Kathleen Madgwick v Cooloola Waters Holdings in court
A Cooloola Coast retirement village has been ordered to pay more than $22,000 to a real estate agent contracted to find buyers for its units in 2022.
Police & Courts
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A Cooloola Coast retirement village has been told to pay more than $20,000 in commission to a former contractor after a civil hearing in the Queensland Civil and Administrative Tribunal, held in Gympie Magistrates Court on Tuesday.
Cooloola Water Holdings, which now runs Cooloola Waters Retirement Village at Tin Can Bay, was found by the tribunal to have not paid two sales commissions to Kathleen Madgwick pursuant to an agreement it had with her.
Ms Madgwick had been contracted by Cooloola Water Holdings to find buyers for its units.
Sole director Gary Simonite appeared for Cooloola Water Holdings, and told the tribunal making sales was like “kicking tyres” and no sale was made until it involved a signed contract.
Ms Madgwick, a Glenwood real estate agent, represented herself and said she had built relationships with two prospective unit buyers over a number of months between 2021 and 2022.
At the time she was village manager for Cooloola Waters Retirement Village, employed by the liquidator, and when Cooloola Waters Holdings took over in 2022 she declined to remain in that position.
She had signed a sales contract with Cooloola Waters Holdings in January 2022, and was pursuing prospective buyers for them.
Two prospective buyers showed further interest, and when Ms Madgwick requested sales documentation from Cooloola Waters Holdings, she never received a response.
“There was no information given to me to be able to follow through with them,” she said.
Both buyers went on to buy units at the retirement village in July 2022, Mr Simonite confirmed to the tribunal.
He said he understood Ms Madgwick’s contract was terminated in April 2022 when she wrote an email saying: “I have no intention of selling any further units for Cooloola Waters Holdings”.
He also told the tribunal that at the time of the contract being signed with Ms Madgwick, Cooloola Waters Holdings “were the owners in equity, even if we weren’t the owners in title”.
Cooloola Waters Retirement Village manager Nicole McCullen appeared as a witness to the proceedings. She told the tribunal she was not aware of a prospective buyers list shared between the company and Ms Madgwick.
Magistrate Bevan Hughes said the causal chain was broken by Cooloola Waters Holdings failing to respond to Ms Madgwick’s emails asking for sales documentation.
He said in his judgement the contract was based on the future circumstances of Cooloola Waters Holdings owning the property and those two sales going through, both of which came to pass.
“Given early introductions, the tours and her relationship knowledge of the village and its residents, I’m therefore satisfied her damages are reflected in 100 per cent of the commission on the sales,” he said.
Cooloola Waters Holdings was told to pay Ms Madgwick $22,080 in lost commission plus $439.75 in associated expenses.
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