Cases - Henry Smith & Son v Muskett

Record details

Name

Henry Smith & Son v Muskett

Date

[1978]

Citation

1 EGLR 13

Keywords

Real estate

Summary

The plaintiff agent for the defendant vendors had, unknown to the vendors, agreed with a prospective purchaser, Mountjoy Investments, that in the event that the property was sold to Mountjoy, the agent would be retained by them as reletting agent and paid commission. Despite the efforts of the agent to ensure that the property was sold to Mountjoy (including the failure to pass on offers to the vendor from others) the property was sold to Sheraton Securities, who had had to approach the vendor direct.

The agent's firm failed in its attempt to obtain commission. The judge said that the mere making of the agreement with Mountjoy disentitled the agent from obtaining commission, even if it were clear that the agreement had in fact no influence on the agent's conduct of the negotiations. Furthermore, the evidence showed that the agent was not the effective cause of the sale, so this was another reason for rejecting the claim for commission.