daf bit: Bava Metzia 65

[cellio]

The torah forbids charging interest (to a fellow Jew), and the talmud in this tractate discusses other cases of taking financial advantage (intentional or not). The current discussion is about buying real estate. Consider a case where a man sold a field and the buyer paid part of the price (a deposit). Who is entitled to the proceeds between then and when the buyer pays the balance?

The g'mara brings a baraita (a teaching contemporary with the mishna), which says it depends: sometimes both can benefit, sometimes neither, sometimes the seller, and sometimes the buyer:

• Both are permitted if the seller stipulated: "acquire in proportion to your deposit"; they divide the proceeds fairly.
• If the seller said "when you bring the balance, acquire it from now", then both are forbidden, because the ultimate ownership is in question. The seller can't collect it because when the buyer pays the balance it will have been his, but the buyer can't collect it because if he doesn't pay the balance he will have benefitted unfairly. R' 'Anan says a third party holds it until it can be resolved.
• If the seller says "when you bring it, acquire it from then", then the seller gets the proceeds until the buyer pays the balance. The buyer agreed to those terms when he made the purchase, so it's fine.
• And if the seller says "acquire it from now and the balance is a loan from me", then the proceeds belong to the buyer, who now has full ownership of the field and a debt. This turns the transaction into two separate transactions, a sale and a loan. (65b)

So there are different legitimate terms for the deal, and the seller needs to stipulate. The text here doesn't talk about what happens if he didn't specify (i.e. is there a default?). While it seems logical that putting the proceeds in escrow until you know should be the default, it might not be: you usually have to pay a fee for escrow, so the proceeds are diminished. I don't know if the rabbis would consider that part of the cost of doing business, if you're buying or selling real estate at all.

Today's daf is 66.