sent to multiple persons in order to constitute good no- tice. In some cases, the agreed upon form of notice may effectively require the notice be sent a day or so before the notice is actually due.
For example, if a notice must be received by a party on a Thursday and the only means of permitted notice is by overnight delivery, the notice must be sent on Wednes- day in order to arrive by the Thursday deadline.While a court, in the interests of justice,may find that the parties waived the strict requirement for a particular form of no- tice if it can be proven that written notice was sent and received, the more likely result is for the court to enforce the terms of the contract and only find the notice to be effective if it was sent in accordance with the require- ments of the contract.
NEVER GIVE A VERBAL NOTICE One question that constantly arises in the notice area is whether verbal notice is ever good notice in a real estate contract where the contract itself requires the notice to be in writing. There are no reported appellate cases in Georgia where verbal notice was found to be sufficient in this situation. This is not a good sign. Moreover, since real estate contracts must generally be in writing to be en- forceable, courts would likely impose the same require- ment on notice sent under the contract to avoid situ- ations where it is just one party’s word against the other party as to whether notice was properly received. Addi- tionally, giving verbal notice may prematurely tip off the party to whom the notice was sent and cause them to send their own written notice that they may not other- wise have sent. So, for example, let’s say that a buyer tele- phones the seller and gives her verbal notice that she will be shortly sending over a notice towithdrawan offer that was made at an earlier time. Unless the contract is sub- ject to a due diligence period, a smart seller may try to immediately send written notice accepting the buyer’s written offer so as to lock the buyer into the contract.
CONCLUSION Notice continues to be an area in which there is much lit- igation between buyers and sellers. Insisting on a rea- sonable notice provision in the contract and then strictly complying with it is the best way for REALTORS® legal problems in this area.
to avoid
SETH G. WEISSMAN IS GENERAL COUNSEL TO THE GEORGIA ASSOCIATION OF REALTORS®
. HE IS
ALSO AN ADJUNCT PROFESSOR OF CITY PLANNING AT THE GEORGIA INSTITUTE OF TECHNOLOGY.
www.garealtor.com GEORGIA REALTOR® I 17
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