws do not address (section 64). Section 3 of the Standard Bylaws allows an apartment owner to require the representative board to carry out any repair in the building or the common property whose omission could harm the owner's apartment or its value. When the repair requires work inside an apartment, such as replacing a section of a shared pipe that runs through a wall, section 4 of the Bylaws obliges the owner of that apartment to permit the work, and places on all the apartment owners the cost of restoring that apartment to its previous condition. Conversely, section 2 of the Bylaws prohibits an apartment owner from making a change or repair in the apartment that damages the common property without the consent of the general meeting. An owner who installed a system on the roof or cut into the exterior wall and damaged the waterproofing will therefore find it hard to pass the cost of the repair on to the neighbors.
Even a building not yet registered as a condominium, a common situation in buildings handed over in recent years, is not left without a framework. Under sections 77A to 77C of the Law, the core provisions on maintaining the common property and on the powers of the Land Registration Supervisor (Mefakachat al Rishum Mekarke'in) apply to it, with the necessary modifications, and it is to be managed under the Standard Bylaws.
When the water comes from a neighbor's apartment: a duty to repair that does not depend on fault
The picture changes when the leak originates in the private plumbing of a single apartment, such as a burst pipe or sealing that has worn away beneath a bathtub. Here the repair falls to the owner of the apartment the water is coming from. The Kol Zchut website captures the distinction in two examples: a leak from the roof is the house committee's concern, while a pipe that bursts in the apartment above is the concern of that apartment's owner. The legal basis is section 3(b) of the Standard Bylaws, under which an apartment owner may require the owner of another apartment to carry out a repair in that apartment whose omission could harm the first owner's apartment.
Two features of this wording stand out. The first is that it contains no element of fault. The neighbor is not released from the obligation by claiming to have been unaware of the leak, or by pointing out that the plumbing was installed years before the apartment was purchased; it is enough that leaving the repair undone could harm another apartment. The second is timing. The obligation arises as soon as damage may occur, not only once it has occurred, so someone watching dampness spread across the ceiling need not wait for the plaster to crumble before demanding a repair.
Suppose that after the rainy weekend, the owner of a second-floor apartment notices a spreading stain on her bathroom ceiling, and a leak-detection technician traces the source to the shower drain in the apartment above. The neighbor promises to take care of it, and weeks pass without anything happening. The proper course is a formal demand letter, with the inspection report and the photographs attached, that sets a reasonable deadline for the repair. If the letter goes unanswered, the way to legal proceedings is open. What she should not do, however clear the justice of her position may seem, is enter the neighbor's apartment without his consent in order to make the repair herself.
The Land Registration Supervisor or the courts: where to turn
Section 72 of the Land Law provides that a dispute between apartment owners in a condominium over their rights and obligations under the bylaws, or under certain provisions of the Law, including section 58 on sharing expenses, is to be decided by the Land Registration Supervisor. A demand to repair a leak, whether directed at a neighbor or at the representative board, falls within this category, which is why a dispute over dampness in a condominium usually ends up before the Supervisor. According to a guide Nadlan Center published in May 2026, the Supervisor hears, among other matters, defects caused by one apartment to another or by the common property, such as dampness claims, and has the power to grant interim orders, including a mandatory injunction. When the urgent goal is to put an end to the leak, this is usually the natural forum, because the Supervisor can order the repair itself to be carried out.
Compensation is a more complicated question. Swollen parquet, a warped kitchen cabinet, damaged furniture, a tenant who moved out because of the damp: these are financial losses whose cause of action usually lies in tort law, above all the tort of negligence. Kol Zchut adds that an apartment owner who paid to repair damage that was someone else's responsibility may sue in court for reimbursement. Choosing the forum, and deciding whether to join the demand for repair and the claim for compensation in a single proceeding or to pursue them separately, requires an analysis of the causes of action and of the extent of the damage, since the wrong choice costs time and money. Proceedings in condominium matters are discussed further on the real estate and condominium disputes page.
Time matters as well. A monetary claim against a neighbor is subject to the general limitation period. Under section 5 of the Prescription Law, 5718-1958, that period is seven years for a claim that does not concern land, and under section 6 it begins on the day the cause of action arose. A slow leak poses a particular difficulty, because the damage sometimes begins months before it becomes visible. Section 8 of the Law addresses the situation in which the facts constituting the cause of action were unknown to the plaintiff, and under the conditions it sets, the period begins on the day the plaintiff learned of them. The real race, however, is not against the limitation period. The more time passes, the harder it becomes to prove where the water came from and exactly what it destroyed.
