Beit Midrash
  • Sections
  • Chemdat Yamim
  • P'ninat Mishpat
קטגוריה משנית
undefined
Case: The defendant (=def), a non-profit organization, was looking to buy headquarters in a major Israeli city. The plaintiff (=pl), who works as a real estate agent, suggested a building and arranged the first meeting to see it, sending a representative in his place. Subsequently, pl communicated his willingness to help promote the deal and his expectation for a real estate fee. Def bought the property for 60 mil. NIS without pl’s further involvement. Pl seeks a 2% fee on it. Def deny pl deserves it because he was not critical to the purchase, he did not have them sign a realtor’s contract, and he is not an Israeli-licensed realtor (he is licensed in a European country). Ruling: Israel’s 1996 Realtor’s Law requires a realtor to be licensed, to have the client sign a detailed contract regarding the specific property, and to be “the effective factor.” Def claim that they were aware of the property without pl and that most of the work was done by the seller’s son and his high-level worker. The price of the property was also much too high when pl showed it to def. The effective factor in the realm of real estate relates mainly to the introduction between buyer and seller/property. It is true that the agent must be ready to work on other elements of the sale, e.g., documentation and negotiations. In this case, pl raised the idea and arranged the first meeting/tour (through his representative, who attested to doing it on pl’s behalf). There is documentation that pl expressed his eagerness to help with all elements of the deal, and def did not take them up on that, possibly because they did not want to pay a realtor’s fee. Beit din rejects def’s claim that they knew about the property. If they did know about it in the relevant way, they should have arranged the visit themselves. Pl explained that they do not make clients sign realtors’ contracts because it removes the feeling of trust. While we reject this practice as the right way to do things, we recognize that this is not uncommon, especially in the Haredi world to which the parties belong. Therefore, we do not accept this element of the law (see beit din’s ability to be selective in following certain types of local laws in Chatam Sofer V:44) when despite the lack of a contract, the nature of the introduction of the property to the buyer was clearly done as an agent. Here, it is clear, including from internal communication within def that pl was playing the role of real estate agent. The requirement for licensing is also halachically binding only selectively, and is affected by logic. Society is harmed when people act irresponsibly when promoting real estate deals. In this case, though, pl is an experienced realtor who learned the trade, albeit in a different country, with the same principles. In the circles that the litigants find themselves, it is common for people to not see government accreditation as necessary. Therefore, def cannot exempt themselves from payment on these grounds. Next week we will deal with the question of how much def should pay pl.
Popular Lessons
Popular Lessons
Recent Lessons
Recent Lessons
את המידע הדפסתי באמצעות אתר yeshiva.org.il