For donations Click Here

Chandelier Goes with the House?

A neighbor of mine, moved to Israel, and rented his house to another family. After leaving, the owner lost his house to the bank due to financial problems. The bank has since sold the house to an investor (frum yid). The investor is giving the renters some $ (approx. $5k) to help facilitate and expedite their relocation.
The renters agreed and are moving in 2 weeks, and as such are in a rush to have everything cleared out of the house. So they are giving away some of the furniture that they bought which they are not taking with them to their new (smaller) house. In addition, they are under the impression that the original owners let them have everything left in the house, and are giving away other items – keeping the house – that could be left.
My question is in regards to one item (a chandelier) which belonged to the original owner – the renters said we can have that also – replacing that with our (not nearly as nice) one so that the house still has a chandelier. I’m near certain that neither the bank nor the investors have not been allowed in the house by the renters to have any expectation of a high quality chandelier being there, or even if there would even be one at all

I’m not 100% sure whether the original told the renters that they can keep everything (we still keep touch with them so I can confirm) – but I’m sure the original owners would definitely tell us to have it in any event- I just want to confirm that (given their approval) I could in fact have it before mentioning it to the original owners (due to having lost their house, it’s probably a delicate topic – which although they’d talk freely to us about- I nonetheless want to check things first before bringing it up)
My question (I assume) is more in regards to the bank – do they own the chandelier (in which case the subsequent buyer owns it and if so – I would need their permission (though I doubt they would just give it away))
or if it wasn’t part of the house, repossessed and remained the possession of the original owner (perhaps given to the renters) – who I can get it from.

thanks

Answer:

Because it is not the general custom to sell houses with the chandelier on it, and the seller generally takes a (nice) chandelier with him, the chandelier does not go together with the house, and the bank does not own it.

Best wishes.

Sources:

See Shluchan Aruch, Choshen Mishpat 215:8 and 218:19.

Leave a comment

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *