Land Agent Wins Claim For Commission

Northern Advocate, 14 August 1942, Page 5

Land Agent Wins Claim For Commission

In a reserved decision in the Whangarei Court, the magistrate (Mr Raymond Ferner), gave judgment for Walter Gibson Rae. land agent, of Whangarei (Mr R. K. Trimmer) against J. T. Gwyn (Mr. D. Ross) for £26/10/-, the full amount claimed for commission on the sale of property, together with witnesses’ expenses, court costs of £2/10/- and solicitor’s fee of £4/3/-.

After dealing with the evidence in detail and with authorities quoted by counsel, the magistrate said that the words used in the contract signed with Rae by Gwyn for the sale of his property must be construed according to the wellknown rules for the construction of written contracts generally. The cardinal rule was that the language of the instrument was to be understood in its ordinary or natural meaning. The words in the contract were an agreement that, if the property was sold to anybody introduced through Rae’s agency, Gwyn would pay, stated the magistrate, who held that the words must be used in their natural and ordinary meaning'. As a sale had been made to someone introduced, he must hold, on the contract between the parties, that commission at the agreed rate was payable. Use of Knowledge

Even if the material words could have construed differently, there would have been some difficulty in holding that the particular introduction was not an effective cause of sale. Although it had been contended that the purchaser, after viewing the property on Rae’s invitation, had not chosen to buy, making' the introduction spent, the purchaser himself had given evidence that his only view of the pioperty followed Rae giving him the key of the house and before he had seen the salesman of the other land agent (Cooke) with whom he had signed for purchase. The purchaser had been able to turn his knowledge to profitable account when he did complete negotiations for purchase and therefore it appeared that the force of the introduction by Rae had been by no means spent, and that the introduction and view of the house were casual factors, although not the only, or perhaps not the most effective, ones in bringing about the sale.

“The decision is a hard one for Gwyn,” commented the magistrate. “The moral is that people who put properties in the hands of agents for sale should read the agreements before signing them, and they might secure professional advice before so doing, although I suppose there will be few who will take that advice.”