Email, WhatsApp and Text Messages can be binding

In the case of Hudson v Hathway [2022] the Court of Appeal has confirmed two points of importance in day to day cases.

The first is that a cohabitee seeking to establish a trust for example by way of contribution to the purchase of a property must show that they have relied to their detriment on the terms of the alleged agreement. 

The second starts out as a technical point on the formalities required for “dispositions of equitable interests in land” ie agreements about how land is to be owned and resulted in the appeal being dismissed because the appellant had formally signed away his interest by an email signature held to comply with the provisions of the Law of Property Act 1925. 

It is well established that an email can satisfy the requirement for a signature to be “written” but the previous authorities on the point were cases in a commercial context. This decision now confirms those principles are applicable in a domestic consumer context so may well mean that communications made by WhatsApp, text message and email are capable of being binding particularly where the relationship between the parties is personal. 

Social media and electronic communications have always held legal pitfalls but it now looks as though the late night subsequently regretted WhatsApp or text might be binding.

Please contact Joanna Gardner or Denise McCabe for specialist help and advice in all aspects of family law at joanna.gardner@smesolicitors.co.uk or denise.mccabe@smesolicitors.co.uk 

Added: 23 Jan 2023 10:11

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