Stroud estate agent forced to pay more than £3,500 after row about commission (From Stroud News and Journal)

Stroud estate agent forced to pay more than £3,500 after row about commission

9:00am Wednesday 6th February 2013 in News By Hayley Mortimer, Reporter

STROUD estate agent Duncan Lloyd-Jones, managing director of Charles Duncan, has been ordered to pay more than £3,500 to another agent after a row about fees.

Lloyd-Jones, aged 30, appeared at Cheltenham County Court on Thursday where he was ordered to pay estate agents Bear Associates a £3,870 commission plus £81 in interest and £425 in court costs.

The court heard that Lloyd-Jones - who was selling a Charles Duncan office in Bath Street, Cheltenham - failed to pay commission to Bear Associates, which had been instructed to sell the property in May last year.

Lloyd-Jones used Cheltenham-based Bear Associates to manage the sale and both parties signed a contract which stated that Bear would have sole selling rights, the court was told.

Within three days, Bear had found a buyer however Lloyd-Jones, who has an office in London Road, Stroud, had also found a potential buyer himself.
 

This buyer did not want to deal with Bear because of a past dispute so Lloyd-Jones decided to sell to the buyer he had found, the court heard.
 

Speaking in court, Tom Wiseman, director of Bear said: "We did the job we were asked to do and we did it well. Finding a buyer in this market in just three days is quite impressive.

"But, an estate agent himself, Mr Lloyd-Jones chose to do a deal covertly behind our backs to try and wriggle from paying us a fee."

District Judge David Hebblethwaite found that Lloyd-Jones had breached his contract with Bear.

In his defence, Lloyd-Jones said: "I do things by handshake and mostly verbally. I have been up front since day one and told Bear Associates about the potential buyer from the start.

"This isn't a question of Charles Duncan estate agents, this was a personal matter and a personal property."