Arachin, Chapter 9, Mishnah 4. This chapter has been working its way through the laws of selling fields and houses, and in particular the house in a walled city, the bayit b'ir chomah, which the seller may redeem for a full twelve months from the day of sale. Until now we have learned about that year of redemption. Now the Mishnah turns to the other side of the clock: what happens to the house when the twelve months run out and no redemption has taken place.
The mishnah rules: "Higia yom shenem asar chodesh", once the day completing the twelfth month has come, "velo nig'al", and no act of redemption was performed, "hayah chalut lo", the house is now fixed in the hands of the one who bought it. Nothing remains to the seller. No later chance to redeem is open to him, and Yovel offers him no relief either: unlike a sold field, this house is never restored to its original owner. It stays where it is, with the purchaser.
Not Only a Sale, But Also a Gift
"Echad haloke'ach", this holds true for one who paid and bought, "ve'echad shenitan lo matanah", and equally for one to whom the house was simply handed over as a present, "shene'emar: latzmitut", as the pasuk expresses it, latzmitut. However the house reached him, by money or without money, twelve months closing with no redemption leave it his for good.
The source lies in a nuance of the Torah's wording. Scripture teaches that a house left unredeemed through those twelve months passes over latzmitut, permanently. A briefer form, tzamit, would have conveyed exactly the same meaning. The extra letters of latzmitut come to widen the halachah past the case of a sale: even a person who was given the property for nothing holds it forever once the year of redemption has run out.
The Buyer Who Would Disappear
The mishnah now records a distortion that arose in practice. "Barishonah hayah nitman", in earlier times the buyer would conceal himself. Everything turned on one date, "yom shenem asar chodesh", the closing day of the twelve months, "sheyehei chalut lo", so that the house would become his outright. On that decisive day he made himself impossible to locate, leaving the seller with nobody to place the redemption money before. Nightfall came, no redemption had been carried out, and ownership was sealed in the buyer's favor.
Hillel Hazaken's Enactment
"Hitkin Hillel Hazaken sheyehei choleish et ma'otav balishkah, vihei shover et hadelet venichnas." Hillel Hazaken legislated a remedy. A seller who wants his house back is no longer required to track the buyer down. He counts out his redemption money and consigns it to the lishkah, the treasury chamber of the Temple, and from that moment the redemption is valid. He may then walk over to the property, force the door open, step inside, and resume ownership of what was once again his.
"Eimatai sheyirtzeh halaz, yavo veyitol ma'otav." And what of the buyer who hid himself away? Nothing has been taken from him. His payment is being held on his behalf, and at whatever moment he pleases he may present himself at the lishkah and pick up his coins.