A judge has brought up to date a 30-year-old Supreme Court ruling that allows residential real estate contracts to be rescinded during a three-day review period. In this decision, the court declared that the rescission had to be delivered by certified mail, telegram or personal delivery.
However, Superior Court Judge Edward Coleman ruled last March that parties can send notice by means of email or fax since these were unheard of in the time of the original hearing. He stated that the original ruling was too out-dated to be upheld.
This ruling was given in a very specific case of two homebuyers whose contract was cancelled due to the seller receiving a better offer. They were notified with by letter. Their lawyers handling the matter were only notified by fax or email. The to-be homeowners decided to file suit for not giving the proper notice.
The judge ultimately found that the prior ruling, the one stating that proper notice was only given by mail, telegram, or personal delivery, was extremely outdated. Email and fax had become the usual for residence. He stated that if this method of notice was good enough for real estate offers handling millions of dollars than it is certainly good enough for this case.