The Forms Committee
believes that when forms are easy for people to use and
understand fewermistakes andmisunderstandings will occur.
(B) NO AUTHORITY TO BIND. Another issue which arises in real estate disputes is
whether a party’s broker or affiliated licensee has the legal authority to bind the party. Now every real estate broker or licensee worth his or her salt knows that a party’s real estate broker or licensee has no authority to bind the party in a real estate transaction. However, it is amazing how many lawyers argue just the opposite in real estate disputes, particularly, if it suits their purposes. So, for ex- ample, in situations where there is no written contract signed by both the buyer and seller, a lawyer may argue that the broker or licensee of the party had the implied authority to bind the party and did so through some ac- tion on the part of the broker or licensee. To minimize the frequency of this argument being made, the GAR Forms Committee added language to the Purchase and Sale Agreement clearly stating that a party’s broker or affili- ated licensee has no authority to bind the party simply be- cause he or she is a broker or licensee for a party.
While a real estate broker or licensee can legally bind
his or her principal if the principal executes a power of attorney to that effect, this authority to bind comes from the power of attorney and not by virtue of the broker or licensee acting in the capacity of a broker or licensee.
(C) REVISED NOTICE SECTION. The notice section of the GAR Purchase and Sale Agree -
ment has long been one of the most debated sections of the GAR Purchase and Sale Agreement. Failing to give good notice or receive it can result in harsh consequences to a party. It should therefore come as no surprise that no matter what type of notice provision is included in a contract, there will always be situations where notice is sent but alleged not to have been received, not sent but alleged to have been sent or sent late but alleged to have been timely sent. For many years, notice sent by facsimilewas given pref- erence in the GAR Forms by providing that notice sent by
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