Subject to Contract & More - Problematic Areas of Property Practice

Introduction

Exchange of contracts was a familiar and well-established process well before s.2 of the Law of Property (Miscellaneous Provisions) Act 1989 tightened the rules. The result was supposed to be that no-one should be in any doubt about whether they had contracted, but still cases arise in which parties have found themselves bound against their expectations.

Technology has played a part, and while electronic signatures are now a recognised feature of legal life, it is the ubiquity of email that lays traps for the unwary. The effectiveness of the ‘subject to contract’ label is continually tested in different factual contexts, and does not always protect, while the status of a ‘heads of terms’ document may be doubtful.

Overlay these features with the informal way in which parties may deal with each other, and the picture begins to look much less certain than one might have thought. This webinar examines problematic aspects of practice.

What You Will Learn

This webinar will cover the following:

• Becoming bound by email exchange
• Can informal exchange of contracts be effective?
• ‘Subject to contract’ - a matter of construction
• What is the status of heads of terms?
• Becoming bound through the operation of lease renewal procedures
• Contracts conditional on landlord’s consent - the pitfalls

This webinar was recorded on 30th October 2023