A seller sells land with a pending dispute he does not disclose. Claims are filed after the sale but before the buyer makes any use of the land. What can the buyer do?
When claims arise before the buyer has made any use of the property, the sale is void — there is no greater defect than claimants arriving before the buyer has even benefited. The seller returns the money and fights the claimants himself.
Question 2
A seller sells land by document that does not mention his warranty obligation. Is he responsible if the land is later seized by the buyer's creditor?
Acharayut (warranty) is presumed in every sale even when not explicitly stated. Omission in the document is treated as a scribal error, not a conscious waiver. The seller is liable for expropriations through a Jewish court.
Question 3
A buyer's purchase is seized by a gentile court acting on claims that the seller stole the item. Is the seller liable?
Default warranty covers only expropriations through a Jewish court. Gentile court seizures, even if they claim the seller stole the item, are considered beyond the seller's control — the seller bears no liability.
Question 4
A seller warrants against 'all losses.' A river that previously irrigated the sold field dries up permanently. Is the seller liable under this extended warranty?
Even an explicit all-hazards warranty does not cover abnormal, unforeseeable events that no seller would contemplate when making such a promise. The scope of any condition is limited to what was within the stipulating party's mind at the time.
Question 5
Reuven sells a field to Shimon without warranty. Reuven then repurchases the field from Shimon, this time with Shimon's warranty. Reuven's creditor tries to seize the field. Can Reuven's creditor make Shimon pay via his warranty?
When Reuven repurchased with Shimon's warranty, that warranty covers claims from third parties (like Yaakov's heir). But Reuven himself cannot expropriate through that warranty — a seller cannot both sell and then seize the same property through warranty rights.