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The seller will continue to live in the loft but pay 8,000 a month in rental, while I pay maintenance and real estate taxes. My question is, the seller's attorney wrote this out on a new contract and we both informally signed it. Is it really valid just like this? We don't need to go to a notary to make it official? Right now it is just an amendment to the occupancy agreement that we both signed. Thanks
What do you mean you "informally" signed it. If you both signed it, the contract is fully executed. No, you don't need it to be notarized for it to be official. (A document which is to be recorded needs to be notarized.)
I just printed it up and he signed it. How can I prevent him from saying that he did not sign and the signature was forged? Also how do we know the pages before the signature page were not altered. I just thought it would be better to have it notarized and now I am concerned about the authenticity of the document and don't want to have a problem in the future.
IMO, whether it is notarized or not, you can always have problems in the future. Think of every lease agreement you have filled out, did you have those notarized? When you bought a car, did you have that notarized?
You have the signed document, that's all that should be needed.
What you can do with multiple page contracts is to each initial every page. Otherwise, did you both get copies of the executed contract? That should serve as your assurance that the document is complete and unaltered. Yes, it can be better to have such a contract notarized, but it is not required to make it effective.
Since you already have an 'Occupancy Agreement', it would seem that the overall terms and conditions would be determined by that. Signing an 'Amendment' to the Occupancy Agreement only affirms that you have both approved of this additional 'amendment' or exception to the basic agreement. In that respect, it doesn't really constitute a separate agreement, but, rather is now only a stipulation of the overall OA. Unless the OA stipulates that any amendments/exceptions must be notarized and recorded, it seems to me that you have done all that is necessary.
This was something separate that was prepared by the seller's attorney. A two page document. We did not attach it to the documents from the closing. Is that fine?
This was something separate that was prepared by the seller's attorney. A two page document. We did not attach it to the documents from the closing. Is that fine?
Was this a stand-alone document? (Meaning, did it cover the complete terms of the rental agreement?) Or was it merely an amendment to some parts of the prior contract? If so, it should reference the prior contract and would not need to be physically attached to it. So, yes, it sounds fine.
Location: Mokelumne Hill, CA & El Pescadero, BCS MX.
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My understanding that in most states a lease agreement does not need to be notarized to be valid. However many states allow a notice that a lease agreement exists to be recorded without providing the actual lease document for constructive notice to others.
I would also agree with others that you might want to speak with an attorney on the subject.
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