 Estate Agents Lose Commission
 Malcolm Poynter In the recent case of Estafnous v London and Leeds Business Centres Limited the High Court decided that an agent was not due his commission of £2m.
The Court accepted that the agent had introduced a purchaser of a property. However, during the course of the negotiations it was decided that the purchaser would buy the company that held the property rather than the property itself because this gave stamp duty savings. The Court held that the terms of the agent's agreement was such that, although the purchaser acquired control of the property through purchase of the company, it was not, as such, a sale of the property and therefore the commission was not due.
Agents should review their terms to ensure that the restructuring of a transaction will not loose them their commission.
Particular care should be taken where the client is a PLC as the company paying commission on the sale of itself could be contrary to the company's legislation and the agreement to pay commission void.
For further information or assistance please contact Malcolm Poynter on 01635 521212 or malcolm.poynter@clmlaw.co.uk
Malcolm Poynter (contact details):
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