Owner leased a building to a friend without informing me while I had a sole listing agreement for the property.
The agreement does not specifically state if the owner finds the tenant they can short me a commission. It does not say if the owner finds their own tenant they owe me a commission either. It does say "owner irrevocabley appoints Broker the exclusive agent with sole authority to lease said property..."


I know this is treading close to legal advice, to be very clear I'm not asking for legal advice. But it would be great to hear from someone who may have experienced this before so I can confront the owner in the correct manner.
[{"id": "g77kv1m", "text": "How much work have you put in to date on the property?  If not much, I'd just forget about it.  If a lot of marketing time/money, showings, Q&amp;A etc...then you could pursue with a conversation from that angle, noting that a sole listing agreement [typically] means you get paid commissions whether you procure the tenant or he does.\n\nIf your agreement isn't clear, then legally you don't have much to stand on...but it certainly doesn't hurt to try and get paid with a meeting or phone call.  \n\nIf a moderate amount of work and investment was done on your part, a fall back negotiation strategy could be a flat fee reimbursement that considers what you've done.\n\nUnfortunately this is a great example of how important agreements are to get right.", "replies": [{"id": "g77q8i4", "text": "Yeah there's a crap ton of work done on my end. 20+ showings. 100+ calls I've taken. She dragged her feet for months to get the electrical put in and parking lot finished. \n\nWill try and reason with her.\n\nLesson learned.", "replies": [{"id": "g77y7af", "text": "At the end of the day, you didn\u2019t find her a tenant. It\u2019s gonna he hard to get her to pay you the commission or reimbursement. You will waste a lot of time on this for very little or no benefit. I suggest you go out and sell more and forget about this", "replies": [{"id": "g780ka3", "text": "I have a moderately decent relationship with them but wanted to see if there was a nuclear option if it came to it. Sounds like im SOL if they don't want to pay. \n\nUnfortunately she dragged her feet putting in electrical, plumbing and a parking lot making it exceedingly difficult to lease.", "replies": [], "depth": 4}], "depth": 3}, {"id": "g78jk4x", "text": "That's tough, I get it.  Definitely explain that part of the reason sole agreements exist is so you can get paid for all that work you've put in, for a scenario exactly like this..", "replies": [], "depth": 3}], "depth": 2}, {"id": "g77xy3e", "text": "this is good summary in my opinion.  agreement may very well say more than you realize.", "replies": [], "depth": 2}], "depth": 1}, {"id": "g77p93n", "text": "Probably a losing battle here, but explain to the owner the amount of time and money you have invested to date. Hopefully you can recapture at least your marketing costs. This is one of the more annoying aspects of brokerage. Make sure to clearly define this in your listing/rep agreements going forward.", "replies": [], "depth": 1}, {"id": "g77zw1m", "text": "What type of listing agreement it? \n\nIs it a \"Exclusive right to sell\" listing agreement? Or is it a \"exclusive agency\" listing agreement? \n\nWhich of these matters. If it's a exclusive right to sell agreement you get paid no matter what. If it's the other one you are out of luck.", "replies": [{"id": "g78d6ra", "text": "This is the correct answer.", "replies": [], "depth": 2}, {"id": "g78m3os", "text": "This is exactly right legally.\n\nBut in my opinion if you didn't find the tenant, don't push for a commission. You don't want to be know as that kind of agent. If the landlord relationship is worth keeping, continue to prove your value even while they have a tenant and look for other opportunities. If not, ditch them and consider it a lesson learned.", "replies": [{"id": "g78qseo", "text": "Eh I dont agree. If there is a clear contract and someone tries to cut you out of the commission knowing they owe it to you, you should hold them to it.", "replies": [{"id": "g78rdhu", "text": "I can certainly understand that in some situations. \n\nIn my smaller market, my thought is that we as agents do more than just find tenants/spaces. It is up to you to show your client the value you bring: market knowledge, contract negotiation, tips and tricks of the trade as they may be. \n\nI would imagine that if the landlord did a whole deal without op's assistance, that they were not fully satisfied with his