Question: I represent buyers in a transaction. They wrote an offer to purchase a property. The sellers issued a counter-offer. The buyers signed the counter-offer and returned it to the sellers within the time frame permitted. The sellers now want to renegotiate the deal and the listing agent claims that they can do so, because the counter-offer was not acknowledged. Is there a binding contract?
Answer: Yes. There is a binding contract. An acknowledgment is a professional courtesy, but not a condition of forming a contract.
-Shannon B. Jones, Partner, sbj@sbj-law.com