31 Ga. App. 593 | Ga. Ct. App. | 1924
(After stating the foregoing facts.) The two contentions insisted upon by defendant in error are: (1) that, since the form of the sales ticket, approved by the defendant and under which the plaintiffs were authorized to operate, provided within itself for a binding contract for the sale of land, and contemplated signature by the defendant as owner as well as by the purchaser, it could not become operative as a basis for the recovery of commissions until after it had been signed by the defendant; and (2) that the terms of the approved sales ticket had been so altered
1. In cases involving an ordinary contract of brokerage “the broker’s commissions are earned when, during the agency, he finds a purchaser ready, able, and willing to buy, and who actually offers to buy on the terms stipulated.by the owner.” Civil Code (1910), § 3587. In this case, however, it appears from the evidence for the plaintiffs themselves that the defendant obligated himself to pay the commission only upon the condition that the plaintiffs would effect an actual binding agreement to purchase. Humphries v. Smith, 5 Ga. App. 340 (63 S. E. 248); Nutting v. Kennedy, 16 Ga. App. 569 (85 S. E. 767). More than this, the agreement between the defendant owner and the plaintiffs was that the purchaser was to become bound by the terms of a certain instrument, which had been prepared by the defendant’s attorney and approved by himself. The form of the instrument thus prepared and approved contemplated that it be signed both by the purchaser and by the defendant. The question is not whether in such a case the signature of the owner would be necessary in order for it to evidence a binding contract for the sale of realty. This manifestly would be answered in the affirmative. But the question is whether the agent is entitled to his commission for services rendered when he has done all that he is required to do under his agreement by securing the signature of a purchaser able to perform, offering to perform, and binding himself to perform the terms of the approved sales agreement. Where in such a case there is a failure to complete the sale through no fault of the agent or of the purchaser procured by him, but solely on account of the owner’s refusal to execute the agreement he had explicitly approved, we think the agent is entitled to his commission; that the owner would be liable to such an agent just as he would be to a broker under an ordinary contract of brokerage if he refuses to sell when presented with a purchaser ready, able, and willing to buy, and who actually offers to buy on the terms stipulated. Kesler v. Stults, 15 Ga. App. 735 (84 S. E. 201).
2. No doctrine is better recognized than the rule which requires that in order for a contract to become binding by the acceptance of an offer, the acceptance must be unequivocal, unconditional, and
Judgment reversed.