The plaintiff offered in writing to purchase a leasehold house, but the letter was to take effect ‘on signing of a formal contract’ and ‘This offer is subject to a formal contract to embody such reasonable provisions as my solicitors may approve’. The offer was accepted, but the defendant backed out.
Held: No formal contract was created.
L Sterndale said: ‘I am far from saying that there may not be an unconditional offer and acceptance of a binding contract although the letters may contain the words ‘subject to a formal contract’, but certainly those words do point in the direction of the offer or acceptance being conditional. I do not think it can be put higher than that; I think he is well founded in saying that the general trend of the decisions has been, where those words occurred, to hold that the offer or acceptance was conditional.’
LJ Sterndale, Sargant LJ
[1921] 90 LJ Ch 204, [1921] 1 Ch 57, [1921] 124 LTR 294, [1921] 37 TLR 45, [1921] 65 Sol Jo 59
England and Wales
Citing:
Followed – Winn v Bull ChD 19-Nov-1877
By an agreement in writing, the defendant agreed with the plaintiff to take a lease of a house. The other details were included, but the agreement was ‘subject to the preparation and approval of a formal contract’. The plaintiff sought specific . .
Cited by:
Cited – Confetti Records (A Firm), Fundamental Records, Andrew Alcee v Warner Music UK Ltd (Trading As East West Records) ChD 23-May-2003
An agreement was made for the assignment of the copyright in a music track, but it remained ‘subject to contract’. The assignor later sought to resile from the assignment.
Held: It is standard practice in the music licensing business for a . .
Lists of cited by and citing cases may be incomplete.
Contract, Landlord and Tenant
Updated: 19 January 2022; Ref: scu.183732