Shaw and another v Sequence (UK) Ltd

QBD, 12 November 2004. Claimants (Sh) had entered into a six-week sole agency agreement with defendant estate agent firm (S) to sell their detached property. G, an employee of S, maintained falsely that an offer had been made although no offer had been received by the end of the agreement period. Sh withdrew their unsold property from the market two months later and brought an action against S alleging breach of contract, negligence and fraudulent misrepresentation. Damages for fraudulent misrepresentation were granted, the amount depending mainly on whether, but for the fraud, S would have exchanged contracts before the property was withdrawn from the market. "Held" claim allowed in part. Many of the problems in the case stemmed from a failure to understand the nature of contracts with estate agents. These are not employment contracts in the ordinary sense but merely promises binding the principal to pay money upon the occurrence of a certain event involving the rendering of some service by the estate agent. The claim for damages based on a reduction in the equity in the property was unsustainable but the claimants were entitled to modest general damages for worry, strain and inconvenience.