Anyone with an automatic email signature should take note of this court decision. It looked at what is needed to satisfy the statutory requirement for a signature on contracts for the sale/other disposition of land. Here, an automatic email footer was enough to bind the sender to the terms of settlement proposals, particularly when accompanied with a "Many thanks" at the end. Take note: using a "subject to contract" heading is usually a good idea if you are not intending to be bound by the contents of your correspondence. Head to our Property Patter podcast if you want to learn more about using such headings...
It was held that, so long as the inclusion of the person’s name was for the purpose of giving authenticity to the document, then an automatic email sign-off could result in the document being “signed” for the purposes of the relevant provisions of the Law of Property (Miscellaneous Provisions) Act 1989.
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