Wells v Devani: CA 15 Nov 2016

Claim for agent’s commission on sale of flats. The defendant developer had entered into a sole agency agreement with W. Unsold flats were eventually sold to an Housing association on an introduction by a third party agent., the claimant, who now sought commission. The parties disputed whether a contract had been created.
Held: The developer’s appeal succeeded (Arden LJ Dissenting). A court might imply terms into a concluded contract, but not where the very existence of the contract remained at issue. It was not permissible first to assume a contract in order then to decide its terms. The terms of the event triggering an obligation to pay were a precondition to the finding that a contract had been concluded.

Arden, Lewison, McCombe LJJ
[2016] EWCA Civ 1106, [2016] WLR(D) 604, [2017] 2 WLR 1391, [2017] QB 959
Bailii, WLRD
Estate Agents Act 1979
England and Wales
Cited by:
Appeal fromWells v Devani SC 13-Feb-2019
Mr W was selling apartments in a block of flats. Mr D, an estate agent, sought commission. W argued that D had not had signed his terms, and that therefore no contract existed. The court considered whether a contract had come into being when a major . .

Lists of cited by and citing cases may be incomplete.

Agency, Contract

Updated: 10 January 2022; Ref: scu.571238