Cases - Jones v Lowe

Record details

Name

Jones v Lowe

Date

[1945]

Citation

1 AII ER 194

Keywords

Estate agency - commission

Summary

The defendant put her house in Maidenhead on the market through the plaintiff estate agent. A confirming letter stated:

'in the event of my introducing a purchaser I shall look to you for payment of the usual commission'.

The agent found a person ready and anxious to purchase the client's house. Before contracts were entered, the defendant withdrew the house from the market because house prices in towns outside the London area were rising as German bombing of London intensified.

The judge held, following Luxor v Cooper, that 'purchaser' does not mean somebody ready, willing and able to purchase, but a person who has purchased. This means they must have, at the very least, entered into a binding contract to purchase. Therefore no commission was due. Nor could there be any claim in quantum meruit as this is inconsistent with the concept of payment for a result.