A seller writes a 'gift' deed to help a buyer avoid the neighbor's bar metzra claim. The buyer later admits it was a sale. What is the law?
When the buyer admits the 'gift' was actually a sale, the deception is invalidated and bar metzra applies — the neighbor can displace the buyer and pay the sale price.
Question 2
Does bar metzra apply when property is exchanged for other property (rather than sold for money)?
Bar metzra does not apply to property exchanges — only to outright sales for money. An exchange is a different type of transaction.
Question 3
A purchaser improved a property before the neighbor displaced him. What must the neighbor pay?
The displacing neighbor must pay both the original purchase price and compensation for all improvements the buyer made — he cannot benefit from the buyer's investment without paying for it.
Question 4
An agent conducts a sale of property. The agent is also a neighbor of the sold property. Can he invoke bar metzra?
An agent cannot invoke bar metzra against the buyer in a sale he himself conducted — he cannot use his neighbor status to personally benefit from the transaction he arranged for someone else.
Question 5
When a neighbor sells his adjacent field to the same purchaser, does he lose his bar metzra rights against the purchaser?
When the neighbor sells his own adjacent land to the same purchaser, he has effectively accepted him as a neighbor and forfeits any bar metzra claim against him.