An agreement in principle is an agreement that makes the major terms clear, laying the groundwork to make a contract. Agreements in principle are not legally enforceable as a general rule because they are not formal contracts, although sometimes they will be used in legal cases if there is a dispute. For people outside the legal field, this type of agreement can be confusing because it may make it seem as though everything is agreed when this is not actually the case.
When two parties are working together to reach an agreement, they often have a great deal of debate about the major points and terms, especially when the agreement surrounds a contentious issue. The process of nailing down the basics of the agreement leads to an agreement in principle, in which both parties arrive at a set of generally agreed-upon terms that will be used in the final contract. This is essentially the foundation of the contract, used when drafting the language because it includes everything the parties have negotiated.
A number of things can upset an agreement in principle. For example, when a bank reaches one with a customer and pre-approves a mortgage, the bank may later decide after additional investigation to change the terms, offering less money or a higher interest rate on the basis of newly learned information about the customer. Likewise, when diplomats reach this sort of agreement with their negotiating powers and take it home, government officials may reject or request modification to some of the terms.
The agreement is not legally binding because it has not been finalized. However, it indicates that the two parties have reached some level of consensus and that they intend to move forward with a contract. As a result, backing out of the agreement or radically changing the terms may be viewed as an activity in bad faith. For example, when a country reaches an agreement in principle with another and then reneges, it can make them look bad in the eyes of the international community.
It's important to note that the term is “agreement in principle,” not “agreement in principal.” These two homonyms are often confused, even by experienced English speakers. In this case, it can help to remember that it is the principles of an agreement that are included in the document.
This depends on the parties involved. First, it is important to remember that there are different types of agreements in principle. Some, such as an agreement in principle between two organizations to form a partnership, may have no reason for a credit check. Others, such as an agreement in principle on a real estate mortgage, may involve a credit check if the parties decide to make that a term of the agreement in principle.
For the example of a real estate mortgage, some lenders opt to run a credit check at this stage and others opt to wait for a later stage of the process. In most cases, there will be at least a soft pull credit check. This is a type of credit check that provides basic information to the lender and does not negatively impact your credit score (it also isn’t recorded on your credit report, unlike a hard pull). However, some mortgage lenders prefer to do a hard pull credit check at this stage to ensure that you are likely to qualify for the loan.
The best way to determine whether an agreement in principle will involve a credit check or not is to simply ask the lender. Additionally, you will need to provide authorization for the lender to run a credit check. Of course, sometimes this gets buried in paperwork and legalese. So, simply asking beforehand is usually a good policy.
Bear in mind that you will not typically be entering into an agreement in principle until both parties are confident that they are interested in working with the other. Thus, you should not be signing similar agreements with other potential lenders. Therefore, you likely should not need to be concerned about having multiple credit checks run at this stage.
Agreements in principle are typically relatively simple documents. They need to contain a few basic elements:
You can easily draft an agreement in principle using a template. Alternatively, you may prefer to have a lawyer draft the document for you. Since it is non-binding, it is usually less important to have a professional write the document. However, it may still be prudent to do so, especially for the clause indicating that it is an agreement in principle and not a contract.
Typically, agreements in principle are not considered binding documents. Their purpose is to serve as an intermediary outline of the terms of an agreement without forming a formal, binding contract. Thus, under most circumstances, you will not be legally obligated to abide by the terms of an agreement in principle.
However, there are some situations in which this may not be the case. The most common is that the document does not clearly state that it is only an agreement in principle and one or both parties acted as if a formal contract had been formed.
There can also be some limited circumstances in which a party to an agreement in principle may be found to be legally bound by the terms due to acting in bad faith combined with other mitigating circumstances. However, this is a very rare case.
Most of the time, neither party can hold the other to the terms of the agreement in principle. If you want to create an enforceable and binding agreement, you should opt for an alternative type of agreement. For example, if you have an agreement in principle for a mortgage, neither you nor the lender has a legal obligation to continue with finalizing the loan agreement.
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By Mary McMahonEver since she began contributing to the site several years ago, Mary has embraced the exciting challenge of being a MyLawQuestions researcher and writer. Mary has a liberal arts degree from Goddard College and spends her free time reading, cooking, and exploring the great outdoors.
