I am renting an apartment and the landlord refuses to keep the apartment in satisfactory condition; in fact, conditions are bad enough that under secular law I can create an escrow account to put my rent money and sue the landlord in housing court. But the landlord is Jewish so I have to take him to beit din instead. Halachically, do I still have to pay him the rent pending the beit din proceeding (which can take a long time) or can I set up an escrow account? Or do I have to pay him at all pending the beit din proceeding since the landlord is not doing what he agreed to do in terms of giving me the quality of apartment we had agreed to?
Thank you for the opportunity to pose these questions; I understand that this is a learning opportunity and does not substitute for consulting one’s own Rav for a psak halachah.