The halacha allows for freedom of contract between landlord and tenant. Sometimes, however, the parties to the lease agreement are not specific about all of its terms. The halacha will then step in and fill the gaps in the contract. Thus, it may be that the parties have not stipulated as to the duration of the lease. Does this mean the tenant has the right to stay in the landlord’s house forever? Or does it perhaps mean that the landlord can evict the tenant at any time?
In this situation the halacha rules that the landlord does have the right to evict the tenant as long as he gives the tenant advance notice of the eviction. The purpose of the notice is to allow the tenant sufficient time to find alternative premises.
The length of the advance eviction notice required by the halacha depends on the season in which the eviction occurs and the location of the premises. If the eviction occurs during the summer, that is, any time between Pesach and Sukkot, and the rented premises are not located in a major commercial city, the landlord must give the tenant thirty days’ notice. If the eviction occurs during the winter – that is, any time between Sukkot and Pesach – the landlord cannot evict the tenant until the end of winter. If the rented premises are in a location where space is rarely available, such as in major commercial city centers, the landlord must give the tenant twelve months notice.
Similarly, if the lease is a commercial lease in which the tenant conducts his business, the landlord must give the tenant twelve months notice, irrespective of the location of the business. Conversely, if the tenant wishes to leave the tenancy, he must either give the landlord the same amount of notice (to allow the landlord sufficient time to find an alternative tenant), pay the landlord rent in lieu of the notice period, or find a substitute tenant reasonably acceptable to the landlord for immediate occupancy.
If the market rent of the premises rises during the period of notice, the tenant must pay the increased market rent. Similarly, if the market rent falls during the notice period, the tenant is entitled to a reduction in rent. The landlord cannot, however, arbitrarily increase the rent so as to force the tenant out during the notice period.
What happens if the landlord’s house burns down and now the landlord needs the leased premises for his own use? Or if the landlord’s daughter gets married from one day to the next and the young couple needs a place to live? Can the landlord evict the tenant on the grounds of self-need? The answer is that as long as the lease has no stated duration, the landlord can indeed evict the tenant under these circumstances provided he gives 30 days’ notice.
None of this applies when the lease has a stated duration. The tenant who enters into a lease for a defined period of time and pays the agreed upon rent cannot be evicted before that time has expired. However, when the term of the lease is up, the tenant must vacate the premises whatever the season, wherever the location, and whether the lease was residential or commercial This is because he knows his departure date in advance and has plenty time and notice to make alternative arrangements and notifications. Further, the rent cannot be unilaterally increased by the landlord or reduced by the tenant even if the market rent has increased or decreased during the agreed-upon term of the lease.
The halacha requires the landlord to bear the cost of all professional work required in the leased premises such as the hanging of doors, the installation of locks, and the repair of roofs and windows. The tenant must bear the cost of all do-it-yourself work. The tenant must also fence the perimeter of the roof and affix mezuzot to the doorposts of the leased premises.
Upon vacating the premises, the tenant may not remove the mezuzot because this would deprive the incoming residents of the mezuzah’s protection. If the outgoing tenant has expensive mezuzot attached to the rental premises which he would rather not leave to the incoming tenant, he may take them down and replace them with less expensive mezuzot, the cost of which he may claim from the incoming tenant.
If, however, the landlord or the incoming tenant is a non-Jew, then upon vacating the premises the Jewish tenant must remove all mezuzot out of concern that they might be desecrated.