As movie mogul Samuel Goldwyn is said to have put it “A verbal contract isn’t worth the paper it’s written on”. The problem with oral agreements is that they are open to misinterpretation, doubt, dispute and outright fraudulent denial. Rather record and sign everything even when (as is the case with most contracts in South Africa) verbal contracts are every bit as binding as written ones.
Sometimes however verbal contracts aren’t just a bad idea, they aren’t valid at all – for example an oral contract for the sale, exchange or donation of land, or of any “interest in land”, is invalid. We address the danger of overlooking that requirement in the context of a recent High Court dispute over a “right of way” agreement.
