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Contractual waiver does not require consideration
In Little and another v Olympian Homes Ltd [2024] EWHC 1766 (Ch), the High Court has held that consideration is not an essential component of a contractual waiver.
The applicants succeeded in establishing that there was a genuine triable issue that interest on the debt had been waived by “estoppel”. There was a "clear and unequivocal" statement in an email that the applicants had been released from the obligation to pay interest. It did not matter that the deed of release attached to the email was incomplete or that it was not executed, nor that there was no discernible “consideration” for the waiver. It was clear to the applicants from the content of the email that they were released and that no further formalities were required.
The judge also confirmed the well-trodden position that emails plainly qualify as "writing" for the purposes of a contractual requirement. Emails are capable of being validly signed electronically where individual names are added to the footers, an appropriate sign off (such as "Kind regards") is added to connect the name with the email contents, and the emails contain names and contact details in conventional signature style.
Case: Little and another v Olympian Homes Ltd [2024] EWHC 1766 (Ch) (8 July 2024)