BRA Ontario - Electronic Communication

Buyer Representation Agreement Explained (Ontario) Part 14 ELECTRONIC COMMUNICATION

Here is the portion of the paragraph dealing with Electronic Communication.

10. ELECTRONIC COMMUNICATION: This Buyer Representation Agreement and any agreements, notices or other communications contemplated thereby may be transmitted by means of electronic systems, in which case signatures shall be deemed to be original. The transmission of this Agreement by the Buyer by electronic means shall be deemed to confirm the Buyer has retained a true copy of the Agreement.

Part 14 review

I will break up the paragraph and offer my commentary in “italics” as usual.

10. ELECTRONIC COMMUNICATION:

This Buyer Representation Agreement and

This is just the preamble.

any agreements, notices or other communications contemplated thereby

This reference also includes all communications which may arise.

may be transmitted by means of electronic systems,

This now just means some kind of electronic means. The addition here is intended to include email, text messages and the communication over the internet by whatever means, like Dropbox, Google Docs, Facebook etc. Telephone communications and fax machines were already contemplated. This is a further expansion of what is allowed.

in which case signatures shall be deemed to be original.

Changes in technology are taking place every day. There are new software systems and internet providers offering services like DocuSign.

If someone signs a document and sends it, they are prevented later from denying that it was their signature, That would not, of course, include fraud.

The transmission of this Agreement by the Buyer by electronic means

You might think this would say the parties, but it just says the buyer.

shall be deemed to confirm the Buyer has retained a true copy of the Agreement.

If the buyer sent it, then the buyer has a copy. That seems obvious. But, I suppose that they thought that it needed to be said.

Brian Madigan LL.B., Broker

www.iSourceRealEstate.com