Video: Clyde & Co answers your brokerage legal questions

With 80 years of experience in the marine sector, Clyde & Co has become a leading superyacht law firm. Here, Partner John Leonida, who is considered a leading authority on superyacht law when he’s not counselling his own clients, answers the questions he is most frequently asked by superyacht owners in a series of exclusive online videos.

The first video focuses on brokerage, with questions about commission.

First reader question: “Is there a time limit after which a broker ceases to be due commission?”

“A commission is the price a broker receives for making a sale happen and that’s the important thing – making a sale happen,” Leonida explains.” The law is very clear on the subject: if a broker is the effective cause of a transaction happening then he is entitled to a commission.”

However, as he explains, there are situations when a broker may not be due commission – or certainly not in the eyes of the courts.

Watch the video to see the answers in full:

Second reader question: “How do time limits affect an intermediary if they were also involved in the purchase?”

When an intermediary is involved in any sale or purchase, the most important relationship is of that between the intermediary and the broker, Leonida explains. “If the broker agrees to pay something to the intermediary, that’s a matter between the broker and the intermediary,” he says.

“An intermediary cannot simply introduce someone to the broker and simply say ‘this is my man, I would like a commission’,” Leonida adds.

Notwithstanding this, there are occasions when an intermediary should be paid commission, which Leonida explains in careful detail in the video above.

Disclaimer
Clyde & Co LLP accepts no responsibility for loss occasioned to any person acting or refraining from acting as a result of material contained in this video interview or the written summary thereof. This video interview and the written summary are not intended to be relied upon as specific legal advice and should not be relied upon as such. No part of this video or written summary interview may be used, reproduced, stored in a retrieval system or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, reading or otherwise without the prior permission of Clyde & Co LLP. © Clyde & Co LLP 2016.