Day 62 Before we sign a contract

Before we sign a contract

A formal contract is necessary for both parties to sign when they reached certain agreements. It performs as the official guarantee that involved parties will carry out specific obligations and tasks defined by the terms in the contract. There will be many cases in our lives that we have to sign a contract. Thus it is important for us to comprehend every single term into the contract. 

Our signature have significant judicial power, which bind us with the contract. Even though we did not read the contract, signing it means we fully understand the terms and willing to undertake relative responsibilities. Consequently, we must read the contract car fully before we sign it. Since the court will assume the written formal contract to be a complete record of agreement, further addition to the terms will not bind us. So we should concentrate on the current terms only.  One useful tips that assist us to view the contract is to compare it with the official standard contract provided by the government. Generally, people will use these formal templates as the main body and add special considerations on it. Hence we can easily find out the differences and focus on them. Because basically the terms in the official contract are fair for both parties, thereby the frictions are generated from those non-standardized terms. While reading these terms, we should evaluate they are acceptable or not. We must negotiate with another party about any expressed term that is vague or unacceptable. Due to once we signed the contract, we are bond to it. So it is not likely there are going to be any variations to the contract. In my opinion, we should search for the key words such as ‘ compensation’ ‘ prohibit’ ‘ payment’ ‘ responsibilites’ ‘obligations’. That is because these factors will directly affect our benefit received from the contract. For example, if we are viewing a residential tenancies agreement, it is normal that the landlord will provide a contract based on Residential Tenancies Act 1997 and Residential Tenancies Regulations 2008. Therefore, the term we are looking for is quite straight-forward. We need to check the rent, bond, period, and premises that linked with our gain and cost from renting that property. In addition, we should check whether there are any other requirements specified by the landlord besides the standard tenancies contract. However, this does not mean that we should simply skip through the official contract, we need to read it as well in order to get the general idea of our obligations in the contract.

In conclusion, a vailed contract must be consisted with signature from all parties involved, terms without fraud and misrepresentation, plus each party has offered something of value. We must be extremely prudent and caucious before we sign a contract, thereby any terms we are not sure or not clear should be changed/indicated with notes.