Cases - Glentree Estates Ltd v Gee

Record details

Name

Glentree Estates Ltd v Gee

Date

[1981]

Citation

2 EGLR 28

Keywords

Estate agency - commission

Summary

The plaintiffs were given a sole agency contract by the defendant for 2 months and introduced the eventual purchaser. No agreement was reached with this purchaser because the asking price, set by the defendant, was too high. The defendant then purported to terminate the sole agency agreement and instructed another agent. (The judge found that this was a breach of the agency contract.) The asking price was reduced and the second agent re-introduced the purchaser. The sale was completed, the second agents were paid a proportion of the commission (after a dispute) and the plaintiffs claimed their commission too.

The judge found that the plaintiffs were the effective cause of the sale. The chain of causation was not broken on the facts of the case, and the effective cause of the sale was the original introduction by the plaintiffs.