Lands Authority refuses contractors who have sought to postpone payments for plots

The Israel Lands Authority refuses the inquiries of dozens of contractors who have sought to postpone payments for plots in the light of the situation.
The Authority has received inquiries from about 20 contractors who have won land tendering in recent months, some of them from huge auctions in the territories for price plans to the buyer, amounting to hundreds of millions of shekels. In their inquiries, the contractors claimed that in light of the crisis and the reduction in the volume of work in the banks' branches, bank credit certificates are expected to be delayed. As a result, they may not meet the deadlines set in the agreement.
As part of the auctions, contractors are required to provide equity and down payment when winning, and the balance of payment is paid within 90 days of the date. The bulk of the payment is based on bank credit, which can be obtained from the contractor after winning the tender in accordance with the approval of the banks' credit committees. In the aftermath of the crisis, all banks are required to re-examine the financial strength of the contractors and convene the credit committee to approve the loans. The difficulties in obtaining loans are mainly due to emergency assessments that reduce the available manpower in the banks by tens of percent.
The banks, on the other hand, face a great deal of burden on their service systems: they are required to deal with the difficulties of thousands of clients who are in the midst of an employment crisis, requests for special credit and easing under the mortgage assistance programs.
In applications to the Israel Lands Authority, the winners of the auctions requested a three to four month postponement of the final date for payment for the lots, both for winners whose payment deadline is relatively distant and for winners required to pay in the near future. Contractors say that the motive for applying is purely the technical delay in obtaining bank credit, and not the financial difficulties of the companies. Most companies admit that there has been a significant slowdown in business and expect a sharp drop in sales as a result.