Do debts for renting a house or car get annulled in the Shemitah year

Hello, I am an elderly woman abroad, I have no debts, and I also do not have a Jewish bank account. I have an additional apartment nearby, and the tenant pays me rent in cash, and I live off the cash. The tenant has a small debt. Additionally, the tenant sometimes takes my car and pays by the hour. Apart from a small debt for the apartment rent and a bit for the car, no Jew owes me anything, and I owe nothing to any Jew. Does the Prozbul apply to me?

Hello and blessings, debts for renting a house or car are not annulled in the Shemitah year, but some hold that they are considered like loans and are annulled. Therefore, it is advisable to make a Prozbul. Additionally, if you have a balance in a bank or a pension fund, it is very possible that even abroad it is under Jewish ownership, so it is always advisable to make a Prozbul. If it is difficult for you, you can appoint an agent to make a Prozbul for you, and you can happily seek assistance from our Beit Din.

We learned in the Tractate Sheviit (Chapter 10, Mishnah 1) that Shemitah annuls loans documented and undocumented. "Store credit" is not annulled, but if it becomes a loan, it is annulled. "Wages of a hired worker" are not annulled, but if they become a loan, they are annulled. In explaining why "store credit" and "wages of a hired worker" are not annulled, two approaches are mentioned. The first approach, which is the opinion of most early authorities, see Tosafot Gittin 18a, Tosafot Ketubot 55a, and others, is that only a loan is annulled, but a debt incurred from a sale or labor is not annulled. The second approach is the Rambam's opinion, according to the explanation of Beit Yosef (Choshen Mishpat, Siman 67) and Kesef Mishneh (Chapter 9, Laws of Shemitah and Yovel, Halacha 11), and it is also the law in Sema (Siman 67, Sifkat 26) and Shulchan Aruch HaRav (Laws of Loans, Paragraph 39), that not only a debt incurred by a loan is annulled, but any debt, even if incurred by sale or labor. The reason "store credit" and "wages of a hired worker" are not annulled is that in their time, it was customary to buy on credit for a long period, and only when a large sum accumulated, they would pay. Therefore, at the end of the Shemitah year, it was not yet a debt ready for collection, and thus it is not annulled. The same applies to "wages of a hired worker," which were not usually paid immediately but only after a large sum accumulated, and at the end of the Shemitah year, it was not yet a debt ready for collection. There is a practical difference between these two approaches: in our time, when it is customary to pay after a short period, such as a monthly salary paid to a worker, according to most early authorities, it is not annulled because it is not a debt due to a "loan," but according to the Rambam, it is annulled. Similarly, "store credit" in our time, when it is customary to pay once a month, according to most early authorities, it is not annulled (if it was not converted into a loan) as it falls under the category of "store credit," but according to the Rambam, it is annulled because "store credit" mentioned in the Mishnah is only when at the end of the Shemitah year the debt is not ready for collection. However, even in the case of "store credit," if it was "converted into a loan," the debt is annulled [and this is the intention of the Mishnah "if it becomes a loan, it is annulled"]. What is "converted into a loan," we find many opinions, and we will list some: the opinion of the Rosh (Tractate Gittin, Chapter 7, Siman 17), that it is setting a time for repayment of the debt before Rosh Hashanah, and the opinion of Mordechai (Tractate Shevuot, page 8 according to Mordechai), if the total of all the debt is written together.