Sale of asset on the 15th day of publication of a bettering zoning plan is not subject to land betterment levy on such plan

An apartment seller in Tel Aviv was required to pay a land betterment levy in the amount of approximately ILS 400,000 as a result of the approval of the Tel Aviv Quarter 3 plan.
The Land Betterment Levy Appeals Committee accepted the appeal and held that at the time of the transaction the plan had not yet entered into force and therefore the seller should not bear the obligation to pay the betterment levy. The provisions of the law and its clear language cannot be ignored and such stipulate that a plan enters into force "at the end" of 15 days from its publication date and not "during" the 15th day. Here, the plan was officially published on 09.01.2018 and the apartment was sold on 24.01.2018, i.e. during the 15th day (the first day of publication is not counted). Therefore, at the time the plan went into effect, i.e. 25.01.2018, the seller was not the owner of the apartment anymore and therefore the seller should not be subject to betterment levy in respect of the sale.
For full disclosure, the seller in this appeal proceeding was represented by advocate Yair Aloni of Afik & Co.