George Trollope & Sons v Caplan    Agency – Commission – Estate agents – Introduction of willing purchaser – Withdrawal by
vendor without reasonable cause – Damages in lieu of commission – Matters to be considered
in assessing damages.
Estate agents were instructed to find a purchaser for certain property part of which consisted
of a shop let for £180 per annum. Willing purchasers were introduced and the price was
agreed. The vendor then informed the agents that he had arranged with the tenant that the rent
of the shop should temporarily be £145 per annum and that he was unwilling to go back on
this arrangement, and he withdrew the authority which he had given to the agents to sell the
property as a property earning as to part £180 per annum. The intending purchasers refused in
the circumstances to proceed at the price agreed, the vendor declined to take less and
negotiations were discontinued. In an action by the agents, inter alia, for damages for breach
of contract the county court judge held that: (a) the negotiations came to an end because of
“the discovery by the intending purchaser that the [vendor] had verbally agreed that his tenant
under the sub-lease should pay £145 per annum instead of £180 and his refusal to go back
upon his verbal agreement”; (b) the vendor was unable or unwilling to carry out the
provisional contract; (c) the agents were thereby prevented from earning their commission,
and he awarded as damages the full amount of the commission to which the agents would
have been entitled, had the purchase been completed at the price agreed upon. The vendor
appealed:—