My tenant (Yehudah) hasn’t paid his rent for half a year. I informed him that if he is not up to date by next month, I will have to evict him. Yehudah’s friend (Shmuel) heard about his predicament and offered to serve as a guarantor for the coming year until Yehudah can become more financially stable. Although I appreciate Shmuel’s gesture, if Yehudah cannot pay the money he owes, I feel that I have the right to evict him.

Q: Do I have the right to evict Yehudah even though I am assured of receiving rent for the coming year?

A: One point that must be emphasized is that if a tenant loses his right to remain in the apartment, it is prohibited for him to remain without the owner’s consent (see Rashbam, B.B. 57b and Sma 376:2). That said, we can discuss whether the tenant has lost his right to remain in the apartment.

When Reuven leases an apartment to Shimon for two years, regardless of whether the agreement is oral or recorded, Shimon acquired the right to use the apartment and Reuven may not evict Shimon from the property, even if Reuven needs to live there, e.g., his house became uninhabitable (C.M. 312:1). If there is no lease or the lease expired but Reuven allows Shimon to remain, Shimon’s protection from immediate eviction is Chazal’s enactment to protect tenants from becoming homeless due to insufficient time (subject to availability of apartments in the area) to find another residence (C.M. 312:5). Therefore, when there is no lease and the owner’s residence becomes uninhabitable, he may evict the tenant, since there is no reason the tenant should remain and the owner should be homeless (C.M. 312:11).

When a tenant does not pay his rent and does not have the means to pay his rent in the future, the owner may evict him, since the agreement was that the tenant would pay for use of the apartment (Maharit cited in Be’er Heiteiv 312:4). This right may be exercised even in the middle of the lease, even if the tenant will be evicted during the winter and will have difficulty finding another residence (Perach Mateh Aharon 1:42). Nevertheless, according to some authorities, if the landlord is assured that he will be paid rent in the future, e.g., someone else will pay his rent, the owner may not evict him. The allowance to evict a delinquent tenant is not a punishment for not paying past rent; it is because the owner does not have to allow a tenant who will not pay in the future to remain (Paamonei Zahav 312:5). Therefore in your circumstance, since Shmuel will cover Yehudah’s rent for the remainder of the lease, you do not have the right to evict Yehudah.

The above summarizes your rights; however, when appropriate, one should strive to go beyond the letter of the law (lifnim mishuras hadin) to assist a struggling tenant. Furthermore, the Imrei Emes of Gur suggests that you have a greater obligation than others to assist since this mitzvah came your way due to the fact that Yehudah is your tenant. He proves this from the Gemara (Gittin 41a), which states that the owner of a half-slave/half-free man is forced to free him so that he may marry and have children, and the slave must reimburse his former master for half his value. Chazal placed this obligation on the master rather than on others, since the master has a pre-existing relationship with the half-slave and thus bears greater responsibility to assist him. Similarly, since Yehudah is your tenant, you bear greater responsibility for him than others (Rosh Golas Ariel, p. 316).