TUTORIAL CIA 2007

Beehun is a businessman who decided to migrate to Australia but he was having

financial problem and afraid that he could not survive abroad. Therefore, he would
like to get rid of his belongings so that he can earn money out of them.

First, he wanted to sell his house to his friend, Kuew Teow. He had called Kuew
Teow but could not get him since Kuew Teow’s hand phone was switched off. He
then wrote a letter, offering to sell the house for RM400, 000.00 and mailed it to
Kuew Teow on 5 August 2011. Kuew Teow received the letter on 7 August. Kuew
Teow was interested with the offer as the price was very reasonable but he could not
call Beehun since his handphone was out of order. Kuew Teow then asked his
secretary to reply his acceptance through E-mail on the same day. However, Beehun
did not check his E-mail since his UNIFI was blocked because he did not pay the bills
for three (3) months. Meanwhile, Beehun’s aunt offered to buy the house for RM500,
000.00. Since the price offered by his aunty was higher, Beehun agreed to sell his
house to her. On 9 August, his aunt paid and Beehun gave the house key. On 12
August, Beehun paid his UNIFI bill and read Kuew Teow’s E-mail. Beehun called
Kuew Teow informing that he had already sold the house to his aunt. Kuew Teow
was very frustrated and claimed that Beehun should sell the house to him since he
had emailed his acceptance and it should have already been read by Beehun. When
Kuew Teow asked his secretary the date that she had sent the E-mail, the secretary
admitted that she actually forgot to email on a particular day as instructed by Kuew
Teow because she got a lot of works to do. She actually emailed the acceptance on
10 August 2011.

Advise Beehun. Will your answer be different if the acceptance emailed by Kuew
Teow had been posted on the day instructed? Support your advice with the relevant
provisions in Contract Act 1950 and case-law.