[TN] Commission Question
I'm an assistant to a Commercial Real Estate Developer.

We've sent this question to our attorney, but would like to hear if anyone has been in this situation before.

This is a mixed use retail/restaurant building in a downtown location. We signed a lease with a restauranteur to open a second location in our city (his first restaurant opened in the capital). We've been renovating the building and working with the restauranteur's architect to build out his space. Lease was signed, and first half of the commission was paid to the realtor that brought the tenant. (Half at lease signing, half when they open for business).

We just received a stop work request in writing from the restauranteur. If he backs out of the lease, does the realtor have to pay back the half of the commission they've already received? To add a wrinkle to this, the commission was agreed to via handshake - nothing in writing.
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