Yeshiva
Beit Midrash
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- P'ninat Mishpat
Ruling: An agent who introduces the property to the buyer is usually considered the purchase’s "effective factor," who deserves the agent’s fee. The claim that even without the agent, the buyer would have learned of the property from someone else is not a reason to preclude payment from the one who introduced it. This is certainly so here, where, by def’s admission, pl and def had 20-30 phone conversations and exchanged many emails. The job of an agent includes bringing the parties to agreement, which sometimes includes trying to convince one side more than the other. Thus even if pl’s belief that she saved def from losing apt is untrue, pl did enough to facilitate the sale to deserve a fee. The fact that pl initially presented an inaccurate price did not end up being a problem, as def determined that apt was well worth his while even at the higher price.
At different times during his presentation and answering questions, def said things that contradict his contention that it was unclear that pl was an agent (who always receives a fee from buyers). The ad he saw referred to pl’s business as an agency. Def said that he did not ask pl whether/how much she would take as a fee because he was afraid to do so, as agents like to take 2%. Also, when the renter allowed buyers to see apt, def was there with several agents and buyers, which would not happen if pl was sel’s marketer.
We usually uphold the Israeli law that an agent must be licensed and sign clients to a contract, as this is a proper practice that limits disagreements. However, pl is an experienced agent whose rebbe is against her holding a government license, and many in that segment of society (to which def belongs) do not sign people on an agent’s contract, seeing it as a lack of trust. We are unwilling to facilitate def coming in bad faith and using technicalities and patently false claims to avoid paying for a valuable service he received.
Next week we will see a disagreement between the dayanim on how much def should pay.
P'ninat Mishpat (835)
Beit Din Eretz Hemda - Gazit
686 - Who Breached the Contract? – part IV
687 - Agent who Did Not Set Agent’s Fee
688 - Did Beit Din Research Enough?
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Beit Din Eretz Hemda - Gazit
P'ninat Mishpat Repercussions of a Sale That Turned Out Not Happening – part II
(based on ruling 83045 of the Eretz Hemdah-Gazit Rabbinical Courts)
P'ninat Mishpat Payment for Not Clearing Warehouse On Time – part II
based on ruling 75076 of the Eretz Hemdah-Gazit Rabbinical Courts
P'ninat Mishpat Limits of Interest Rate for Loan with Heter Iska – part II
based on ruling 80033 of the Eretz Hemdah-Gazit Rabbinical Courts
P'ninat Mishpat P'ninat Mishpat: Undoing a Problematic Partnership – part I
based on ruling 84061 of the Eretz Hemdah-Gazit Rabbinical Courts
P'ninat Mishpat P'ninat Mishpat: Realtor’s Fee on Large Commercial Building – part I
(based on ruling 85031 of the Eretz Hemdah-Gazit Rabbinical Courts)
Rabbis in Midrash
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Various Events FOR WHOM NOT TO VOTE
Rav Zvi Yehuda Kook stressed that Israeli politics is G-dly, so I have no problem answering this common question on a Torani blog. Also, Free-Will is a G-d-given right and obligation, to "destine one's fate" (R. Soloveichik, Kol Dodi Dofek, 67), so I obviously don't tell others how to vote. But once not a few (especially young) have already asked, a couple of personal words from experience and thoughts from chazal & Rav Kook which may be of help to others, mainly for whom NOT to vote.
P'ninat Mishpat Fallout from Failure to Install Elevator – part II
based on ruling 85007 of the Eretz Hemdah-Gazit Rabbinical Courts
