Cases - Gross Fine & Krieger Chalfen v Gaynor

Record details

Name

Gross Fine & Krieger Chalfen v Gaynor

Date

[1974]

Citation

EGD 189

Keywords

Estate agency

Summary

The plaintiffs were instructed to auction the defendant's property. As usual in auction agreements, the plaintiffs were made sole agents. Because of the intervention of the defendant's daughter and a failure to grasp the nature of business procedures, another agent was instructed to find a buyer by private treaty. Such a buyer was found and the property sold for £61,000 before any auction could take place. The plaintiffs claimed their commission based on the purchase price obtained plus expenses. In awarding full commission, the judge stated that the market was buoyant and observed that later in the same year the property was resold for over £70,000. Furthermore, he found that a substantial measurements error in the preliminary auction particulars would have been corrected by the time of the auction or made no difference to the price obtained.