In the absence of any agreed compensation, the real estate broker is entitled to receive the customary fees. In the absence of any custom regulating the commission, he is entitled to receive a reasonable compensation.
A real estate broker is not permitted to represent both parties, or to receive compensation from both parties. If a broker is promised compensation from the purchaser which he agrees to accept, without the consent of the owner, he cannot receive compensation from either party.
63. Termination of Agency. If an agent performs the terms of his agency, the agency is said to be terminated by performance. He ceases to be agent, by reason of having performed his contract.
If an agent is employed to act as agent for a specified time, the lapse of the stipulated time, of itself, terminates the agency.
An agency is a contract, express or implied, and it may be terminated at any time by any act of the parties thereto showing such to be their intention. There is one exception to this rule, and that is, that an agency coupled with an interest cannot be terminated by an act of one of the parties. This exception is discussed in a separate section.
Where an agency is terminated by failure or refusal of the principal, or agent to carry out his terms of the contract, the defaulting party is liable in damages to the other party. This does not prevent the termination of the agency however.
A CORNER IN THE NEW YORK OFFICE OF THE H. W. JOHNS-MANVILLE
Where an agency is terminated by the failure or refusal of either party to observe the conditions of the contract of agency, the agency still subsists on the part of third persons, who have dealt with the agent, and who have not received notice of the termination. Upon revoking the agent's authority, the principal must notify third persons, who have dealt with the agent, or who have knowledge of the agency contract, and who would be likely to continue to deal with him as agent. If the principal does not give third parties such notice, he is still liable to them on contracts subsequently made by the agent in the principal's name. For example, if A, a wholesale druggist, employs B to sell goods for one year and C knows of the contract, and at the expiration of six months, A discharges B for failure to give him his exclusive time, A must notify C of B's discharge, else B can still bind A by making contracts with C.