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Enforcement Office Cuts Interest for Homeless Debtor
Israel's Enforcement Registrar drastically cut interest for a homeless debtor, reducing a NIS 28,000 debt after her years on the street.
The Enforcement Registrar from the Kfar Saba office, Kalanit Shapira Bergman, accepted the request of a debtor, who lived on the street for years after being evicted from her home, to reduce the interest in an enforcement case opened against her about two decades ago.
The case was opened in 2005 following a decision by the Tel Aviv-Jaffa District Court, which ordered the debtor to pay expenses totaling 3,000 New Israeli Shekels, plus value-added tax, linkage, and interest. The debt amount in the case before the reduction stood at 28,000 ₪.
The debtor petitioned to close the case, while the creditor objected to the request. During the hearing before the registrar, the debtor presented her difficult situation – after being evicted from her home, she lived on the street for years and was recognized as a homeless person. Today she lives in a studio apartment in South Tel Aviv and subsists on an elderly citizen’s pension and income supplement from the National Insurance Institute, as well as housing assistance from the Ministry of Housing. According to her statement, her total monthly expenses exceed her income.
The registrar accepted the debtor’s request to reduce the interest. The decision was based on the debtor’s difficult personal circumstances, including her past homelessness, her difficult financial situation, and the fact that for long periods no proceedings were taken in the case.
In her decision, the registrar ordered the reduction of additional interest and late fees in the case, as well as the reduction of half of the base interest. In total, approximately 21,000 New Israeli Shekels were reduced from the debt. “After reviewing the case and hearing the parties, in light of the debtor’s difficult personal circumstances, including homelessness with all that entails, in light of the inaction in the case for most of the years it was open, and the partial payment towards the principal debt, I found that there is room to order the reduction of additional interest and late fees in the case, and so I order.
In addition, in light of the debtor’s difficult personal circumstances, as detailed in her requests in the case and in the hearing before me, and as mentioned above, including homelessness, and in light of her personal and financial situation as detailed above, I order the reduction of half of the base interest in the case,” the registrar ruled.
To read the decision click here.
