Thanks for that.
You have to read the agreement as a whole, but on the face of it, the Initial Commission fee is not payable. It arises on the commencement of the tenancy and no tenancy has commenced.
The second clause depends on the definition of a Tenant (is it capitalised differently in the two clauses in the original?). If there's no tenancy, there can't be a tenant, and the agent can't claim to have found one - what they have found is someone who wanted to be a tenant, unless their definition of Tenant includes someone who wants to be a tenant.
The second clause isn't a termination clause at all - the second sentence doesn't relate to termination and the first envisages the cancellation of the contract if the landlord withdraws their instruction before anything has happened, rather than how it should be terminated having operated for a period.
So if that's all there is about termination, the agreement is defective as you asserted above.
I'd say they're seriously hacked off (or nuts) to be suing you on the basis of those terms of the agreement.
You have to read the agreement as a whole, but on the face of it, the Initial Commission fee is not payable. It arises on the commencement of the tenancy and no tenancy has commenced.
The second clause depends on the definition of a Tenant (is it capitalised differently in the two clauses in the original?). If there's no tenancy, there can't be a tenant, and the agent can't claim to have found one - what they have found is someone who wanted to be a tenant, unless their definition of Tenant includes someone who wants to be a tenant.
The second clause isn't a termination clause at all - the second sentence doesn't relate to termination and the first envisages the cancellation of the contract if the landlord withdraws their instruction before anything has happened, rather than how it should be terminated having operated for a period.
So if that's all there is about termination, the agreement is defective as you asserted above.
I'd say they're seriously hacked off (or nuts) to be suing you on the basis of those terms of the agreement.
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