An oral contract for the sale of land can be enforce if partial porformance has taken place?

Question

I understand that under the statute of frauds it states that contracts involving land have to be in writing?
So can a contract for a sale of land be enforce if partial porformance has taken place?

ok lets say for parcial porformace the saler gave the key or let them move in. but there is no contract just a verbal agreement.

*****i ment to say but there is no written contract

Answer 1

You are correct. Partial performance of an oral contract for an interest in real property will take the contract out of the statute of frauds.

However, part performance, in most jurisdictions, requires at a minimum payment by the buyer, occupation by the buyer, and the buyer making improvements to the property. Simply transferring the keys to a home is insufficient to establish part performance.

Note also that a showing of part performance doesn't mean that a contract existed. It merely takes the contract out of the statute of frauds. The plaintiff must still prove that a valid oral contract existed. It's just that existence of part performance will not make the plaintiff's case automatically fail due to the non-existence of a writing evidencing a contract.

Edit:
Read this case, Spears v. Warr (2002), to see how the Utah Supreme Court applied the part performance doctrine to an oral contract.

http://www.utcourts.gov/opinions/supopin/spears.htm

Answer 2

It's hard to partially perform land...you either possess or not. The deal is probably still within the statute of frauds and unenforceable, but I'd have to see the whole fact pattern to say for certain.

***EDIT: if the partial performance had been payment, not possession, you might have a case...but I don't think that moving in is going to be partial performance. Without a sale contract it could be just a tenancy.

Answer 3

David is right. Real estate contracts fall within the statute of frauds which require contracts to be in writing in order to be enforceable.

Answer 4

NOTHING IN WRITING = NO CONTRACT..

Think about it. You gave him a key. Is that because you are a nice guy and letting him stay there for free? Is it because he is thinking about buying the house and has a 1 year free trial? Is it because he agreed to buy the house for $1..? You could say what you wanted, he could say what he wanted and it would be one against one.

UNLESS there is a third party witness to the agreement. This has to be someone that has no ties to either of you.

Answer 5

Since real estate contract MUST be in writing I think the courts would look at the verbal contract as a negotiation, not a contract.

Answer 6

there are particular categories of contracts that could desire to be in writing, yet a freelance to grant cleansing centers isn't considered one of them. of path, that's lots extra handy to envision the existence of a ok if that's in writing, yet an oral contract continues to be enforceable. Your question did no longer specify, yet once you only promised to do it out of the goodness of your coronary heart, with out reimbursement (or to pay off different money owed--some variety of income to you and the different occasion), that's no longer a freelance besides, and is probably unenforceable. different mitigating factors could additionally ward off enforcement, in spite of the undeniable fact that that's confusing to declare given the info you present day.