Prestige Residential Marketing Pty Limited v Depune Pty Limited

[2008] NSWCA 179

NSW Court of Appeal

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Interrogate

Catchwords

1. Principal and Agent
2. › Real estate agent
3. › Commission
4. › Effective cause of sale
5. › Whether agent who introduced purchaser during agency period was effective cause of subsequent sale negotiated by different agent
6. › Property, Stock and Business Agents Act 2002 (NSW), s 36
1. Appeal
2. › District Court appeal
3. › Fact finding
4. › Whether finding of fact based on assessment of witnesses' credibility should be set aside
5. › Failure to take into account material contemporaneous document
6. › Finding contrary to the evidence
7. › Appellate court substituting its own findings
1. Evidence
2. › Assessment of witnesses
3. › Contemporaneous documents
4. › Whether contemporaneous document overlooked by trial judge supported rejected witness's account
5. › Whether trial judge relied on inadmissible material

Quick Take

A real estate agent who introduces a purchaser to a property and negotiates the purchaser up to the nominated sale price may be an effective cause of the sale even where a different agent subsequently conducts the final negotiations and exchange of contracts. Two agents may independently be an effective cause of the same sale. An appellate court may set aside a trial judge's credibility findings where the judge failed to take into account a material contemporaneous document that supported the rejected witnesses' evidence.