Mr. and Mrs. Schloss had been married for about half a year. They rented an upstairs apartment in a two family house.
One night they returned home at 8:30 from shopping. Mrs. Schloss took the key from her pocketbook and tried opening the door, but the key wouldn’t turn. “I’m not able to turn the key,” she said to her husband.
Mr. Schloss tried turning the key. It turned a little, and then snapped. “Oh no, now the key is stuck in the lock!” he exclaimed. “Maybe I can take it out with pliers.”
Mr. Schloss knocked on the landlord’s door downstairs, but no one was home. He borrowed pliers from the neighbor next door and was able to extract the key.
“That was good,” Mrs. Schloss said, “but what should we do now?”
“I’ll call the landlord,” said Mr. Schloss. “He has a spare key.”
Mr. Schloss called the landlord, but there was no answer. “He’s not answering,” he said to his wife. “I’ll try again in a few minutes.”
Some time went by, but there was no answer from the landlord.
It was getting cold. “Let’s step in to our neighbor,” Mrs. Schloss said. “We can’t wait outside like this.”
Two hours went by, and still no answer from the landlord. “I think we should just call a locksmith and break the lock,” said Mr. Schloss. “The cylinder will have to be replaced.”
“Do we have a right to do that?” asked Mrs. Schloss. “It’s not our house!”
“We are entitled to enter the house,” reasoned Mr. Schloss. “The landlord is not answering, and we have no other way – I don’t see another option.”
“I’m still not sure we have a right to damage his property,” said Mrs. Schloss. “Can you ask someone?”
Mr. Schloss looked at his watch. “I can still call Rabbi Dayan,” he said. “I’ll ask him!”
Mr. Schloss called Rabbi Dayan. “The key to our apartment broke, and the landlord, who has a spare key, is not home and not answering his phone,” Mr. Schloss told Rabbi Dayan. “Can I can call a locksmith to break the lock? If yes, who is responsible for the bill?”
“There are a number of factors to consider here,” replied Rabbi Dayan. “In a case where the tenant lost the key and needed to break the lock, he is clearly liable for the repair. A person who does not know where he placed an entrusted item is considered negligent.” (C.M. 291:7; Responsa Ra’anach #38)
“What about our case, where the key broke?” asked Mr. Schloss.
“Even where the key broke or was lost through oness, in most cases the tenant would still be liable,” replied Rabbi Dayan. “The Gemara [B.K. 60b] teaches that a person does not have the right to spare himself at the expense of his friend. Even where someone’s life is at stake and he damaged another’s property to save his life, he must pay for the damage.” (C.M. 380:3; 359:4)
“OK, but am I allowed to call the locksmith?” asked Mr. Schloss. “Can I break the lock with intention to pay?”
“If you don’t have a reasonable alternative, and waiting until the morning would cause great hardship,” replied Rabbi Dayan, “you could break the lock with intention to replace the cylinder immediately with a comparable or better one.”
“Can you please elaborate?” asked Mr. Schloss.
“The SM”A [378:1’ explains that, in general, it is prohibited to damage even with intention to pay, just as one is not allowed to steal with intention to pay,” explained Rabbi Dayan. “However, if you will have the locksmith replace the lock immediately with a superior quality lock, then the Rosh maintains it is permissible, since presumably it is a zechus for the owner. An identical lock would also seem permitted, since it is zeh neheneh v’zeh lo chaser, and we would presume the owner wouldn’t mind unless we know otherwise.” (C.M. 359:2; Pischei Teshuvah C.M. 359:3)