The Court held that a real estate agent's entitlement to commission under a clause triggered by non-completion 'owing to the default of the principal' requires an actual failure by the vendor to do something the vendor was obligated to do under the contract for sale, not merely the non-occurrence of a condition precedent to completion. On the facts, where the vendor had applied for council approval of unauthorised works and made genuine efforts to pursue the application, the failure of the council to issue the approval before settlement did not constitute 'default' by the vendor. The Court further held that even if default existed, the causal requirement ('owing to') was not satisfied because the non-completion was caused by the purchasers exercising a contractual right to rescind upon the non-issuance of the approval, not by any wrongful conduct of the vendor.
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