Unlivable Apartment? – part II
The plaintiff (=pl) rented out a new apartment, which was half of a larger apartment that was split up, to the defendants (=def), a new couple. They signed, a few weeks before the rental was to begin, a contract, which set the price at 1,900 shekels a month and provides for continued payment of rent and arnona even if def stop living in the apartment. The day before the beginning of the rental, def visited the apartment with her father and was distressed to learn that she was able to hear the conversations of workers in the adjoining unit. Def immediately decided to void the rental. Pl is suing for payment for the time that the apartment went unrented (renters came in only after four months). Def counter that the apartment is unlivable. Since they were not aware of the problem, the agreement was a mekach taut (agreement based on misinformation) according to Halacha and according to the Law of Contracts, which was referenced in the contract. Def are countersuing for 14,043 shekels for expenses made necessary in cancelling the rental and finding another one at the last minute, which is more expensive and worth less than the one in question, not including the unknown privacy issue. They also argue that the agreement to pay rent until the end of the year is a penalty clause of a one-sided contract that took advantage of an inexperienced young couple, and it is therefore not binding. Pl adds that they offered to do additional soundproofing at their own expense.