NJ · jury_instructions
N.J. Model Civil Jury Charge 4.40
Real Estate Brokers Commission ‑ Statute Of Fraud (N.J.S.A. 25:1‑9)
4.40 REAL ESTATE BROKERS COMMISSION — STATUTE OF
FRAUDS (N.J.S.A. 25:1-9) (Approved 6/79)
The law of this State requires that if an agreement between a broker and the
owner of real property is to be enforceab le, it must be in wr iting. There are,
however, certain exceptions allowed by this law. Even though an agreement
between the parties is originally onl y verbal, a broker may recover his/her
commission provided he/she or his/her agent has, within five (5) days of the verbal
agreement, given written notice to the owner, setting forth the terms of the
agreement including the rate or amount of compensation agreed on and further
provided he/she actually eff ects a sale or exchange of real property prior to
termination of the agreement.
An owner may act to terminate such a verbal agreement even after he/she
has received a written notice provided a sale or exchange has not yet been affected
and further provided he/she gives written notice of the termination to the broker or
agent. However, when notification fro m the owner occurs while the broker is
conducting good faith negotiations with a pr ospective buyer, and then the owner
subsequently sells to or exchanges pr operty with that buyer, the notice of
termination by the owner is ineffective and the broker may recover his/her
commission notwithstanding the termination notice by the owner.
An agreement must not only satisfy th e requirements of the statute in order
to entitle a broker to a commission, it must also either expressly or impliedly
signifies an engagement of the broker to sell the property on behalf of the owner.
In determining whether such an implica tion is warranted, it is permissible and
sometimes essential to scrutinize all of the surrounding circumstances. What this
means is that the agreement must do more than merely advise that if the owner
should decide to sell at some future time, the terms contained therein will apply.
The agreement must actually authorize the broker to secure a purchaser on the
terms specified.
History
(Approved 6/79)
Provenance
- Source
- njcourts.gov
- Retrieved
- 2026-08-20
- Edition
- 2026-08-20
- Content hash
109269c2d024055259f1b5a006d6203c0f65493dcdc08294f8581d589dd356c1
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