LAND AGENTS' DUTIES.

Auckland Star, Volume LIII, Issue 121, 24 May 1922, Page 8

LAND AGENTS' DUTIES.

(To the Eilitor.l Sir,—(Mr. .T. \V. Poynton, S.M.. in a recent case made reference to the duties lof land agents in relation to tlieir priuIcipals. Mis remarks were prompted by two claims for commission which came iup for decision in which the principals obtained judgment. "(.hi sales or exchanges where only a small proportion of the purchase p; ice Is paid." saiil Mr. | Poynton. "it is of the utmost importance that the purchaser shall be able to complete, and it is an agent's duty to make careful inquiries into his financial position. li is not sufficient for him !to take, the statement of the purchaser. ; Proof is required. If, acting on such i statement, the agent represents to his [principal that the purchaser is financiially found, and it turns but afterwards tliat he is not, then the airent cannot [recover his commission, and, further, Mc iis liable to make good any damage sufj fereil by the vcndor*throu{rh the transaction." Tiie last three sentences place on tlie agent enoii'gli onus to effectually place him, after only two or three sales, in the bankruptcy court, with liabilities unlimited. A man mij;!it have, when placing £50 down as a deposit on a £1000 property.Vthe full £050 required l to complete. Should the purchaser in ' the interim, by reason of robbery, speculation, gambling, betting , , drinking, and all the uther ways known to men of reducing a banking account, fail on the day i>! cumplclion, then, the remarks siiggest, let them brinj; in the lamb (the a-jent) and offer him as a propitiation for the purchaser's) sin. The magistrate's interpretation of the responsibility of tlie agent surely j;oes too far. It is but just that through the Press the courts should support and reinstate in the public mind that an acceptance of an oiler according to the- law of contract is valid and enforceable. Let the penalty rest on an agent if wifTul misrepresentation or dishonesty bo proved against him, hi.-t if t.hp n~cnt has acted in sincerity and truth with both parties. why hold over him the shadow of the bankruptcy court and paol?—I am. etc., .LAND AGENT.