Participation in the Payment for Tarring the Roof
Question
1. Are the owners of the stores at the bottom of the building obligated to participate in the expenses of tarring the shared roof?
2. What is the halacha if the tarring was done on a part of the roof that is not above them?
3. Further to the previous question: must residents on the lower floors participate in tarring the shared roof when their apartments are not under the section that was tarred, but rather under another part of the roof that belongs privately to a neighbor?
Answer
Shalom u’vrachah.
1. All residents who are under the tarred roof must participate in the tarring expenses, including those on the lower floors.
2–3. Residents who are not under the tarred roof, according to halacha, do not need to participate; however, according to Israeli law, they do need to participate.
Therefore, if it was stipulated that the building would be governed according to the law, they must participate. If it was not stipulated, they are exempt.
