The Court of Appeal has just awarded damages of over £10,000.00 to a firm of estate agents due to a breach by the seller of a property of the agent's sole agency agreement.
The unusual feature of this case is that the agency agreement had been entered into by emails between the seller and the agents.
The agent had sent the seller an email with both their multi and sole agency terms and conditions and the email went on to state that after a certain date the seller would market the property through the agents on a sole basis.
The seller replied with an email which basically said "that's fine, look forward to some viewings".
The property was eventually sold by another agent who had previously been marketing the property on a multi agency basis. The first agents claimed their fee.
The Seller argued that there was no contract - she said that she had not fully read the e-mail or the sole agency terms and conditions and that it had always been her intention to market the property through several agents.
The Court of Appeal decided that there was a contract brought into being by the exchange of emails and that the sale by the other agent had deprived the sole agent of the chance of earning commission on the sale. The Court therefore awarded the agent the full amount of its lost commission by way of damages.
The seller therefore effectively paid 2 lots of estate agent's fees and was also landed with a fairly hefty legal bill!
The great thing about email is that it makes instant communication astoundingly easy. The bad thing about email is that it makes instant communication astoundingly easy! Be wary about landing yourself with an obligation you never intended just with a quick click on the "Send" button!
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