Question: Can you use a Text to give notice in a contract?
Answer: Short answer, yes and no. According to Section 18 of the REPC: Except as provided in Section 23, all notices required under the REPC must be: (a) in writing; (b) signed by the Buyer or Seller giving notice; and (c) received by the Buyer or the Seller, or their respective agent, or by the brokerage firm representing the Buyer or Seller, no later than the applicable date referenced in the REPC. An example of a Notice would be a cancellation, or a subject to sale change. A text notice is unacceptable in this case.
However in Section 23: under communication it states the following: “Acceptance” occurs only when all of the following have occurred: (a) Seller or Buyer has signed the offer or counteroffer where noted to indicate acceptance; and (b) Seller or Buyer or their agent has communicated to the other party or to the other party’s agent that the offer or counteroffer has been signed as required. In this circumstance, a text message is acceptable for communication.
More on Acceptance vs. Notices from Curtis Bullock:
Realtor® Legal Tip – “Acceptance” vs. “Notice.”
1) How is an offer or counter offer Accepted according the the REPC? Section 23 indicates that Acceptance occurs when 2 things happen: 1) the offer is signed where noted to indicate Acceptance, and 2) the fact that the offer has been signed as Accepted has been communicated to the other party.
2) What about a Notice and how is that different? Suppose you need to send over a Notice of Cancellation to the Seller after your Buyer decides to cancel based on the Due Diligence. How does this need to happen? Section 23 of the REPC as described above is inapplicable. Instead, a Notice is governed by Section 18 of the REPC. For a Notice to be effective there are 3 things that need to happen: 1) it must be in writing, 2) it must be signed, and 3) it must actually be received by the other party.
So be sure to understand the difference between an Acceptance of an offer or counter offer and a Notice (i.e., Notice of Cancellation, etc) and don’t confuse the two. They are very different.