Buying and Selling: Ruling on Selling Property with Lifetime Yield Reserved for Seller

Practical Laws of Islam as per the teachings of Imam Khamenei

Buying and Selling: Ruling on Selling Property with Lifetime Yield Reserved for Seller

English:

Question #1520:

Someone sold his orchard to someone else. The seller made a provision in the sale contract that the yield of the orchard belongs to him during his lifetime. Is such a deal valid?

Answer #1520:

There is no objection to selling some property without the return it makes for a definite period of time provided that the sold property has monetary value according to both shar‘ and common view that it is useful and productive at least after the agreed period. However, should the exception of the benefit for a non-specified period result in not knowing about the price of the property or the property itself, the sale is void because the sold item is of unknown specificities.

-Imam Khamenei, Practical Laws of Islam, Importance and Conditions of Buying and Selling