efforts. You could still push for a commission, but if the landlord feels you didn't earn it, they certainly won't want to work with you moving forward. \n\nGuess it's just about picking and choosing your battles", "replies": [], "depth": 4}], "depth": 3}], "depth": 2}, {"id": "g78r6k5", "text": "This is right. In the future, use the exclusive right to sell contract. If the owner pushes back, explain that without knowing you will be compensated, you can\u2019t invest the time/money required to properly market the property. \n\nDid the owners friend lease it at a good rate, or is it under-rented? I\u2019d explain that you had multiple interested parties at market rate if the electric/plumbing/etc were updated/fixed. If the owner was willing to take less rent, and not fix those issues, that should be something you were informed of.", "replies": [], "depth": 2}], "depth": 1}, {"id": "g781d8m", "text": "Not a lawyer but cre broker. Here in California you'd likely have a good \"case\" as I'd interpret exclusive to mean that. That said, it's a pain in the ass to get a judgement and doesn't help your reputation in what can a small world of landlords. I have a handshake and/or written agreement with some clients that if their legitimate friend or a tenant that already in one of their buildings leases space in a building I rep, and especially if those relationships mean that I and my team don't have to spend as much time on the deal, I tell them that we'll provide transaction assistance / \"help paper the deal\" and just take a single point (we get 2 points when 3rd party brokers bring us tenants so it's 1/2 our standard fee). I find that landlords appreciate this and it prevents a dreaded experience from earlier in my career, when a landlord didn't renew my listing simply because he know a full floor tenant in one of his other buildings wanted to move and wanted to cut brokers out of the deal.\n\nedit: not a lawyer", "replies": [{"id": "g78bxkr", "text": "Thanks for the info. I definitely don't want to be the asshole that takes them to court, its not a very big fee, but there was significant effort on my end coordinating trades, helping her navigate the city, showing it and taking a bazillion calls.\n\n\nHopefully we can solve it amicably", "replies": [], "depth": 2}], "depth": 1}, {"id": "g79g2b0", "text": "A lot depends on the wording of the agreement, and the state where you are located. In Texas, the Commercial Listing Agreement developed by the state Association lists conditions of when the Broker's fee is earned, first of which is when \"Landlord leases or agrees to lease all or part of the Property to anyone on any terms.\" In another section, it says the Landlord agrees to \"not negotiate with any prospective tenant who may contact LL directly, but refer all prospective tenants to Broker.\"\n\nFind a good Real Estate attorney, and make sure you have all your documentation showing you acted in good faith (agreement, marketing material, number of showings and dates, etc.).", "replies": [], "depth": 1}, {"id": "g7a2zn5", "text": "Happened to me years ago. I just mentioned the word lawsuit and got paid. I was searching for a Fastenal location and they went around my back to the agent listing the property. Listing agent paid out asap", "replies": [{"id": "g7tc9o4", "text": "Had this happen too with a tenant rep deal.  My own fault I guess for trusting people.  It was super small too which kinda pissed me off more, though I guess made it a cheap lesson.  Toured space (twice) in the subject property and submitted an LOI (with my commission in it) and negotiated it.  Negotiated some TI.  We were basically waiting for the lease and they shoot me a one sentence email on the last revision of the LOI that they have never agreed to a commission (its like a 100k SF class C shit building with 5 others just like it next door, all 70% empty).  Then the landlord dodged me for 3 days and basically said have the client pay it they weren't going to.  \n\nI basically told my client they should see this as a sign of dealing with them in the future, but it is what it is, if they want to proceed I can't offer any additional help unless they want to pay it.  When I use to sign clients I told them no landlord has ever refused my commission and they wouldn't have to pay it.  Now I tell them if a Landlord refuses my commission I will let them know ASAP so they can factor that in, but generally the landlord always pays it.  \n\nSome people just suck.  Then they wonder why their space is in shambles", "replies": [], "depth": 2}], "depth": 1}]