Real-Estate Broker Commission in Israel: No Official 2% Cell

A licensed broker (metavech) is a reserved title. There is no official 2% commission. Section 9: no fee without a signed written invitation that states the agreed amount or rate and whether VAT is included. Section 14 also requires a licence and that the broker was the efficient cause of a binding deal. We invent no citywide bill.

A reserved title, not a customary 2%

English pages still print a 2% buyer-side commission as if Real Estate Brokers Law, 5756-1996 contained that cell. It does not. There is no official 2% commission cell. The Act-text entitlement is a valid licence, a signed written invitation that states the agreed amount or rate and whether VAT is included, and that the broker was the efficient cause of a binding deal. Section 1 defines real-estate brokerage (introducing parties to a land deal for consideration) (תיווך במקרקעין): Real-estate brokerage is introducing, for consideration, two or more parties so they may contract a transaction in a right in land. A client (a party to an agreement with a broker for services, whether or not they pay fees) (לקוח) is a party to an agreement with a real-estate broker to receive the broker's services, whether or not that party pays brokerage fees. Section 2 then reserves the act and the title. A person shall not engage in real-estate brokerage unless they hold a valid licence and in accordance with this law. A person shall not publicly announce that they are a real-estate broker, present themselves as one, or use any title or designation that may create the impression they are a real-estate broker in Israel, unless they hold a valid licence under this law. The person who shops a housing loan is a different role — no reserved title, no official tariff. Who may hold title is can foreigners buy.

No fee without a signed written invitation

Section 9 is the gate English listicles skip. A real-estate broker shall not be entitled to brokerage fees unless the client signed a written invitation to perform a real-estate brokerage act that included all the particulars the Minister prescribed, with the approval of the Knesset Internal Affairs and Environment Committee. The Minister filled those particulars in Real Estate Brokers (Particulars of a Written Invitation) Regulations, 5757-1997 (Kovetz HaTakanot 5757, 520), in force from April 1, 1997. Regulation 1 requires, at least: Names, addresses and identification numbers of the broker and of the client. The type of transaction the brokerage act is requested for — for example lease or sale. A description of the property that is the subject of the brokerage act. The requested transaction price, approximately. The agreed brokerage-fee amount, or the agreed brokerage-fee rate of the price at which the deal will be performed, and whether that price — under either of those — includes value added tax. Official VAT is 18% from January 1, 2025. The form must say whether the agreed fee includes it. The rate is contractual. It is not a statute percent we can reprint as 2%.

The July 2026 citywide median asking ₪4,850,000 (≈ $1,310,811 / €1,212,500 / £1,021,053; n = 1,037 tracked active listings) is the stake that form is about. Implied size — that median divided by apartment-scale ₪/sqm (n = 987) — is 88 sqm (950 sqft). It is not a 2% invoice. The lawyers, fees and costs page still shows a customary 2% + VAT line on a labelled worked example. That line is an illustration, not this Act-text cell.

Entitlement is licence plus form plus efficient cause

Section 14 stacks three gates. A real-estate broker shall be entitled to brokerage fees from a client if all of the following are fulfilled: (1) the broker held a licence under this law at the time they engaged in the brokerage; (2) the broker complied with s.9; (3) the broker was the efficient cause that brought the parties to contract a binding agreement. A broker who, during the exclusivity period, performed the marketing actions prescribed under s.9(d) is presumed to have been that efficient cause for a deal contracted during the exclusivity period. Section 5 is who may hold that licence. A person may receive a real-estate broker licence if they are a citizen or resident of the State of Israel, or a foreign resident who was given a lawful permit to work in Israel; they are at least 18; they are not a bankrupt; they were not convicted of an offence that, by its nature, gravity and circumstances, makes them unfit to serve as a real-estate broker; if they were sentenced to actual imprisonment, they finished serving it at least six months before the application; and they passed the brokerage-licence examination. A tourist without a lawful work permit is not on that eligibility list. Our agents index lists 88 Tel Aviv-Yafo agencies with at least three tracked listings; 69 of those rows carry a registry-verified licence badge. Tracked listings are not holdings. Section 18 authorises an exam fee, a one-time licence fee, and an annual fee. We do not republish those shekel cells. They are not a buyer-side commission.

Section 8 sits beside the fee gates. A real-estate broker shall act loyally, fairly and in the accepted way, and shall give the client every material fact in their possession about the property that is the subject of the brokerage deal. In performing the role the broker shall act with skill and reasonableness and shall take the steps that are appropriate in the circumstances to obtain material information about that property. That duty is not a valuation. The licensed opinion of value is appraisal (shamaut). Asking versus closed still lives on the spread page.

Exclusivity clocks are statute, not a typical lock-up

A broker may agree with a client to give a particular deal to the broker's exclusive handling, provided the grant of exclusivity and its period are approved by the client's signature on a separate document, and provided that during the exclusivity period the broker performs marketing actions aimed at real-estate brokerage. Where exclusivity is given for land offered for sale by a seller not in the course of business, the exclusivity period for an apartment shall not exceed six months from the day the client signed the invitation. That ceiling is 6 months from the invitation day. Where exclusivity is given for an apartment and the period is not set, exclusivity for that broker ends at the end of 30 days from the day the client signed the invitation. That default is 30 days. In this section, an apartment is a room, building or set of rooms intended for residence or actually used for residence, including one that will be erected or built in the future. Exclusivity ends at the end of one-third of the period in s.9(b1) if, by then, the broker has not performed the marketing actions prescribed under s.9(d). We invent no typical exclusivity period in use on the Tel Aviv asking panel. A zichron devarim is a different written undertaking. The sale still finishes at Tabu.

The broker is not the lawyer

Section 12 draws the line. A real-estate broker shall not draft, and shall not assist in drafting, documents of a legal character that concern a land deal, and shall not represent a client in legal negotiation toward drafting such a document. A broker who breaches this section shall not be entitled to brokerage fees. This provision does not derogate from the Chamber of Advocates Law, 5721-1961. Paid Tabu appearance and drafting for another person stay on the lawyer page. Section 10 is the broker’s own conflict cell. A real-estate broker shall not broker a land deal if they have a personal interest in the land or in the deal, unless they disclosed that personal interest to the client and received the client's written consent. Personal interest includes a personal interest of the broker's relative or of a body the broker or a relative controls. Funds still move through the lawyer’s trust account, not a US-style escrow. The sale contract is the lawyer’s document. A remote close still needs a power of attorney.

What we still will not invent

Four cells stay unpublished. An official 2% commission. There is no official 2% commission cell. The Act-text entitlement is a valid licence, a signed written invitation that states the agreed amount or rate and whether VAT is included, and that the broker was the efficient cause of a binding deal. A citywide typical bill — the tracked listing panel has no fee field. A typical exclusivity period in use — the Act prints ceilings and defaults, not a census. Licence-fee shekel cells — The Minister shall prescribe, with the approval of the Knesset Internal Affairs and Environment Committee, a fee for the examination required to obtain a licence, a one-time licence fee, and an annual fee. The Act-text cell is the power to set those fees. It is not a buyer-side commission tariff and we do not republish those shekel cells. How you find stock without an MLS is how the market works. The process spine is step by step.

Frequently asked questions

Where this fits

This page is the buyer-side brokerage citation target. The directory of who appeared in our tracking window is the agents index. The neighbouring unreserved role is mortgage broker. The customary 2% illustration, labelled as such, remains on lawyers, fees and costs. Drafting and dual representation sit on the lawyer page. The cluster map is the foreign-buyer guide. Hebrew terms are in the glossary. Live asking figures sit on Tel Aviv property prices. Return to the buying-guide hub.