Brokerage dispute broker? Get free advice!

Questioner

Can I simply halve my broker's commission if my broker conducted negotiations for the sale of my home without any results, to the extent that the potential buyer almost did not want to proceed with the purchase? We then negotiated with the buyer ourselves and came to an agreement. Is this a case of no cure no pay? In the end, we sold the home ourselves. The buyer also said that she did not want to continue negotiating with the broker in question. The broker verbally admitted that things did not go well, but only wanted to deduct Euro 500 from the commission. This amounts to Euro 7,000.

Lawyer

First of all, the question is what is stated in the contract with the broker. Are there general terms and conditions that apply and were they also handed over to you? Then this is the most important starting point. In order to give a good answer, these two pieces must be gone through. A second question is whether it can be successfully stated that the broker has failed. The burden of proof of this can lie with you if he demonstrates that he has fulfilled his obligation to make an effort.

Questioner

The broker offered us the contract NVM Terms and Conditions February 2010. It now appears that we did reach a verbal agreement regarding brokerage, advertising costs, etc., but failed to sign the contract. This was not done deliberately, it was left undone. We want to adhere to the verbal agreement, but do not want to pay the full amount. We refer to art. 14, section 7 of the NVM Consumer Terms and Conditions: 'If an agreement that has been reached is not implemented, the broker retains the right to full brokerage, unless the consumer demonstrates that the non-implementation is the result of an attributable shortcoming (default) on the part of the broker'. We believe that the broker did not carry out the assignment. The buyer of our house stated that the purchase would not have gone ahead if the broker in question had remained in the negotiations. The default means that he created a situation in which the buyer did not feel comfortable continuing the negotiations. The buyer stated that he was prepared to explain this in more detail in writing, if requested to do so. I would like to hear your response/advice. Thanks again. Kind regards.

Lawyer

The NVM conditions also state the following: - Article 13 paragraph 1: the client is not permitted to enter into an agreement without the involvement of the broker, unless otherwise agreed; - Article 14 paragraph 3: if the assignment has been cancelled (see reference to Article 6 b), no brokerage fee is due if the client subsequently concludes a purchase agreement himself, unless the client has acted in violation of Article 13 or the broker demonstrates that the agreement was ultimately due to his involvement (in my own words). The question is whether Article 14 paragraph 3 has been met in this case: in this case you could say that the agreement was concluded, not thanks to, but DESPITE the broker. In that case, no brokerage fee is due provided that it is clear that the agreement was terminated before you concluded the purchase agreement. If the agreement with the broker had not yet ended at the time the purchase agreement was concluded, you are in principle due brokerage, but in that case you can rely on Article 14 paragraph 6 and argue that the efforts of the broker do not justify brokerage in this case. Incidentally, there is no situation as referred to in Article 14 paragraph 7. The agreement (meaning: the purchase agreement) is indeed being executed.

Lawyer

I maintain that the written offer was not accepted and that the broker must prove otherwise if he thinks so. The applicability of the general terms and conditions is also up for discussion. This gives room for negotiation. Apart from the other legal arguments, of which my colleague has mentioned a few. I advise hiring a lawyer to keep the broker at bay or, if necessary, to reach a settlement.