Home insurance for water damage: who notifies, who pays and who goes after the neighbor
In most cases, someone affected by a leak from a neighbor does not wait for a legal ruling but turns to their own insurance company. That is where it emerges whether water damage coverage was purchased, and on what terms. In a circular issued on November 30, 2016 (Insurance Circular 2016-1-21), the Capital Market Authority defined a plumbing malfunction as the escape or leakage of water from the plumbing and heating installations of the apartment or of another property in the condominium. In other words, where the coverage has been purchased, the fact that the water came from a neighbor's pipes does not take the damage outside the policy. The same circular provides that a home insurance policy must let the policyholder choose between a plumber from the insurer's network and a plumber of the policyholder's own choosing, and that a network plumber must begin the repair no later than two business days after being called.
The Insurance Contract Law, 5741-1981, sets the framework. Under section 22, once the insured event has occurred, the policyholder must notify the insurer immediately upon learning of it. Under section 27, insurance benefits are to be paid within 30 days of the date on which the insurer had the information and documents needed to determine its liability, and amounts not disputed in good faith are to be paid within 30 days of the filing of the claim. Under section 31, a claim for insurance benefits becomes time-barred three years after the insured event occurred, a far shorter period than the seven years available for a claim against the neighbor. As Globes reported back in 2015, courts have held that for damage caused by a water leak, the relevant date for entitlement to benefits is the date on which the policyholder discovered the damage, and that a slow leak does not fall outside the coverage merely because it went on for a long time.
An insurer that has paid the claim does not write off the neighbor. Section 62 of the Law transfers to the insurer the policyholder's right to compensation from a third party, up to the amount of the benefits it paid, so a neighbor whose plumbing caused the damage may receive, months later, a subrogation claim from the injured party's insurer. The same section also protects the policyholder: the insurer may not exercise the right transferred to it in a way that impairs the policyholder's right to recover from the neighbor compensation beyond the benefits received, such as the deductible or damage the policy does not cover. On the neighbor's side, anyone who receives a demand letter or a statement of claim over water damage should check immediately whether their home insurance includes third-party liability coverage, and pass the documents on to the insurer.
New buildings: when dampness is a contractor's defect
In a building handed over in recent years, there is another party to turn to. Water penetrating from the roof, the exterior walls or window frames that were not properly sealed is in many cases a nonconformity under the Sale (Apartments) Law, 5733-1973. The contractor must repair it during the inspection period (tkufat bedek), whose length depends on the type of defect, and thereafter during the warranty period (tkufat achrayut), in which the contractor is liable for the defect if the buyer proves that it stems from the design, the workmanship or the materials.
The first storm after handover is often the moment when waterproofing defects come to light. Anyone who discovers them should document them, notify the contractor promptly and in writing, and keep both the notice and the contractor's response, as is required in any dispute with a contractor over construction defects. When the defect lies in the common property, such as a roof or an exterior wall, the notice should also be sent on behalf of the representative board, so that the contractor does not settle for a spot repair in one apartment while ignoring the source.
What to do from the moment a stain appears on the ceiling
In the first hours, the priority is to limit the damage and document it. If the source is in the plumbing, ask that the main water valve be shut off in the apartment the water is coming from, move equipment and belongings out of harm's way, and photograph everything (the ceiling, the walls and the floor) before wiping up and drying out. When water enters from the street or a parking garage, other questions arise, involving the municipal drainage system and policy coverage for flooding or inundation from an external water source, and in the moment itself the Fire and Rescue Services guidance applies: do not enter basements, underground parking garages or elevators during a flood.
Notifications follow right away: to the insurance company, to the neighbor whose apartment the water is coming from, to the representative board and, in a new building, to the contractor as well. Each notice should be sent in writing, even if a phone call came first, with the photographs attached and, later on, the inspection report. Calling in a tradesperson to make repairs before the source has been documented can inadvertently erase the main evidence. And anyone forced to repair at their own expense damage that was someone else's responsibility, after making a demand that went unanswered, should keep the invoices and receipts, because they will form the basis of the claim.
The most difficult disputes arise when no one will accept responsibility. The neighbor claims the pipe is shared, the representative board claims it is private, and the insurance company waits for the question to be decided between them. In that situation the definition in section 52 is the starting point, and a ruling by the Supervisor is usually preferable to months of correspondence, during which the dampness continues its work.
