You can sign a rental agreement with your new landlord or new tenant and conduct business on the move. A year or two back you could not do this because solicitors and others said it would not be legal. Now lots of people are signing electronically.
The HelloSign website has FAQ including 'is it legal'. They say it is in the USA and UK and other places.
Electronic Signatures
The idea of signing with one click is initially scary - at least it was to me. Then I thought about it. You can now do one click ordering of books on Amazon and many other transactions. All the big websites such as Facebook and Amazon and Google and newspapers worldwide think it is legally binding if you click 'yes I agree' to their terms.
Advantages
It does save so much time. You can sign whilst away travelling. At home, sign at home, no need to travel to meet and sign and exchange contracts.
I still like a paper copy. Reading a 26 page contract on a mobile is tedious. You can send and receive contracts and then read them on your laptop or have it attached to a big screen at home or anywhere later. You could photograph the screen or do screen capture.
Security
Read the signature company's security advice. I considered whether, if you don't like signing whilst on somebody else's network, and they advise against it, you might be able to read some other matter like the covering letter and initial correspondence which says, for example, 'I shall send you a pdf tonight - please sign by Thursday'.
However, gmail and other services attach your previous correspondence. So make sure that the covering letter does not attach itself to previous or future correspondence which you don't want read by another person's network.
Then do the signing from a secure place later.
Creating A Signature
You create a signature one of four ways.
Sign paper and take a photo of your signature.
Type in your signature and choose a font.
Draw a signature with your mouse.
I tried to create a signature first but the system didn't like that. Then I realised I needed to load up the document before signing. I re-read the email I was sent several times which said the document is attached, looked for the paperclip sign and could not see it. Later I found the click here blue boxp where you click with your mouse to bring up the document.
Then up pops your document. For example, you might have a landlord and tenant agreement. it might need to be signed by three people, a landlord and both tenants, the couple such as a husband and wife, or all the people over 18 years of age.
An icon marks the spot where you need to sign. When you click on the icon, up comes the box for creating the signature. Down the left side of the page are the options listed for the different ways of creating a signature. I chose to click on 'type your signature'. Up comes another box.
Next. Type your name. Choose a font.
I thought a typed signature would be neater than my own handwriting. When I added my middle name, the signature was so long that in half the larger font styles offered not all the signature could be seen.
A few lines further on is another prompt. Create initials. this time I had more options. I looked for one nearest my own signature, not excessively tall and narrow and leaning diagonally. Nor one which looked untidy. I chose a font I liked.
Hey presto - job done.
I don't like initials. However, many documents require your full name earlier on, then initials on later pages.
However, I think it would be better to use your own handwriting. You can fit it to the size, and reflect your personality. Some of the fonts for initials have ridiculous flamboyant loops. Others lean, creating an odd effect.
In the initials, other styles have emphasis on a larger initial letter or a larger middle letter or a larger third letter. That might suit a large letter the the initial for the surname in western names. So if your names were John Richard Brown, one version has a large J, another has a large R and a third has a large B.
I pondered whether to make the initial of the middle name larger, if you use your middle name most of the time. However, the triple initials looked odd to me with a larger middle letter.
Go back to your own signature to see how it looks. Strangely, when I write just my initials, the letters look different to when I write a quick signature.
You can also change your signature for different documents.
If a large number of people know you by your married name or pen name, you might need to change your signature.
However, consider which signature is legal. Airlines and ticket agencies may require your signature to match your passport. So Marilyn Monroe might have to sign a document for a bank or airline ticket with Norma Jean. Check if your bank allows two signatures. In the old days you could have two signatures. Then my bank said they would only allow one account in one name. They said it was to prevent fraud.
Asian Signatures and Initials
If the late Lee Kuan Yew, long time leader of Singapore, were using a signature with initials, he might stick to a large L for Lee his family name and the first word when you say it. Alternatively K for Kuan. Or Y for Yew. However, many people are known by their triple name in its entirety, so I think it looks better to have all the initials the same size.
The system even tells the other party that you have signed.
I held up the whole process by a couple of hours by reading the 23 pages of the contract. I found several typos.
The next stage would be to change the contract. Revise the typos. The same contract is going to more than one person and will be used again in a few months' time. However, for speed, I would prefer to just pick out the errors and add them in a last page additional page as addenda. One page is quicker to read than making three people read 23 pages again. That is quick to read.
