That's a great question / suggestion.

I hadn't thought of asking for an e-signature via a web-site but that sounds like a good / viable idea.

Currently, I present my rental terms to guests in an e-mail and ask them to e-mail me back and enter the words:

"I agree to the rental terms."

That's it, that's all.  Clean and simple and guests love it.

In 6 years of renting two condos (close to 500 rentals), I have never had an issue when using this method.

Would it stand up in court?  Honestly, I don't know -- but my feeling is that if I've done my due dilligence on my guests, the exchange of legal paperwork and signatures is just monkey-work that detracts from the guests' experience.

I would, however, be interested in hearing from anyone who actually knows the legalities of such e-signature style agreements.  I agree that it's prudent to be fully-informed.

P.

P.S. some references:

http://pages.ca.inter.net/~euclid1/esiglaws.html

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Electronic_signature

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Digital_signatures_and_law

In the case of Mehta v J Pereira Fernandes the English High Court held that

"if a party or a party's agent sending an e mail types his or her or his or her principal's name to the extent required or permitted by existing case law in the body of an e mail, then in my view that would be a sufficient signature..."