Electronic Signature Legality for Storage Rental Agreement

How to eSign a document: electronic signature legality for Storage Rental Agreement

[Music] esign lease agreements understanding legalities by Scott I sucker starting with the passage of e-sign law in 2000 formerly the electronic signature in global and national Commerce Act landlords including self-storage landlords were given the opportunity to conduct their leasing online entirely through the internet now almost 20 years later the self storage industry is finally shifting to take advantage of this legal entitlement to conduct their leasing online and through other automated technologies a few pointers to consider the issue of knowledge and consent is crucial in an assign lease the communication that is sent Conn currently with the offering of the lease and the execution of that lease should include language that the addresses the two vital parts one that the person signing the lease electronically consents to the enforceability of the electronically signed document and two that the parties to the transaction both communicate their understanding that the electronic exchange between them is intended to ultimately create a contract the goal is to avoid any misunderstandings as to the actuality that the contract is being created and can be enforced any rest of the contract would not be enforced would flow only from a misrepresentation contained in the delivery of the agreement that suggests the electronic transaction did not formally result in a contract being formed in fact one important case that dealt with electronic signatures involves Best Buy and the customers additional acceptance of a magazine subscription at the time of their online purchase the customer electronically agreed to their primary purchase transaction but then unknowingly signed up for an accompanying magazine subscription that was included within the language of the final purchase agreement but was not shown at the same time that the purchase was finalized in that case the electronic signature was found to be invalid and the transaction cancelled due to the lack of association between what was being signed and the purchase at issue it is therefore crucial in Self Storage leasing that the operator presented the lease terms as part of the electronic document actually being signed in other words that the act of signing is directly associated with the document that is presented with it our eSignatures trustworthy yes not only are each signature is more practical at this age of rapid mobile information and time-sensitive buying but II signatures allow real-time resolutions of contract issues further these signatures have been found to be safe and not easily prone to fraud or hacking to support this issue the law requires that online businesses also create a retention system for their electronic transaction so that they are retrievable as such once the customer signs the agreement they should also be given the ability to later retrieve a copy of the executed agreement from the business records of the retention system moreover the federal law also provides that if there is a change in the hardware or the software requirements needed to access or retain the electronic record which may create a risk that the customer would not be able to access its records the customer would be notified and given the option to provide their assent and write the importance of a clear method to retain and recover electronic contracts is crucial along with the ability to present a verifiable audit trail for the use of the website including information on the date time and source of the original record as well as any modifications made to the record such a clean audit trail not only removes the questions of trustworthiness from the transaction but further enhances the end miscibility of the executed document if needed later for enforcement the federal a signature law does give consumers the right to use paper contracts if requested so business operators do need to have an available opt-out option for tenants who may choose to review and execute a paper lease or request a physical copy of the document they are signing either by email or by mail to the customer after execution the law even provides that the customer can later change their mind and request a paper lease to be provided after the fact even if not requested upon execution finally a number of states have adopted the uniform electronic transactions Act you ETA which provides for the legality of electronic contracting on an individual state laws the law basically recognizes that a contract cannot be denied legal effect and enforceability says because the record that was created was electronic as compared to a physical form although the federal Isan law will control in most instances there may be some specific issues that will need to be included in the online portal for the contract should the operator managed facilities in more than one state god sucker is a partner in the law firm of Weisman Zucker mr. Morin in garber the Atlanta Georgia you