LANDLORD/TENANT RESPONSIBILITIES

Selected Halachos from the “One Minute Halacha” project

By HaRav Yosef Yeshaya Braun, Shlita
Mara D’asra and member of the Badatz of Crown Heights

MY CAR GRAZED A DOUBLE-PARKED CAR. AM I RESPONSIBLE FOR THE DAMAGE?

Halacha divides the level of responsibility for damage caused by a car—and the extent of monetary liability—into various categories. Among them are: 

Bor b’r’shus harabim (one who dug a pit and left it uncovered—or uncovered one—in the public domain): One is not responsible for damage to keilim (inanimate property) caused by a bor they left uncovered. Therefore, if someone parked their vehicle in an inappropriate place and it resulted in damage to keilim, they are not held responsible.

Adam hamazik (damage caused by a human): A driver who damages another’s property is fully responsible, except in a case of ones gamur (totally beyond one’s control). The damage is attributed solely to the person, and not at all to the car.

If a moving car hits a car parked inappropriately, in certain cases the driver may be held responsible—and not the owner of the parked car—since it’s incumbent upon a driver to look where they are going. 

When establishing the amount of liability for damage to a car we look at the cost of repairs, and not at the loss to its market value.

MY SON WAS FINED BY HIS YESHIVA FOR MISBEHAVING. MAY HE PAY WITH MAASER MONEY?

If a talmid (student) incurs a knas (monetary fine), he might reason that since the money benefits the yeshiva he should be permitted to pay with his maaser money. However, the halacha is that maaser money may not be used to pay for a chovah (obligation). Since it’s incumbent upon a student to abide by the rules of the yeshiva, any fine resulting from an infraction is his personal responsibility, and must be paid for out of pocket.

It should be noted that if the student is unable to pay the knas, a fellow talmid might be permitted to use his maaser money to “bail him out.” Technically, the first talmid could reciprocate at some future time by paying his friend’s knas with his maaser money—provided that the two of them hadn’t made such an arrangement in advance.

WHAT ARE MY LANDLORD’S RESPONSIBILITIES?

Both the landlord and the tenant bear some responsibility for the upkeep of a rental property. The question is, who pays for what. Most issues are dealt with in advance by an agreement between the landlord and the tenant; otherwise, the prevailing custom of landlord/tenant obligations should be adhered to. 

In the absence of the above, following are some guidelines: 

The landlord must provide the tenant with an apartment in basic habitable condition, including safety gates for windows on upper floors, and doors and windows in working condition. The windows must close properly to keep out the cold.

Minor repairs that don’t require the services of a repairman, such as changing light bulbs and making doors close smoothly, are the tenant’s responsibility.

The common custom nowadays is that problems resulting from normal wear and tear which require calling in a professional—such as a repairing a leaking pipe or other plumbing problems—are the landlord’s responsibility, unless they are caused by negligence or destructive behavior on the part of the tenant.

KABLANUS ON SHABBOS

A non-Jewish worker is permitted to do a job for us on Shabbos provided that:

He is a kablan (an independent contractor, paid by the job, not by the hour);

He is given ample time to do the job on a weekday;

He wasn’t specifically instructed to work on Shabbos; 

He does the work elsewhere, not on our premises—even if we aren’t currently there. If work is being done in our home on Shabbos it might give the appearance that we have instructed the kablan to work on Shabbos, or that we are paying him by the hour.

Giving clothes to a non-Jewish cleaners before Shabbos, for example, is permitted since they are paid by the job, they can do it whenever they so choose over the course of a few days, and the work is done on their own premises.

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