Here we'll talk about renting a house. The continuation of the Perek (chapter) will really deal with rentals. Somebody rents a house to his friend, and they don't really discuss how long the lease is going to be. They talk about the monthly payment and the rent, but they don't talk about how long the terms of the lease are going to be. If we're talking about the wintertime, the owner is not allowed to throw the renter out of the house. He can't evict him or tell him to leave from Sukkot (Feast of Booths) until Pesach (Passover). During that time, most homes are already rented, and it would be very difficult for a person to find a new place to live. So you can't simply walk up to him after Sukkot and say, “I'd like you out in 30 days from now.” There's nowhere for him to go. Even though technically the owner of the house could say, “It's my house, and the terms have changed, and I don't want you here anymore,” the Hachamim (sages) instituted this because we don't want to have this problem. We don't want to put somebody out on the street. You have to have a certain clarity and understanding of whether people need time to find a new house. The same thing applies to the person renting. He can't simply pick up and leave one day; he also has to give notice to the owner of the house. During the winter months, the owner is not allowed to tell the renter to leave; he has to wait until after Pesach, when new homes become available. If he does want to tell him to leave during the winter, he has to notify him during the summer. The owner of the house has to notify the renter during the summer, which means at least 30 days before the start of the winter season. Before the rains come, when homes are still available for rent, he'd have to tell him. So we would say that is the 15th of Elul (month of Elul). Sukkot is the 15th of Tishrei (month of Tishrei), so 30 days beforehand is the 15th of Elul. By that time, the owner would have to tell the renter that he wants him out so he can find a new place to go. If the owner also wants the renter to leave the house during the summer months, he would have to give him 30 days' notice, telling him 30 days in advance in order to allow him to find a new place to go.
This is the halacha (Jewish law) for regular towns, but in big cities, where there are a lot of people who want to live and finding a home is always very difficult, finding a rental becomes very complex. One day the heat and one day the rain, and the next day the rain. Whether the owner wants the renter to leave in the summer or in the winter, it doesn't matter. He has to give him 12 months' notice: “I'd like you out in one year,” in order to allow him to make the right preparations to move his family elsewhere.
But when it comes to stores, the halacha is different. When dealing with stores that are being rented, whether we're talking about towns or big cities, the owner has to tell the renter 12 months in advance that he'd like him to leave the store. A storekeeper usually sells on credit, and if he were to leave with very short notice, there would be customers who owe him money, and they wouldn't be able to find him or come to his store to pay him what they owe him. Therefore, the owner of that store has to give the renter 12 months' notice in order to allow him to collect all of his debts.
Rabban Shimon ben Gamliel omer, says Rabban Shimon ben Gamliel, if the store is being used by someone who is a nachtom, a baker, someone who sells bread, or someone who dyes fabrics, the owner of the store has to give the renter three years' notice in advance. These types of businesses allow buyers a very long term of credit. They would allow them to pay their bill over a very long term. Therefore, they need to stay in the same place for three years so they can collect what they're owed. They have to make the necessary preparations for leaving and collect everything they're owed before they go to a new spot. So when dealing with those specific types of trades, the owner of that storefront would have to give them three years' notice before he asks them to leave.