Minhag Hamedinah
Common Commercial Practice #28
Fixing the Roof
Q. I own a ground floor apartment in a multi-dwelling building. The roof is leaking into the upmost apartment and needs repair. Must I share in the expense?
A: In the times of the Gemara, the roof belonged to the upmost apartment alone, and he was responsible for fixing it. Rema (C.M. 164:1), citing the Rosh, rules accordingly. Elsewhere, Rema (C.M. 155:4) writes that if the leak from the roof affects the lower floors, the tenants below share in the expense. The Acharonim address this apparent contradiction, and provide various resolutions to the two statements (see Pis’chei Choshen, Nezikin 15:39[84]).
Nowadays, however, the roof is usually defined as the joint property of all the tenants, so that by law they are all required to share in necessary repairs. This is true especially if the tenants use the roof for solar panels, hanging laundry, storage, etc. (Pis’chei Choshen, Shutafim 4:8[11]; Chasam Sofer C.M. 155:4).
In this regard, we follow the minhag hamedinah (Minchas Yitzchak 7:126).
