After a lengthy legal battle, the couple was ordered to vacate the apartment and compensate its owners with 104,000 shekels.
An introduction at the synagogue, a bank transfer receipt that was never received, and a diamond ring, gold watch, and saxophone that were given as collateral – this is how a couple managed to continue to hold onto a luxury apartment in Herzliya Pituach for more than six months, despite only paying its owners one month's rent.
Only after a fierce legal battle waged by attorney Talia Barzani, which included enforcing an arbitration ruling in the Kfar Saba Magistrate's Court, was the apartment vacated - and the couple were ordered to pay its owners 104,000 shekels.
The affair began in December 2025, when the couple rented an apartment on Jewish State Street in Herzliya, belonging to a London resident. The arrangement was made through a Herzliya resident, whose husband knew the tenant from the community and the synagogue.
The early introduction created trust, and the couple moved into the apartment after paying only one month's rent.
When the eviction deadline came in January 2026, the couple asked to stay another month, but did not settle the rent. Subsequently, repeated delays, promises of payment, and refusal to vacate the property began.
In early February, one of the squatters sent a document stating that 38,000 shekels had been transferred to the apartment owner's account, but the money was not received. An investigation conducted by her representatives revealed that the document's reference number was identical to a previous reference, leading to suspicion that the document was not authentic.
The tenant denied that he forged or altered the reference and claimed that he received it from Revolut Bank customer service after his account was temporarily restricted due to compliance checks.
At the same time, the couple changed the apartment lock without the apartment owners' permission.
After all the demands for eviction were not met, an agreement was signed with them that gave them a final extension until March 2. To secure payment of the debt, the tenants gave the landlord a diamond ring and a gold watch, but even after that they did not pay the full amount and did not vacate the apartment.
And so, at the end of March 2026, the rent debt already stood at approximately 47.7 thousand shekels.
Due to the communal acquaintance, the dispute between the parties was referred to arbitration in the community court in Herzliya. The couple was given an additional 15 days to pay and vacate the apartment, and later they were forced to deposit a saxophone as additional collateral.
But even this extension did not lead to an evacuation.
On June 15, the arbitration ruling was issued, requiring the couple to pay the owner of the apartment 104,000 shekels and vacate the property within 24 hours.
Surprisingly, despite the unequivocal arbitration award, the couple continued to refuse to vacate the apartment and continued to live there, as if nothing had happened.
In her distress, the apartment owner turned to attorney Talia Barzani, who quickly submitted a request to the Kfar Saba Magistrate's Court to enforce an arbitration agreement on behalf of the apartment owner.
The hearing on the enforcement of the arbitration agreement was held on July 6 before Judge Hagit Bulmash. During the hearing, the tenant attempted to delay the eviction, claiming, among other things, that he did not read Hebrew and did not understand the documents he signed and the meaning of the arbitration award.
The judge rejected his claim, after pointing out to him that he speaks and conducts himself in Hebrew, submitted a document in Hebrew, and participated in the arbitration process, which was also conducted in Hebrew.
The tenant also claimed that he could not take his wife out into the street, mentioned efforts to invite friends and a driver to remove the belongings, and even raised the possibility that he would have to go to the hospital, but Judge Bulmash made it clear to him that after many extensions and promises, there was no longer any room for delay.
During the hearing, the judge demanded an explicit commitment from the tenant regarding the eviction date, and he announced that he would leave the apartment by midnight.
At the end of the hearing, Judge Bulmash approved the arbitration award and gave it the force of a judgment, so that both the eviction and the financial charge could be enforced.
In addition, the judge ordered the couple to pay 2,000 shekels in legal costs, and the next morning they finally vacated the apartment.
""In this case, the tenants were given many extensions and opportunities, but only the enforcement of the arbitration award in court allowed the owner of the apartment to regain control of the property," says attorney Talia Barzani. According to her, "when a tenant stops paying and does not vacate the property, one should not wait in the hope that the situation will resolve itself, but rather act quickly, in an orderly manner, and with determination.".
