When a Buyer is purchasing real estate under a Land Contract from more than one owner, it is important that the legal contract documents contain signatures from all ownership parties to the contract.
Without the signature of all persons who hold an ownership interest (or at least a clear designation that one party is permitted to sign on behalf of all of the ownership members involved), the non-signing owner(s) may not be obligated to sign the Deed transferring that person’s ownership interest in the property to the Buyer once all payments are made under the Land Contract.
And absent one of the owner’s signatures, the Buyer may have no legal recourse to compel that owner to transfer his or her interest in the property upon completion of the Land Contract payments — except through litigation.
A Buyer can confirm the names of all of the owners by contacting the records office in the county where the property resides.
Such an issue does not exist if the real estate property is owned by a corporation. In that instance, a representative of the corporation can sign the Land Contract documents. Doing so binds all owners of the corporation to the agreement.
So before even a single payment is made by the Buyer on a Land Contract for real estate, the Buyer must be certain that the legal document outlining the terms lists all of the names of the owners and their signatures. Must all co-owners sign a Land Contract? Short, answer: yes. Only when the document lists all the parties and signatures should the first payment be tendered to the Seller.
To get an easy to use Land Contract document package that can be customized to a property located in any USA state, see Standard Legal’s Land Contract legal forms software page.
If you prefer to have a professional create the Land Contract documents needed for a transaction, see Standard Legal’s Land Contract document preparation service.