Q: Someone left the country for an extended time, neglecting his properties. If someone enhanced the properties in his absence, is that person entitled to compensation? How much?
A: Although beis din generally does not appoint a guardian for cogent adults, when a person is forced to flee due to danger and abandons his properties, beis din is supposed to appoint a guardian to tend to the properties. If the guardian or his agents enhance the property, they are considered as enhancing with authorization, and are entitled to the going rate (C.M. 285:2).
However, when a person leaves of his own accord and neglects his properties, beis din is not required to appoint a guardian for them (C.M. 285:4).
Even so, some Rishonim write that if someone enhanced the properties of his own accord, he is entitled to compensation like any other enhancer, depending on whether the property is fit for such an enhancement, etc. (Rivash #515, cited by Beis Yosef C.M. 375:2).
