Chard Holdings Pty Ltd & Anor v Ross McCartin Realty

The High Court of Australia heard an application for special leave to appeal in the matter of *Chard Holdings Pty Ltd & Anor v Ross McCartin Realty*. The applicants sought to challenge a judgment awarded to the respondent real estate agent for commission.

The central legal issue before the Court was whether the Full Court had introduced an incorrect test of "effective cause" in determining the agent's entitlement to commission. Specifically, the applicants argued that the Full Court's approach, which considered whether the sale would have completed but for subsequent intervention or a substantial break in negotiations, departed from established Queensland law as previously understood in cases like *Bradley v Adams*. The applicants also contended that the terms of the engagement between the principal and the agent were relevant, questioning whether the agent was engaged merely to find a purchaser or to effect a sale, and whether any implied warranty of the principal's ownership of the property was warranted.

The Court considered the nature of an agent's engagement, with the applicants submitting that the agent's role was to find a purchaser who would contract to buy the property from the principal. They argued that this did not necessarily imply a warranty that the principal owned the property, as a principal might enter into a contract to sell even if they did not yet own it, with the intention of acquiring it. The applicants' primary submission was that the Full Court's introduction of an "effective cause" test, particularly in circumstances where the sale's completion was contingent on subsequent events or where there was a significant lapse in negotiations, was an error justifying special leave.