I left the family home over a year ago after years of abuse at the hands of my husband. He continued to live in the apartment. I have tried to communicate with him, via relatives, in order to reach a fair divorce settlement , including splitting up our partnership in the marital home. However, my husband claims he is a ‘protected tenant’ while I abandoned the home and gave up all rights to it. Because of this, he says, our home would be regarded as ‘occupied premises’ and not ‘vacant property’. It would be worth far less, like a key-money apartment. Is there any truth in his claims ?
By: דיאנה שאלתיאל•Published on: 10 May, 2022No ! According to the Protected Tenants ( Consolidated Version) Act of 1972, even an owner , or one of the owners of a home used for residential purposes can become a protected tenant if he loses his ownership rights following a court judgment . However, this cannot apply where the owners are a couple and there is an action to divide ownership in the family home. This is because the courts narrowed down the interpretation of the legislation over the years and the act itself was amended accordingly in the 1990’s to abolish the concept of protect tenancy in connection with the division of a couple’s family home.