Brokerage Statutes – Shield Or Sword?

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For some reason, it seems that the business of real estate brokerage is subject to a little more scrutiny than experienced by other businesses. For example, there is a common law principle known as the Statute of Frauds. A book could be written about this aspect of the common law and its subsequent incorporation in most state statutes (written law). We won’t write one today.

Most jurisdictions have some form of a Statute of Frauds, and it appears that all or almost all “derive from the Statute for the Prevention of Frauds and Perjuries passed by [the English] Parliament in 1677.” Despite such a lofty name, some have described these laws as “Statutes to Perpetrate Fraud.”

We aren’t going to assume that all readers already know what this kind of “Statute” covers, so here goes. When someone speaks of the Statute of Frauds, she or he is referring to a law that requires enforceable agreements to be in writings signed by the parties against whom someone wants the agreement enforced. The Statute never applied to all agreements and good quality Swiss cheese doesn’t have as many holes as does the Statute of Frauds. [Read more…]

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