DCC 251/2007

This dispute involved the return of cheques paid to an agent and land owner when a land sale was not completed.

Background

A Defendant was just a real estate broker who offered the sale of a plot of land of 175,764.20 square feet for a villa project, as the exclusive agent of the owner of the land.

The Plaintiff gave the Defendant five cheques, including two for the owner and three for the Defendant on the basis that all of these cheques were received and remained in their possession until the final approval of the land allocation was obtained from the owner.

The parties agreed that the Plaintiff had the right to recover those cheque if the land was not allocated in their name and a refund of any cheque from the bank withdrawn from the date of maturity of the agreement would be void with the cancellation of the transaction automatically.

However, the Defendant failed to obtain the approval of the owner to allocate the disputed land to the Plaintiff and obtain the contract of sale which made them issue a warning on 28.11.2005 that the five cheques must be returned to them.