Question:
The NOTICES clause in Agreement of Purchase and Sale Form 100 (Ontario) enables the parties to send notices to one another through either fax or email.
Typically, if there is no multiple representation issue, the two Brokerages will include their fax numbers.
Now that emails are also permitted, whose address should that be: the Brokerage’s or the actual sales representative?
Answer:
Very few Brokerages would have the ability to deal with and handle emails in a reasonable and efficient manner.
There are just bound to be problems.
Time is of the essence in a transaction. What do you do when there is a problem?
Assuming an email is to be received by 5:00 pm, since that was the deadline, who would be watching for it?
Assuming that it was received by 4:57 pm, who would be looking for the proof? Of course, there can always be problems. But, you need to have an experienced professional looking after issues as they arise, and not “reception” in a brokerage.
I think that the safest course of action is to have the salesperson’s email.
The difficulty will relate to good service from the email carrier, and regular observation by the sales representative. If either of these matters present issues then the sales representative’s email address would be the better choice.
Brian Madigan LL.B., Broker