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Shabbat Parashat Matot Masei 5783P'ninat Mishpat: Realtor Fee Without a Contract – part IICase: The plaintiff (=pl) is an agent who operated on behalf of the defendants (=def) in two acquisitions, six months apart. Def and pl are hard of hearing, which has a bearing on the case. Pl had def sign a standard agent’s contract, but it was void of all the pertinent details, which pl filled in later. Def bought the second apartment for 2,425,000 NIS, and pl demands 2% on that. Def claim that they were not able to see what they were signing and that pl had said that it was a request of a discount for the purchase (pl denies that). Def had paid pl for the previous purchase and claimed that they thought there would be no further charge for the second apartment, which made sense considering they had told pl about the project. Def countersued for return of money from the first deal, in which they had signed two documents, one for assistance in the transaction process (10,000 NIS) and another, a standard 2% agent’s fee to try to sell their previous apartment. Def claim they did not agree to the extra service charge and want the amount they paid returned. Ruling: [Last time we saw that pl was an effective factor in the transactions and that while def are generally responsible for what they signed, their lack of full understanding will play a role.] The Law of Real Estate Agents includes a requirement that the client sign a detailed agent’s contract, including details on the property involved, which was missing here. Our beit din recognizes the validity of this law in regard to cases in which it might not have been clear to the client that he would have to pay for the service. This applies to this case, in which, with def’s limitations, it is quite possible they did not understand. Therefore, pl is not entitled to an agent’s fee. On the other hand, while generally the full amount is due regardless of how much work was needed (a feature of a real estate agent), def should pay pl only for the amount of work he put into it. This is based on the concept of one who did work for someone else, without agreement that he would be doing so. This in turn is based on the Rashba (Shut IV:125), who talks about two reasons to obligate – local minhag and the benefit one provided with his work. He writes both because there are times when one of the factors is missing. In this case, the conditions of the law prevent the minhag from being able to obligate full payment, and therefore there is only room to obligate based on the work and its benefit. Based on the very significant amount of work that pl put into this acquisition, we obligate def 10,000 NIS. According to beit din’s minority opinion, pl should receive a 1% fee, as def should have understood what they were signing. Only because of the slight possibility that they did not, he reduced the fee from 2% to 1%. We reject def’s claim to have money returned from that which was paid on the first transaction. First, there were two different contracts that were signed, and def should have been aware of the contents of each one and what it obligated. The fact that they already paid strengthens the assumption that they had been aware that they were obligated. Top of page
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We daven for a complete and speedy refuah for: Nir Rephael ben Rachel Bracha Arye Yitzchak ben Geula Miriam Neta bat Malka Meira bat Esther Together with all cholei Yisrael
to the memory of: for our homeland Prof. Yisrael Aharoni z"l Kislev 14, 5783 Rav Shlomo Merzel z”l
Mr. Shmuel & Esther Shemesh z"l Sivan 17 / Av 20 Mr. Moshe Wasserzug z"l Tishrei 20 ,5781 R' Eliyahu Carmel z"l Rav Carmel's father Iyar 8 ,5776 Mrs. Sara Wengrowsky bat R’ Moshe Zev a”h. Tamuz 10 ,5774 Rav Asher & Susan Wasserteil z"l R' Meir ben Yechezkel Shraga Brachfeld z"l & Mrs. Sara Brachfeld z"l Tevet 16 ,5780 R 'Yaakov ben Abraham & Aisha and Chana bat Yaish & Simcha Sebbag, z"l Rav Yisrael Rozen z"l Rav Benzion Grossman z"l R' Abraham & Gita Klein z"l Iyar 18, /5779Av 4 Rav Moshe Zvi (Milton) Polin z"l R' Yitzchak Zev Tarshansky z"l Adar 28, 5781 Nina Moinester z"l Nechama Osna bat Yitzhak Aharon & Doba Av 30, 5781 Rabbi Dr. Jerry Hochbaum z"l Adar II 17, 5782 Mrs. Julia Koschitzky z"l Adar II 18, 5782 Mrs. Leah Meyer z"l Nisan 27, 5782 Mr. Shmuel & Rivka Brandman z"l Tevet 16 5783/ Iyar 8, 5781 Mina Presser bat Harav David and Bina Tammuz 24 and members of her family who perished in the shoah Al Kiddush Hashem
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