Cases - Jaques v Lloyd D George & Partners

Record details

Name

Jaques v Lloyd D George & Partners

Date

[1968]

Citation

2 AII ER 187

Keywords

Estate agency - commission

Summary

The plaintiff put the sale of his café business in the hands of the defendant agents. The commission agreement provided for the payment of commission:

'... should you be instrumental in introducing a person willing to sign a document capable of becoming a contract to purchase at a price, which at any stage of the negotiations has been agreed by me.'

Before the agreement was produced for signature the agent told the plaintiff that: 'If we find a suitable purchaser and the sale goes through, you will pay us £250.' He then produced the agreement and, after striking out the sole agency clause (as agents had already been engaged), asked the plaintiff to sign it. The plaintiff did so. The agents introduced a person who signed an agreement expressly made subject to the landlord of the premises granting his licence to assign and the purchaser providing satisfactory references. Those references were not provided, the landlord gave no licence, and the deal fell through.

Two members of the Court of Appeal held that, although the purchaser entered a binding contract, no commission was payable as the commission clause was meaningless. A document capable of becoming a contract could be anything from a blank piece of paper to a contract with no signature on it. A majority also found that the agent had misrepresented the terms of the commission agreement anyway, and so it was not enforceable.