As a subset of U.S. contract law, a tenancy agreement can be expected to comprise the document through which the legal relationship between a landlord and his or her tenant is established. As with other kinds of contracts, tenancy agreements typically pertain to the conditions agreed to and entered into on the part of both of the signatory and named parties to the contract.

More specifically, a tenancy agreement entered into on the part of both parties in the U.S. or another comparable and similarly-functioning legal jurisdiction and system can and should be expected to answer the questions “who?,” “what?,” “when?,” and “how much?”. 

A tenancy agreement could be considered a kind of lease, and indeed it will often be referred to with this term. In the U.S. and other legal systems considered to come under the overall heading of so-called “civil law,” a tenancy agreement, or any other form of lease alternately entered into by a property owner and prospective property user, must include the specified and necessary element of rent payable on the part of the contracting individual to the property owner.

Tenancy agreements can be understood as potentially differing from other kinds of leases, as might be alternately entered into, in terms of being for expressly residential purposes. As such, the parties signing a tenancy agreement will typically be landlord and tenant. A tenancy agreement might also variously come in such forms as fixed, periodic and indefinite leases.

 

A rental agreement is often referred to as a “lease,” particularly in the frequently applicable case of the specific rental agreement being in relation to the provision of a real estate holding. A rental agreement can more generally be noted as taking effect in the general context of contract law, and as with contracts in general, may be expected to provide for setting conditions in relation to the legal relationship between the two parties to the rental agreement.

In the event of a contract taking the specific form of a rental agreement, those two entities concerned with and signatory to the legal document will often be a landlord and a tenant. 

A rental agreement can generally be expected to provide for such various issues inherent in a real estate contract as the person obliged to pay for tenancy and the individuals who will actually act as tenants, the date on which tenancy may be allowed to begin, the address and extent of the real estate subject to the rental agreement, and the financial payments to be payable to the landlord.

A rental agreement might also be granted to the real estate holding’s non-owner for a purpose other than residence, such as for parking transportation, storing property or others’ goods, transacting business, carrying out agricultural activities, or conducting the business required for a government agency or institution. 

A loan agreement can be noted in the overall context of contract law as a specific form which might be taken by the overall document of a contract, both in terms of the subject designated by a contract taking this particular form, as well as in the implied legal entities to be involved in such a legal agreement. 

A loan agreement, which might or might not also be referred to as a credit agreement, can thus be noted as an agreement between a lender and lendee as to the conditions under which the loan is granted and the obligations which the lendee agrees to take on and grant legal force toward his, her, or their obligation to the lender. 

Some of the conditions, as referenced above, as might conceivably be applied for by the creation of a loan agreement could include the date by which the loan granted must be returned in full to the lender, or the interest which will be made necessarily payable to the lender at regular increments and at set amounts. 

Loan agreements are typically distinguished in terms of being sorted between bilateral and syndicated loans, which refers to the specific type of lender furnishing the loan to the lendee. They may also be distinguished in terms of the facility involved, between term and revolving loans. Further areas for differentiation include secured/unsecured and fixed-/floating interest loans. 

If there is a history of contractual relations between the two parties and the offeree does not comment on a proffered contract, their silent acceptance may be inferred from past history. However, a series of contracts must exist for this standard to be applied.

The terms of acceptance, such as requiring that acceptance be faxed or mailed to the offeror, may be laid out in the text of the offer. These are acceptable restrictions that can be placed on conditions of acceptance and are not considered to place an unreasonable burden upon the offeree. The acceptance must be returned in such a way that meets or surpasses the level laid out by the offerror.

If the acceptance is sent through the postal system, it is considered to be in effect as soon as the postage on it has been paid, whether it is delivered to the offeror or not. This is the case because the acceptor fulfilled a reasonable attempt to convey their acceptance. In addition, forcing the acceptor to ensure that the postal service completed delivery of the acceptance is seen as placing an unfair burden on the acceptor. The one exception to this “mailbox rule” is in contracts which specify that the contract is conditional on receipt of acceptance.

The acceptance must be made in a timely manner. If the offer does not give a deadline by which the contract must be accepted, the courts have decreed that the acceptance must still be in a reasonable amount of time. It is impossible for acceptance to be delayed forever.

An end user license agreement, often referred simply as EULA for short, is a license that is included with most types of computer software. The end user license agreement essentially grants the end user, or buyer of the software, the right to use that particular software in a particular way. The end user license agreement is therefore a legally binding contract between the end user, or consumer, who will agree to specific terms of use and regulations imposed by the software company or producer, and the maker of that software. 

The contract will oftentimes be presented in paper form, though the common practice has been to introduce the end user license agreement in the software itself, which will appear the first time the software is loaded into a particular computer prompting the end user to read and agree to the terms of using the particular product. The end user license agreement is provided by the software companies themselves, which does not require the end user to have to procure any kind of document as a contingency.

Option contracts are contracts in which the offeror, or promisor, is limited in their ability to withdraw or rescind a contract. An option contract is an important element of a unilateral contract. Traditionally a unilateral contract is only formed when the action under consideration is completed. This is an issue because it provides no protection to an offeree who has completed the partial performance of the contracted action before the offeror withdraws the contract under discussion. 

An option contract transforms a unilateral contract into a bilateral one because it provides some guarantee to any party providing agreement to the contract that their actions will receive compensation. The compensation may begin immediately after the action is begun or may only come into effect once a significant portion of the work is completed. The party which has engaged an action leading to the partial performance of the contract may be able to claim detrimental reliance upon the belief that the offeror would provide payment.

For instance, Mike hired Steve to paint the walls and ceiling of his room for $100. Mike told Steve to leave after Steve had finished painting the four walls and was in the middle of painting the ceiling.

