Can I be billed by e-mail even if I request hard copy billing?
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Can I be billed by e-mail even if I request hard copy billing?
I am required by a contract to pay within 30 days of receiving a bill with proof that the biller has paid the real estate taxes. I have asked for a hard copy bill with the original proof but the biller continues to try to get me to pay from an e-mail with the proof as an attachment. The proof is illegible as an attachment. Am I legally obligated to pay within 30 days of receiving an e-mail or can I hold out for the hard copy?
Asked on December 18, 2010 under Business Law, Massachusetts
Answers:
SJZ, Member, New York Bar / FreeAdvice Contributing Attorney
Answered 13 years ago | Contributor
If the contract does not specify how a bill must be sent, then any delivery mechanism, including email, is valid. So you cannot hold out for hardcopy specifically. (Note: in the future, if this matters to you, write it into the contract.) However you have a right to hold out for legible billl with whatever support or documentation is necessary, also legible. So you can require them to resend anything which you can't read or otherwise rely on as a bill; but if they resend adequate and legible documentation, it doesn't matter if it's via email, fax, U.S. mail, hand deliery, fed ex, etc. All that matters is that it is legible and adquate in form, with whatever information or documentation that is necessary.
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