The Law of Contract (Problem Question) - Uwi Open Campus

Oliver is a property developer. He owns 2 acres of land in Arnos Vale which he has subdivided into 5 separate lots. Each lot is 17,424 square feet. He constructs beautiful four bedroom houses on each lot then offers them for sale. He has recently completed three houses. He places the following advertisement in the newspaper:

"FOR SALE: 3 four bedroom houses at Arnos Vale. Lot 1, Lot 2 and Lot 3. Contact: 458-0987"

He recalls that his good friend Paige is interested in buying a home, so he sends her the following email:

"June 16, 2022 11:43 AM Oliver wrote: Hi Paige, I hope you've been well. I have a three bedroom home constructed on 17,424 square feet of land at Arnos Vale. That property is lot #1. The price is $550,000.00. Please find attached photographs of the house. I know you were looking for a bigger home for your family, so let me know if you're interested. " Paige responds as follows:

"June 16, 2022 4:50 PM Paige wrote: Hi Oliver, you're a life saviour. I was just about to give up hope. These pictures are beautiful! This is looks like my dream home. I'll take it! $550,000 is a little out of budget though. I'll take it for $500,000. I'll wire you the usual 10% deposit now."

Paige wires to Oliver's account a deposit in the sum of $50,000.00 for Lot #1. Oliver leaves his office and goes home at around 3:00 PM on June 16, 2022. His wife, Julliet has been complaining about how often he brings work home, so he leaves his work phone in the office and he doesn't see Paige's email when it comes in. Over dinner with his wife, Julliet mentions that maybe Oliver should consider giving Lot 1 to his eldest daughter. Oliver responds saying that he wants his children to earn their way in the world and that his daughter should earn the property. Julliet disagrees and tells him that she believes that children should benefit from generational wealth. She says to him "fine, if you don't want to give it to her then I'll buy it from you for her". Oliver laughs and says "okay, bring the cheque in the morning. Dinner was so good, you can even have it for $5000.00". The next morning, Oliver goes to the gym from 5:00 AM to 8:45 AM. While at the gym, he got a call on his work phone from Trevor at 8:30 AM. The phone rang out, so Trevor left a voicemail to Oliver saying that he saw the ad in the newspaper and was willing to buy Lot 1 for $30,000.00 and 3 kilos of cocaine. Trevor said "I know you're a busy man, so if I don't hear back from you by end of day, I'll take it that we have a deal.".

Oliver gets to work at 9:00 AM. He finds a cheque on his desk from Julliet for $5,000.00. On the cheque it states "for the purchase of Lot 1". He also sees a notification of a bank transfer from Paige for the sum of $50,000. He sends Paige the following email:

"June 17, 2022 11:00 AM Oliver wrote: Hi Paige, I received the funds. I'll have my lawyers prepare the paperwork."

Later, Oliver gets a call from Mary. Mary offers to purchase Lot 1 for $600,000. Oliver gets excited and tells Mary he's interested but he just needs to work out a few kinks and he will get back to her soon. He sends the following email to Paige: "June 17, 2022 11:43 AM Oliver wrote: Hi Paige, Got a better offer. Sorry. Take a look at the other Lots and see if any of the others interest you."

The following day, Paige, Juliet and Trevor call Oliver insisting that they had an agreement for the purchase of Lot 1. They all threaten to sue Oliver to get Lot 1.

Advise Oliver on whether a binding agreement exists between himself and Paige, Julliet, Trevor or Mary and whether he could be liable to any of them.