Under a traditional unilateral contract, Steve would not be entitled to any of the $100 because the money was provided as consideration for the completion of the task. Steve, however, could compel Mike through promissory estoppel to compensate him for the partial performance of the task. Steve undertook the actions under a detrimental reliance that Mike would allow him to complete to task.

Option contracts are usually found in real estate. Real estate option contracts exist primarily for the benefit of the buyer. The buyer in a real estate option contract is allowed time to secure financing, to arrange for a contractor to examine the land, and to investigate relevant zoning laws governing the property.

Real estate option contracts do not oblige the buyer to grant agreement to the seller’s offer. Agreement in real estate contracts can be withheld by a buyer looking to make money off the land. Real estate option contracts often have a short period of time before the terms laid out in the contract lapse.

A cohabitation agreement is a type of legal contract that exists between two individuals who live together. This type of legal agreement functions to ensure that a couple residing within the same home are protected from legal proceedings and costs if they choose to separate in the future. A cohabitation agreement will detail the rights and responsibilities of both parties.

In many ways, this type of agreement is similar to a prenuptial agreement. It will detail the financial responsibilities of each individual. For example, a cohabitation agreement may indicate that each party is responsible for contributing equally to the financial responsibilities that arise throughout the duration of their cohabitation. These costs may include rent or mortgage payments, utilities, and groceries, just to name a few.

In addition, a cohabitation agreement will detail how property is to be divided in the event that the couple separates. This contract will list which assets are to be designated to each individual upon separation. This agreement is particularly important when considering assets that were purchased by both parties jointly.

Other factors that may be covered in a cohabitation agreement include the financial and personal responsibilities of caring for any existing children and the responsibilities of each party in regard to addressing debt.

Many couples who decide to live together do not consider a cohabitation agreement. However, this contract is important to ensure that the rights of each party are upheld in the event of an unforeseen separation.

In order to accurately understand the concept of agreement it is crucial to understand when a valid offer has been made. An offer is made when a party, known as the offeror, presents terms of a contract to another party. The party that receives the offer is known as the offeree. If the offeree accepts the offer, the two parties are considered to be in agreement. 

In contrast to offers are “invitations to treat.” Invitations to treat are not offers. Invitations to treat can happen in a number of ways. Some of the most common include the display of goods in a store window, an auction without reserve, the solicitation of competitive bids, or advertisements for goods.

Except in specific circumstances, an auction does not constitute a legally binding offer and agreement process. An auction can be held with or without reserve. An auction without reserve is the rarer of the two kinds. An action without reserve means that the item will automatically be sold to the highest bidder regardless of the price.

An auction with reserve, or reserve auction, is an auction in which the person putting the item up for auction has stated a price below which they are unwilling to part with the item or circumstances under which they “reserve” the right to not complete the exchange of goods.

Auctions present interesting situations when considering offers and agreements. In an auction without reserve, the person placing the goods up for auction is obligated to accept the final bid. Each bid during the auction represents a new offer. Each higher bid that the auctioneer accepts means that the offer represented by the previous bid is invalidated.

During a reserve auction this can create some complications. If the person placing the goods up for auction decides against accepting the highest bid, they are left without an alternative. Even if the person would rather accept the second highest bid represented, they are unable to do so because the higher bid caused the previous bid to become voidable.

Advertisements are not usually considered to be offers because they may oblige the person creating the advertisement to sell more goods than they possess. As a result, an agreement cannot be reached as the result of an individual responding to an advertisement. Advertisements are technically considered “invitations to treat.” However, there are circumstances in which an advertisement can constitute an offer. 

The Nineteenth Century case of Carlill v. Carbolic Smoke Ball Company in England involved a promise by Carbolic Smoke Ball Company to pay £100 to anyone who used their product but still developed influenza, which their product was claimed to prevent. As guarantee of their claim, the advertisement said that the company had deposited £1000 in an account to pay anyone who caught the flu. The advertisement was considered to be a unilateral contract. 

The agreement by Louisa Carlill was twofold. The first part of the agreement can be seen in her purchase of the smoke ball and the second element of agreement was her continued use of the ball. The English Court of Appeals ruled that the advertisement became a legally binding contract on several grounds.

The most relevant part of the ruling was that while an offer existed between the company and the entire world, a contract only existed with those individuals who had taken the actions to accept the terms of the offer. Acceptance in this case is interchangeable with agreement. This case also cemented the idea that conduct was sufficient to convey agreement with the terms of the advertisement’s offer.

Agreements to agree are not considered legally binding. These legal documents only reveal that the concerned parties are considering a future contract. In and of themselves, an agreement to agree does not mandate action on the part of either party. Agreements to agree arise when two parties are discussing an event involving future transactions which are still in progress.

A statement of future intent is not a legally binding contract. It only indicates an agreement by the two parties involved in the negotiation to attempt to form a future contract. An agreement to agree is not binding if the matter under discussion is still in dispute. An agreement to agree may be considered a contract, however, if the material terms of agreement are present. 

Agreements to agree can become legally binding agreements if they contain all the typical elements of a contract. If, however, an agreement to agree merely records the terms that have been discussed in preliminary negotiations or they can be given the full weight of a contract to which both parties have agreed. Agreements to agree are sometimes known as letters of intent. Whether the document is titled an agreement to agree or a letter of intent, the legal significance of the terms is equal.

In order for agreement to occur, the offeree must have an intention to enter into the contract. Intention can be interpreted by action or by verbal acceptance of the terms provided by the offeror. Intention also extends to the offeror. The offeror’s intentions are rarely subject to question. 

Intention to form a contract is one of the requirements to form a contract. Intention to be legally bound by a contract does not exist during the initial negotiation of a contract. Courts generally do not assign intention to either party by their interpretation of the parties’ statements of future intent or by agreements to agree.