In South Africa, for there to be a binding property contract you need an offer and an acceptance of that offer.

But must the person accepting the offer inform the other party that he is doing so before there is a contract, or is it good enough if he just signs the agreement?

Watch the wording of your contract carefully, says Ian Slot, Southern Region director for Seeff Properties. "Clauses may look similar, but sometimes a different word here or there can have serious consequences."

This was highlighted in the recent case of Withok Small Farms (Pty) Ltd and Others v Amber Sunrise Properties 5 (Pty) Ltd 2009 (2) SA 50 (SCA) where the court had to decide whether it was sufficient for the seller to sign acceptance of an offer, within a specified time, for a binding agreement of sale to come into effect or whether he actually had to still communicate his acceptance to the purchaser for there to be a binding sale agreement.

Slot said that in this particular case, the court decided that communication was not necessary as the agreement required the seller to specify when he signed acceptance, and the court felt that, if there was no binding contract until acceptance was communicated to the other party, then when precisely the seller signed it would have been irrelevant and the contract would not have called for that information.

"The Alienation of Land Act is silent on whether communication is necessary so the court looked at the wording of the agreement to determine the parties' intent," said Slot.

"If, for example, the agreement had specified who was authorised to accept communication of acceptance, then the court would, in all probability, have come to a different decision, with very different financial implications for the parties."

Slot said in terms of the Estate Agency Board's Code of Conduct, estate agents are required to protect the interests of the public and to perform their function with an acceptable level of professionalism. A significant part of this responsibility lies with the documentation the agency uses, he said.

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