I have been looking for a vacation rental online and finally found a property that I was interested in. This property was to be used to house my in-laws during my upcoming wedding. The property is located in California, and I live in Colorado. After a number of emails were exchanged between myself and the property owner, we agreed to the rental terms by email. In one email, I re-iterated the rental terms (ie. dates agreed upon, total cost, deposit amount, the names on the rental agreement, etc). The property owner responded by confirming the terms.
The owner then said he would email me documents to sign and send to him along with a certified check. When I received the documents, I printed them out, signed it and sent them to him along with the check. It turns out, he had provided an incorrect address (he had forgotten a digit in his address), so he claimed he never received it and would retract on his offer. After calling to complain, it turns out that his previous tenant had asked to extend their rental lease for additional months, which would overlap my stay.
I just want to know if our email agreement is legally binding.
Related Blogs
- How to Create a Thorough Vacation Rental Agreement | Vacation Destinations
- Room Rental Agreement Form – Protecting Your Interests When Renting Out A Room
- Tenants Guide to Advance Payment of Previous Month’s Rent
- Email Signatures | The Web Company
- When signing a rental lease for a NYC apartment | NYC Apartments RDNY.com
- » Will my incorrect address give me problems collecting my ticket?
- Help: Wrong Address in "To" Field | Mobile Phone Files Download
- Benefits Of Using Email Marketing For Your Website or Blog « Brad's World of Online Trends
- 31 Items to put in your Lease Addenda Rental Form | DIY Index
- DanArticles » Blog Archive » Properly Sending Your Wedding Invitations
Probably not. The first place to look is in the contract itself. It is probably silent as to the enforceability of email documents. Generally, I put a clause that says "facsimile or other electronic signatures are valid as originals and documents may be signed in parts or counterparts as one original." Something to that effect. Absent that language or other such acknowledgement, the agreement is probably not binding because it is not signed by both parties, andmore importantly not signed by the party who would be in breach.
It’s a vacation. Just rent another property. If the email address was incorrect as you said, he clearly did not get it. Your statement here admits this is true. If he did not get it and he can prove he did not, your claim really has no validity.
July 29, 2010 @ 6:02 pm