Is this contract legal ? ?

Question

I bought a small business three years ago and the vendor and myself drew up our own contract which was signed by witnesses but no solicitors were involved. Can anyone tell me if this contract is legal or not.

Answer 1

yes. so long as you both have signed the agreement and you have a witness signature then it is a legal binding contract  

Answer 2

If you both signed then for most contracts yes. It will not be enough if you were buying any land or property (e.g. business premises) unless it was registered with the Land Registry. Otherwise the effect will depend on the terms in the contract.

Answer 3

Yes,providing it is within Contract law.

Answer 4

The basic requirements for a valid (legally enforceable) contract are acceptance of an offer and payment of the agreed price. Not all contracts need to be drawn up by a solicitor. The point of using one is that they will base the document on a set of tried and tested standard terms & conditions. These should cover all the points you need to include and use precise language so that the contract has the legal effect the parties intend.

The potential issue with “DIY” contracts however is that they may not cover all the scenarios they should or are unclear. Potentially  this can cause problems if there are any disagreements after the contract is signed .One party may think they are entitled to something not covered in the contract or a particular term could be interpreted in a way that was not actually in your minds when you did the deal. That said you did the deal 3 years ago and presumably took the business over and paid for it. So the issue now is not “ Do I have a contract”  but: “What effect does it have 3 years on ?” .  

Answer 5

All we can tell you is that the fact that you drew it up yourselves without benefit of counsel doesn't make it *invalid*.

If the contract calls for anything illegal, it's invalid. If it calls for anything 'counter to public policy', it's invalid.

Other than that, should be perfectly legal and enforceable, so long as its meaning is clear and unambiguous.

There are a few exceptions to that rule - if the business sale included real estate, for example, there are specific requirements that must be met - but showing that they make the contract invalid would be the responsibility of the person trying to get out of it.

Richard

Answer 6

as far as I know it should be valid

Answer 7

A legal contract is one in which there was a meeting of the minds as to what the contract was about.  What each person was providing for their portion of the contract.  Witnesses make it better, but even still, not necessary.  So, it's a legal contract.