A single leak can involve the neighbor, the representative board, the contractor and two insurance companies, each of them initially inclined to point at the others. Anyone dealing with water damage in a condominium, or who has received a demand to pay for damage allegedly originating in their apartment, may contact the firm to have the documents and reports in their possession reviewed and to consider the course that suits their circumstances.
Questions and answers
Who pays for a leak from the upstairs neighbor?
If the leak originates in the private plumbing of the neighbor's apartment, the duty to repair falls on that neighbor under section 3(b) of the Standard Bylaws, and it does not depend on whether the neighbor was negligent. Compensation for the damage caused to the apartment below is usually claimed under tort law. If you have home insurance with water damage coverage, your insurer may pay first and later pursue the neighbor in a subrogation claim. If the pipe serves the entire building, it is part of the common property, and the repair falls on all the apartment owners.
Who is responsible for a roof leak in a condominium?
The roof is part of the common property under section 52 of the Land Law, so repairing the waterproofing falls to the representative board, at the expense of all the apartment owners and, as a rule, in proportion to the floor areas of the apartments as set out in section 58. An owner whose apartment has been damaged may require the representative board to carry out the repair. When the roof has been attached to a particular apartment, or when an owner damaged the waterproofing during work they carried out, the answer depends on the registered bylaws and on the circumstances, and both need to be examined.
The neighbor refuses to fix the leak. What can I do?
Send a written demand letter, with a leak-detection report and photographs, setting a reasonable deadline for the repair. If there is no response, you can file a claim with the Land Registration Supervisor, who has the power to order the repair and to grant interim orders. Do not enter the neighbor's apartment without the neighbor's consent. If you paid to repair damage that was the neighbor's responsibility, after making a demand that went unanswered, you may sue for reimbursement, so keep every invoice.
Does home insurance cover water damage that originates in a neighbor's apartment?
That depends on the coverage purchased and on the terms of the policy. The directives of the Capital Market, Insurance and Savings Authority for the home insurance sector define a plumbing malfunction as the leakage of water from the installations of the apartment or of another property in the condominium, so the fact that the source lies in the neighbor's pipes does not take the damage outside the coverage. You must notify the insurer immediately after learning of the damage, and benefits are generally paid within 30 days of the date on which the insurer had the information and documents it needed. The deductible and any damage that is not covered can be claimed from the neighbor.
How long do I have to sue for water damage?
A monetary claim against a neighbor or against the representative board generally becomes time-barred seven years after the cause of action arose, under the Prescription Law, and special rules govern when the period begins for damage the plaintiff did not know about. A claim for insurance benefits becomes time-barred three years after the insured event, under section 31 of the Insurance Contract Law. In practice, the longer you wait, the harder it becomes to prove the source of the water and the extent of the damage.
The building is not yet registered as a condominium. Do these rules apply to it?
Yes, for the most part. Under sections 77A to 77C of the Land Law, most of the provisions on maintaining the common property, sharing expenses and the Supervisor's authority apply to a building that has at least two apartments and has not been registered as a condominium, and such a building is managed under the Standard Bylaws. In a new building, the contractor's liability under the Sale (Apartments) Law should also be examined.
Sources
- Israel Hayom: The heavy rain is still ahead; these are the hours when the storm will peak (Hebrew), 6.11.2026
- News08: Flooding feared over the weekend; Fire and Rescue Services reinforces its crews (Hebrew), 5.11.2026
- Walla: A stormy weekend ahead, with more than 100 mm of rain and flooding feared (Hebrew), 5.11.2026
- Kol Zchut: Repairs in a condominium (Hebrew), accessed 6.11.2026
- Nadlan Center: The Land Registration Supervisor, the complete guide for 2026 (Hebrew), 10.5.2026
- Capital Market, Insurance and Savings Authority: Insurance Circular 2016-1-21, provisions for the home insurance sector (Hebrew), 30.11.2016
- Insurance Contract Law, 5741-1981 (version passed by the Knesset, Knesset website) (Hebrew), 2.2.1981
- Prescription Law, 5718-1958 (version passed by the Knesset, Knesset website) (Hebrew), 1958
- Globes: Water damage from the neighbor's apartment? When insurance benefits are paid and when they are not (Hebrew), 18.8.2015
This article provides general information and is not a substitute for legal advice on your specific matter. More on Real Estate Disputes · Contact the firm
First published in Hebrew. Read the Hebrew original