Required Elements of a Real Estate Contract To establish legality, a real estate contract must include a legal purpose, legally competent parties, agreement by offer and acceptance, consideration and consent. Legal purpose and legal capacity: The real estate contract must have a legal purpose. In addition, both parties must be of legal age, in their right mind, and NOT under the influence of drugs or alcohol. A contract must also be entered into freely, without coercion, threats, blackmail, misrepresentation or fraud.
As a result, the lack of a closing date would not prevent a real estate contract from becoming enforceable. This element is the requirement that the parties to the contract have voluntarily and knowingly consented to the terms of the contract. Acceptance: In a real estate contract, this will be done by the recipient of the offer, which could be the seller or the buyer, depending on whether counteroffers were made. On the other hand, certain provisions that are often found in a real estate contract are not considered essential.
In addition to the requirement that a contract for the sale of land must be in writing and signed, there are several other provisions of such an agreement that Florida courts have considered essential terms of a real estate contract. An example of a provision that has been considered not to be an essential term of the real estate contract is a provision that specifies when the closing will occur. However, the non-essential terms listed above are not necessary for the agreement to be legally enforceable. For real estate, no matter how the contract is drafted, if the seller isn't the legal owner, it won't work.
The main reason this agreement cannot be legally enforced is because, in Florida, a land sale contract is not enforceable unless the agreement is made in writing and signed by the parties to the agreement. Often, a prospective seller of real estate and a potential buyer of real estate will informally agree on a price with each other, they can shake hands, and they can even expressly say to each other: “I agree to buy your land and “I agree to sell you my land. If a prospective buyer or seller of real estate intends to buy or sell real estate in Florida, they must be able to trust and enforce their real estate contract. Real estate sales are governed by the Fraud Statute, which means that contracts must be in writing to be valid.
It then becomes legally enforceable, which means that parties can be legally required to comply with the terms of the contract. It's important to be familiar with these aspects of real estate contracts, especially if you don't have a real estate agent or if the property is for sale by owner (FSBO).
