Can a thumbs-up emoji form a contract? What surveyors and their clients need to know

A question the courts are still working out

Messaging apps have become a standard part of how surveyors, project managers, and clients communicate. Conversations that would once have taken place by letter or email now happen on WhatsApp. Instructions are given, queries are answered, and decisions are made in an informal, immediate format that is increasingly difficult to separate from formal contractual communication.

That shift has created a professional risk that most people working in the built environment have not yet properly addressed. This begs the question: at what point does an emoji response to a message become a binding contractual commitment? Two recent cases suggest the courts are not yet sure either, and for anyone managing projects or lease obligations, that uncertainty matters.

What do the court cases tell us?

In N'Guessan and another v Bewry [2026], a landlord increased the rent on a property. The tenant said they could not pay the increased amount. The landlord responded with a thumbs-up emoji. When the landlord subsequently filed for possession on the grounds of rent arrears, the court dismissed the claim, finding that the emoji response did not constitute a waiver of the increased rent. In this case, the thumbs-up was interpreted as an acknowledgement rather than acceptance.

The Canadian case of Achter Land and Cattle Ltd v South West Terminal Ltd [2023] reached the opposite conclusion. A party responded to a contract with a thumbs-up emoji, and the court held that they had, by doing so, entered into a binding agreement. The emoji was treated as acceptance, not merely acknowledgement.

Achter Land is a Canadian decision and therefore not binding in English law, but it is still important. It signals a direction of travel, with courts increasingly willing to treat informal digital responses as capable of forming or varying contractual obligations, and it would be unwise for anyone working in the UK property sector to assume it carries no relevance here.

Taken together, the two cases illustrate the core problem: the same emoji, in a similar context, produced two entirely different legal outcomes. That is not a comfortable position for a surveyor, project manager, or client to be in.

Why does this matter for property professionals?

The ambiguity that makes emoji responses legally unpredictable is the same ambiguity that makes them professionally risky. A thumbs up can mean yes, it can mean understood, and it can mean I have seen your message without expressing any view either way. Most people using it in a professional context have a sense of what they mean. The person on the receiving end may have a different sense entirely.

For surveyors, project managers, and property managers, the contexts in which this ambiguity is most dangerous are those involving financial commitments. Contract administration requires a clear and documented trail of instructions, variations, and approvals. A project manager who acts on a thumbs-up in response to a variation notice and then faces a disputed instruction is in a difficult position if the only record of approval is an emoji on a WhatsApp thread.

The same risk applies in dilapidations and schedules of condition instructions, where the documentation of what was agreed, observed, and accepted at the start or end of a lease is central to resolving any subsequent dispute. Informal communication that blurs the line between acknowledgement and agreement creates exactly the kind of evidential uncertainty that disputes are built on.

Party wall matters present a similar risk. Where notices, consents, and counter-notices need to be formally served and acknowledged, an emoji response in a side conversation could create confusion about whether a formal position has been taken, with potentially significant consequences for the project programme and the parties' legal rights.

What should I be doing?

The good news is that this is a manageable risk. The steps that protect against it are the same steps that underpin good project management and professional practice more generally.

• Establish the rules of engagement before the contract starts – At the pre-start meeting, agree with all parties how instructions and financial approvals will be communicated and confirmed. Be explicit about which channels are appropriate for which types of communication, and whether emoji responses will not be treated as acceptance.
• Write it down and circulate it – Whatever is agreed about communication channels and approval processes should go into the meeting minutes and be circulated to all relevant parties. Those minutes become the reference point if a dispute arises later.
• Reiterate the rules throughout the contract – Remind all parties of the agreed process at key stages, particularly when variations or significant instructions are being managed.
• Confirm before acting – If an instruction arrives through an informal channel, or as an emoji response to a request for approval, confirm it through the agreed channel before proceeding. A brief follow-up message takes seconds and removes the ambiguity entirely.

A note on messaging apps

WhatsApp and similar platforms are part of professional life, and that is not going to change. The comparison to the early days of email is a useful one. There was once a time when email felt too informal for professional correspondence, and the same adjustment is happening now with messaging apps. The question is not whether to use them but how to use them within a framework that protects all parties.

That framework needs to be agreed explicitly, recorded formally, and maintained consistently. The cases discussed here are a useful reminder that the law has not yet caught up with the way professionals actually communicate, and that in the meantime, the responsibility for managing that gap sits with us.

Speak to our building consultancy team

Clear communication frameworks are one of the foundations of successful project delivery. Our building consultancy team works with clients, contractors, and professional teams to establish the right processes from the outset, reducing the risk of disputes and ensuring that every instruction, variation, and approval is properly documented.

If you are starting a new project and want to discuss how to structure communication and contract administration effectively, we would be glad to help. Please complete the form below, email [email protected], or call 0333 034 8929 to get in touch.