What Is a Condition Precedent Property Law

In the real estate sector, a condition precedent is an event in which the acquisition of a property right occurs. If the condition does not occur before a certain time, the condition will fail and the ownership interest will not be acquired. If you have suffered losses as a result of a breach of contract, depending on the particular structure of the contract, you may find that the defendant is trying to evade liability by arguing that you have not fulfilled a condition precedent necessary to trigger the contractual obligations. Retirement conditions may also include conditions precedent. Pensions are usually paid only after an employee has completed a certain number of years of work in good standing in a company. If an employee is fired from their position before reaching the set date, they risk losing some, if not all, of their pension benefits. A condition precedent is a condition or event that must occur before a right, claim, duty or interest occurs. Next, compare the condition. Contracts may contain various provisions. Some of these provisions are what is called a condition precedent. A condition precedent may be stated implicitly or expressly in the terms and conditions.

Real estate contracts almost always contain a condition precedent. For example, in a mortgage contract, there may be a condition precedent related to the sale of a home. This provision could stipulate that the condition of the house must be assessed in order to determine the value of the property. After this review, the lender and the buyer must agree on the valuation and appraisal before the mortgage agreement becomes binding. A good CS is specific. It leaves no room for interpretation. All parties know exactly what is expected of them. They also know all the conditions that could trigger the CS. Now you are several hours late for delivery. The buyer refuses to accept delivery and you bring an action for damages. The buyer can argue that he cannot be held responsible because you have not fulfilled the condition precedent. You could claim that your failure to comply with the condition was insignificant because the delay was small and did not have a significant impact on the defendant`s business interests.

In all likelihood, however, the buyer would be able to avoid any liability for the violations. There may also be precedents in the current duration of a contract stating that if condition X occurs, then event Y occurs. Condition X is the condition precedent. A condition precedent is a clause in a particular agreement that is necessary to trigger certain contractual obligations. Failure to comply with a condition precedent of your contract may allow the defendant (the infringing party) to protect itself from any liability – the defendant can reasonably argue that it did not actually commit a breach by breaching its contractual obligations. Simply put, the basis of their defense is that the contractual obligations were not triggered and therefore could not be breached. A subsequent condition excuses the performance of the contract if a future event occurs or if a situation occurs. You will most often find conditional agreements in deeds and contracts. In the case of deeds, the PC is something that must happen in order for title deeds to be acquired. Without this, the receiving party never receives the certificate. In some cases, the conditions precedent may be waived if they are not related to the subject matter of the contract.

Take the case of a subject matter expert who hires a ghostwriter to write a book for him. The expert requires that the chosen writer does not perform any household chores during the writing period for full payment. The conditions precedent in this case are the completion of the book and non-compliance with budgetary obligations during the period of writing the book. The latter condition may be waived if the author successfully submits the final result to the satisfaction of the expert. In 1908, a similar case was brought before the New York court, and the judge ruled in favor of the writer. The opposite of the condition precedent is the following condition, which defines the conditions that must be met for one of the parties to be able to terminate the contract. For example, let`s say you`re a teenager named in a parent`s will. Since you are young, your parent may add a condition precedent to their will that you must complete a university degree before receiving your inheritance. Other conditions precedent that can be added to a will or trust include the requirement that the heir be of a certain age before receiving or marrying his or her inheritance before the trust is executed. A condition precedent is an event or state that is required before anything else happens. In contract law, a condition precedent is an event that must occur unless its non-occurrence is excused before the performance of a contract becomes due, that is, before a contractual obligation exists.

[1] For example, a mortgage contract for real estate will have a condition precedent that an inspection must be conducted to assess the condition and value of the property. This valuation must be agreed between the buyer and the lender before the mortgage contract comes into force. You can define the condition precedent as a contractual clause. However, for a condition precedent to be valid, it must meet several important requirements, so it is a good idea to study this problem in more detail. 3 min read Suppose you were late with the delivery of the goods. The buyer tries to avoid any liability by arguing that you have not fulfilled the condition precedent of ”on-time delivery”. Further investigation shows that the buyer actually wanted to terminate the contract and intentionally interfered with your ability to make a timely delivery so that they could avoid any liability for its possible breach. Perhaps the buyer called you regularly and asked you to change and revise the items in question, thereby delaying the timely manufacture and delivery of the goods. This happens when the condition occurs. It exempts part of the contract. It is a loophole for bad events.

The party named in the SC no longer has any requirements in the contract. Essentially, if a contract provides that an event must occur before the contract takes effect, that is a condition precedent. However, if you want to add any of these provisions to a contract, you need to make sure that the precedent is legal. If a condition precedent requires illegal acts, the contract would not be valid. Precedents are also widely used in wills and trusts, where the transfer of money or property takes place only after certain conditions are met, para. B example when an heir is married or has reached a certain age. Courts prefer to interpret a clause in a contract as a promise rather than a condition precedent to avoid expiration. .