Vending machine contract.legal??

[tickymicky]

The social club where i work have been renting 4 vending machines,hot drinks, snacks etc.There have been endless problems with maintenance, cleaniness, breakdowns, no change etc,so the committee decided to change companies.

However,the contract the social club have got is they think,,suspect, even though they have to give 3 months notice in writing to quit, because the signatory alleged himself to be an acting secretary, when he has never had that position.The contract is not dated by the signatory, nor the company owner.

The committee believe there should have been 2 signatories like chairperson and treasurer, or treasurer and secretary etc.

As the signatory had no legal standing to sign and declare a position, the committee are wondering if this contract is actually legal.If it is not, can someone with knowledge please state why??

Many Thanks

[R0b]

Re: Vending machine contract.legal??

The social club where i work have been renting 4 vending machines,hot drinks, snacks etc.There have been endless problems with maintenance, cleaniness, breakdowns, no change etc,so the committee decided to change companies.

However,the contract the social club have got is they think,,suspect, even though they have to give 3 months notice in writing to quit, because the signatory alleged himself to be an acting secretary, when he has never had that position.The contract is not dated by the signatory, nor the company owner.

The committee believe there should have been 2 signatories like chairperson and treasurer, or treasurer and secretary etc.

As the signatory had no legal standing to sign and declare a position, the committee are wondering if this contract is actually legal.If it is not, can someone with knowledge please state why??

Many Thanks

Hi tickymicky,

The contract may be binding upon the social club through apparent authority. This is authority as it would appear to the other party and the party can generally rely upon apparent authority provided that they have no knowledge that the person who is signing does not have authority to sign the contract. there are two ways in which apparent authority applies however, most relevant to you is where a person is held as holding out a position and one would normally expect such a person to have authority to sign the contract and would therefore be binding.

It would be difficult for the social club to rescind the contract however you could personally go after the person who signed the contract for any losses.

[tickymicky]

Re: Vending machine contract.legal??

It came to light that the person who signed it as "acting Secretary", a non existing position on the committee,signed it because he goes drinking with the co owner.