QLD Should all parties sign and date contract

[CodeMaster]

I recently completed negotiations for the sale of my business.

A contract was drawn-up. Once I was satisfied that it contained everything we agreed, I signed and dated my part of the contract as the Vendor and sent it to the Buyer (who lives in another city) for signing.

The Buyer is a small company with two people as officeholders - a Sole Director and a Secretary. I double-checked with ASIC.

Both parties live in different cities and it was likely that the contract would be signed on different days, so the contract execution page was set out with specific areas indicated for the signature and the date (of that signature) for each person. (ie. Signature ............. Date: ........ - one line for each person, with their details listed next to each).

The Director and the Secretary signed the contract in the correct places, but only the Secretary wrote a date in the allocated place next to his name and position. The Sole Director signed his name, but did not write any date in the specified section.

Is the one date written by the Secretary sufficient, or will the fact that the Director did not date the contract possibly cause problems, or make the contract invalid?

Thanks in advance.

 

[Rob Legat - SBPL]

I'm assuming the execution was by the company. In that case the director and secretary are the 'witnesses' to the company execution (which used to be seal itself, but these are generally done away with now) in the form of "XYZ Pty Ltd ACN 123 456 789" followed by the acceptable signing wording as contemplated by the Corporations Act. Generally "in accordance with its company constitution" or "by its duly authorised officers", and their designations next to their signatures.

If it is as per the above, then the signature doesn't occur until it's completed by both the director and the secretary. Therefore, the one date is fine.