By Ranit Nahum Halevy, Haaretz Real Estate supplicant

The year is 1960. The street: Jaffa, in Jerusalem. The situation: a two-story iconic building owned by the Mizrahi family is on fire.

From that day on the stone edifice, an architectural gem, remained blackened and empty, without windows, doors or even a roof. Before the blaze the building had been a symbol of bustling commercial life in Jerusalem; today, it stands as mute testimony to the helplessness of the authorities to force property owners to renovate such eyesores.

There are other examples in Israel's capital city: the Clal building, also on Jaffa Street, and the Bank Hapoalim building at Zion Square - both relatively modern buildings which were embodied with great hope in the 1970s. But the 15-story Clal building seems to be cursed. Barely any business goes on there and its facade is tatty, despite a recent face-lift. As for Bank Hapoalim, part of its ground floor seems to serve as a public urinal.
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Thousands of buildings like these are scattered throughout the country. Their paint and plaster are peeling, the porches seem about to fall and pipes are exposed. The problem is everywhere, mainly, though not exclusively in old neighborhoods, in the form of grubby, dirt-streaked, smelly, dilapidated buildings. Environmental anarchy. Just stroll down Hillel and Shlomzion Hamalka Streets in Jerusalem, or Allenby and Ben Yehuda in Tel Aviv.

Neglected buildings make an entire street or neighborhood look bad and can actually pose a danger to passers-by. Once such structures deteriorate beyond a certain point, tenants jump ship and leave the asset vulnerable to squatters, who don't as a rule treat the property with respect and tend to accelerate its deterioration. What is going wrong? Why are our cities dotted with properties like this - squalid, vermin-infested structures, reeking of human waste?

Simply put, it is the neglect of the owners that causes so many buildings to fall into ruin like this. How is it that local authorities allow the urban fabric of their locales to be sabotaged in such a way? Apparently, the legal means to combat this phenomenon don't exist.

The United States and many European countries have fairly draconian laws that force property owners to keep their assets up to a certain standard. However, in this respect, Israel's laws are limited. Lacking fundamental legislative backing, cities try to contend with recalcitrant property owners and "house committees" - tenants' groups - using sticks and carrots: Municipal bylaws are the sticks, and subsidies and loans to fix up the place are the carrots. In extreme cases, the authorities may sue and threaten to seize property. Yet, in general, cities' efforts to whip landlords into shape have borne little fruit.

"We know about the situation," says Tzachi Katz, head of the Jerusalem Municipality's building licensing and supervision division. "There are buildings like these in the city centers, in tourism areas, where not even minimal maintenance has been carried out on the facade since they were erected. When the city wants to force the renovation of the facades, it approaches the building owners or the committee, sending notices with demands based on bylaws. If [the city] doesn't get any reaction, the only recourse is to sue."

And that is not a useful measure: Lawsuits over property can take years. The cities thus tend to turn to the courts only in acute cases, Katz explains, such as those involving demolition of illegal buildings. When it comes to forcing facade face-lifts the city is helpless, he notes: What's needed is the equivalent of federal law to combat this situation.

Local Champs Elysees

Tel Aviv's case is rather different than Jerusalem's. With the participation of the municipal renovations company Ezra U'Bitzaron Housing Co., renewal is being planned in several areas of the seaside city: At present the company is focusing on Ibn Gvirol Street. Out of the street's roughly 200 buildings, no less than 67 are getting face-lifts. The company provides property owners with convenient financing terms, including outright grants and loans of between NIS 17,000 to NIS 30,000 per tenant, repayable in 40 to 70 installments. The renewal work is being carried out by contractors supervised by Ezra U'Bitzaron.

"It began 10 years ago when, in consultation with the municipality, we sought to stop the physical deterioration and to encourage the public to fix up the facades of their buildings," says Eli Ginzberg, CEO of Ezra U'Bitzaron. "Unless we made a move, the occupants wouldn't have done anything. At the end of the day the renovation increases the value of their property. Ibn Gvirol is going to become the Champs Elysees of Tel Aviv."

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