Subscribe to Print Edition | Thu., October 16, 2008 Tishrei 17, 5769 | | Israel Time: 01:22 (EST+7) web haaretz.com   Back to Homepage Haaretz Toolbar Diplomacy Defense Jewish World Opinion National Print Edition Car Rental Books Haaretz Magazine Business Real Estate Easy Start Travel Week's End Anglo File

Bat Yam to return tax to residents of non-luxury hotel By Ranit Nahum-Halevy Tags: Israel news, arnona, Bat Yam  Residents of a Bat Yam apartment-hotel building will be getting a tax refund from the municipality, but much less than they had hoped for. The 125 residents will be receiving hundreds of thousands of shekels in compensation, after the city overcharged them municipal tax (arnona) for years. The residents of the Colony Beach "apartotel complex" - a hotel of apartment units - filed a compensation claim with the Rishon Letzion Magistrate's Court, claiming they'd been charged city tax based on the rate applicable to luxury hotels - which their complex is not. Furthermore, they claimed that as full-time residents, they should be charged city tax at the lower rate that applies to standard residential buildings, not at the hotel rate. The court accepted the first of the two claims. Advertisement The Colony Beach hotel, which has 369 holiday apartments, is located right on the waterfront, on Ben Gurion Street. It originally had aimed at holiday vacationers. The facility has a lobby, a mail room, a reception area, a small grocery, a swimming pool, a gym and a ping-pong room, and it used to operate a hair salon and cafeteria. Moreover, the apartments are very small; most are no more than 24 to 35 square meters. Furthermore, the building permits for the site specify it is for an apartment-hotel complex. But Azorim, the company that built the edifice and owns the land, sold the rights to some of the apartments to their tenants. The sales contracts specify that the asset was built to serve as an apartment-hotel. There is no argument that Colony Beach was built to serve as a hotel. The question here is what city tax rate applies to residents who bought their units to live in permanently. The residents claim they should pay the rate applicable to regular residential buildings. Judge Shaul Manheim agreed in principle that they were living there full time, but he also ruled that the court had to factor in the building's intended purpose. And that purpose was for the Colony Beach to serve as a short-term residential place for vacationers, Manheim said. Using it as a full-time residence was not the plan's intent. The judge therefore disagreed with the residents' claim that the city should tax them based on the rates for residential buildings, and rejected their NIS 1.2 million compensation claim. However, he found that the city had been taxing them too much. They had been taxed based on the rate for a luxury hotel, which was 9% more than they should have been paying - the Colony Beach is considered a 3-star hotel for tax purposes. Bookmark to del.icio.us   Israel policy Obama camp dismisses Jesse Jackson's remarks on ridding the U.S. of 'Zionist control.' Welcome to AqsaTube The Palestinian militant group Hamas launches its own version of YouTube.

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