1) The apartment we rent used to be used for an Iriya gan. I think this means it was exempt from Arnona. When I’ve asked our current landlord about Arnona, they’ve said “don’t worry about it”. That’s fine for them to say, but we’re benefiting from the Iriya’s services, such as trash collection, so could it be that we’re stealing from the Iriya?
2) I’ve been getting payments (“d’mei avtala”) from Bituach Leumi. They recently transferred to me a payment which may be a mistake – it was much higher than expected. I imagine I am obligated to call them to confirm whether or not this was a mistake, and that if I don’t and it was a mistake I’d be “over” on gezel. Would you agree?
Thank you
Answer:
1) In principle, you are right: You are benefiting from the municipality’s services, so that you ought to be paying arnona. However, if you have offered to pay, and the municipality’s response is that you don’t have to pay, then you don’t have to go further than this.
The clerk at the municipality has the jurisdiction to make such decisions, and you have no obligation to go beyond what they tell you.
2) If you suspect that you are being overpaid, you should certainly contact the bituach leumi and ask them about it. There is room to dispute whether actual gezel is possible with regard to the State, but it is certainly wrong to take money that is being given by mistake, and therefore you should check it out.
Best wishes.
