Parents of a young couple rented a Dira for them and signed on the contract (agreeing of course that they would pay — however, of course it’s the young couple that will be the ones actually living there). However, the parents have not been paying the rent. Can the Baal Ha-Dira claim payment from the young couple, since they live there, or not?
Answer:
For the time that has not been paid, the payment cannot be requested from the children, but only from the parents, with whom the contract was made.
However, the homeowner has the right to ask the young couple to leave the apartment, on account of non-payment. If they wish to remain in the apartment, they will have to sign a new contract, according to which they are obligated to pay the rental. The homeowner can also make their continued stay in the apartment contingent on their agreement to pay the outstanding debt.
A similar question is addressed concerning the payment of shadchanus, for which the Erech Shai (no. 185) rules that even when parents are unable or unwilling to pay the shadchanus fees, the chassan and the kallah themselves are not obligated in their stead.
The reason he gives for this is that since children don’t generally have an independent income, it is considered as though a stipulation was made that the shadchan is working exclusively for the parents, and payment cannot be claimed from the children.
The contract, in this case, is seen as a similar explicit stipulation, so that based on the terms of the contract, payment cannot be claimed from the children, and a new contract must be written up for future months.