Useful Website
app.HelloSign.com
https://www.hellosign.com/electronic-signature
Please share links to your favourite posts
E-signatures - Why You Should Sign documents Online Whilst Travelling (or at home)
The HelloSign website has FAQ including 'is it legal'. They say it is in the USA and UK and other places.
Electronic Signatures
The idea of signing with one click is initially scary - at least it was to me. Then I thought about it. You can now do one click ordering of books on Amazon and many other transactions. All the big websites such as Facebook and Amazon and Google and newspapers worldwide think it is legally binding if you click 'yes I agree' to their terms.
Advantages
It does save so much time. You can sign whilst away travelling. At home, sign at home, no need to travel to meet and sign and exchange contracts.
I still like a paper copy. Reading a 26 page contract on a mobile is tedious. You can send and receive contracts and then read them on your laptop or have it attached to a big screen at home or anywhere later. You could photograph the screen or do screen capture.
Security
Read the signature company's security advice. I considered whether, if you don't like signing whilst on somebody else's network, and they advise against it, you might be able to read some other matter like the covering letter and initial correspondence which says, for example, 'I shall send you a pdf tonight - please sign by Thursday'.
However, gmail and other services attach your previous correspondence. So make sure that the covering letter does not attach itself to previous or future correspondence which you don't want read by another person's network.
Then do the signing from a secure place later.
Creating A Signature
You create a signature one of four ways.
Sign paper and take a photo of your signature.
Type in your signature and choose a font.
Draw a signature with your mouse.
I tried to create a signature first but the system didn't like that. Then I realised I needed to load up the document before signing. I re-read the email I was sent several times which said the document is attached, looked for the paperclip sign and could not see it. Later I found the click here blue boxp where you click with your mouse to bring up the document.
Then up pops your document. For example, you might have a landlord and tenant agreement. it might need to be signed by three people, a landlord and both tenants, the couple such as a husband and wife, or all the people over 18 years of age.
An icon marks the spot where you need to sign. When you click on the icon, up comes the box for creating the signature. Down the left side of the page are the options listed for the different ways of creating a signature. I chose to click on 'type your signature'. Up comes another box.
Next. Type your name. Choose a font.
I thought a typed signature would be neater than my own handwriting. When I added my middle name, the signature was so long that in half the larger font styles offered not all the signature could be seen.
Hey presto - job done.
I don't like initials. However, many documents require your full name earlier on, then initials on later pages.
However, I think it would be better to use your own handwriting. You can fit it to the size, and reflect your personality. Some of the fonts for initials have ridiculous flamboyant loops. Others lean, creating an odd effect.
In the initials, other styles have emphasis on a larger initial letter or a larger middle letter or a larger third letter. That might suit a large letter the the initial for the surname in western names. So if your names were John Richard Brown, one version has a large J, another has a large R and a third has a large B.
I pondered whether to make the initial of the middle name larger, if you use your middle name most of the time. However, the triple initials looked odd to me with a larger middle letter.
Go back to your own signature to see how it looks. Strangely, when I write just my initials, the letters look different to when I write a quick signature.
You can also change your signature for different documents.
If a large number of people know you by your married name or pen name, you might need to change your signature.
However, consider which signature is legal. Airlines and ticket agencies may require your signature to match your passport. So Marilyn Monroe might have to sign a document for a bank or airline ticket with Norma Jean. Check if your bank allows two signatures. In the old days you could have two signatures. Then my bank said they would only allow one account in one name. They said it was to prevent fraud.
Asian Signatures and Initials
If the late Lee Kuan Yew, long time leader of Singapore, were using a signature with initials, he might stick to a large L for Lee his family name and the first word when you say it. Alternatively K for Kuan. Or Y for Yew. However, many people are known by their triple name in its entirety, so I think it looks better to have all the initials the same size.
The system even tells the other party that you have signed.
I held up the whole process by a couple of hours by reading the 23 pages of the contract. I found several typos.
The next stage would be to change the contract. Revise the typos. The same contract is going to more than one person and will be used again in a few months' time. However, for speed, I would prefer to just pick out the errors and add them in a last page additional page as addenda. One page is quicker to read than making three people read 23 pages again. That is quick to read.
Useful Website
app.HelloSign.com
https://www.hellosign.com/electronic-signature
Please share links to your favourite posts
E-signatures - Why You Should Sign documents Online Whilst Travelling (or at home)
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