Rambam - 1 Chapter a Day

The following rules apply when a person desires to sell a field and brings his neighbor and the prospective purchaser to court. If he tells the neighbor: "If you desire to buy the field at this and this price, do so. If not, withdraw. Here is the purchaser," the neighbor has no room to protest. He must either bring money immediately and purchase the field or waive his privilege.

If the neighbor says: "I will work to raise money," he is not heeded. If he says: "I will go and bring money," and one would presume that he possesses the resources at hand, we wait until he goes and brings the funds. If one would not presume that he possesses the resources, we do not heed him, for we assume that he is merely seeking to delay. Therefore, we tell him: "Either produce the funds immediately or waive your privilege." The rationale is that a neighbor is not given time to amass funds.

The following rule applies when both the neighbor and the prospective purchaser produce money, and the coins produced by the purchaser are better or more likely to be accepted than those produced by the neighbor. The neighbor is not given a privilege; the property may be sold without his being given the right to displace the purchaser.

If the prospective purchaser desires to buy the property to build houses, and the neighbor desires to purchase it as a field, the purchaser is granted it because of the virtue of settling the land. The neighbor is not granted the privilege of displacing him.

If a purchaser comes and consults with a neighbor, asking him: "So and so, your neighbor desires to sell his field to me; should I purchase it?", the neighbor does not forfeit his right even if he tells him: "Go and purchase it." Instead, he may displace him after he purchases it unless he performs a kinyan confirming that he does not desire the property.

When is it necessary for the neighbor to confirm that he has no claim against the purchaser with a kinyan? When he makes such statements before he purchases the property. If, however, he waives his right after he purchases the property - e.g., the neighbor comes and helps the purchaser, rents a piece of the property from him, or sees that he is building or destroying even the smallest portion of the property and using it as his own - and the neighbor does not protest or assert a claim, he is considered to have waived his right and he is not given another opportunity to displace him.

When the neighbor was in another country, sick or below the age of majority, and afterwards he recuperated, came of age or returned from the journey, he does not have the right to displace the purchaser. If he were given such a right, a person would never be able to sell his landed property. For the purchaser would fear: "It will be taken from me at a later date." The Geonim have ruled in this manner.

The following rules apply when a person sells property that is worth 200 zuz for a maneh. If the seller would discount the price for everyone, the neighbor is required to pay the purchaser only 100 zuz before he displaces him. If the seller would not discount the price for everyone, the neighbor must pay the purchaser the 200 zuz that the property is worth. For it is as if the seller gave the purchaser a gift.

If a person purchased property worth a maneh for 200 zuz, a neighbor cannot displace him unless he gives him 200.

If the neighbor protests: "They are perpetrating an act of deception together, "the purchaser must take an oath while holding a sacred article. Afterwards, he may collect the 200 zuz.

If there were witnesses that the purchaser gave 200 zuz, but the neighbor claims that there was an agreement between him and the seller, and that he definitely knows that in truth the seller took only 100 zuz from him, the neighbor must pay the amount of money the witnesses stated. Afterwards, he may displace the purchaser and require him to take a sh'vuat hesset that he purchased the property for 200 zuz. After taking that oath, he is under no further obligations.

The following rules apply whenever a person wants to sell landed property and two people come offering to purchase it, and each one is willing to pay the same price and neither of them is a neighbor. If one of the prospective purchasers was an inhabitant of the city and the other dwelled in the outlying fields, the inhabitant of the city is given priority.

If one of them lives close to the property being sold, and the other is a Torah scholar, the Torah scholar is given priority. Similarly, if one is a relative and the other is a Torah scholar, the Torah scholar is given priority. If one is a relative, and the other lives close to the property, the one who lives close to the property is given priority, for this is also an act of "good and justice."

In any of the above situations, if the other person acted first and acquired the property, his colleague does not have the right to displace him. For neither of them owns property bordering on the property being sold, and our Sages established these rules only as an expression of piety and a generous spirit.

This concludes the Laws of Neighbors.