A fellow Keller Williams agent refuses to pay my referral commission - help!

[Aly W.]

Any other agents out there experience this? I have a signed referral form for a transaction in which I referred a buyer to another KW agent in the Princeton, NJ office. Each office is independently owned. I'm a referral agent and the other agent is a full time realtor.

The other agent and broker signed the referral form a year ago, for a short sale transaction that finally closed. The agent had stopped communicating long ago, and another agent notified me that the property finally closed. Yes, I should have kept closer tabs on this. The agent refused to return calls or emails.

My broker/Team Leader got involved, and after various emails and phone calls, we were told by the other broker that the agent would have to bring my commission money back to her office, and they would forward it to my office. That never happened.

After filing a complaint with the REC against her broker for "failure to supervise", the Princeton office says they have put a lien on the agent's future commissions, should there ever be any, and that's the only way they will reimburse me.

The REC claims this is an issue of contract law and I'll have to follow up with the local Real Estate board.

Anyone ever gone through this before? What is the typical outcome? Any advice to pursue this? The agent also burned the buyer that I referred, but that's for another thread.

Thanks in advance!

[Ibrahim Hughes]

Originally posted by Aly L:

After filing a complaint with the REC against her broker for "failure to supervise", the Princeton office says they have put a lien on the agent's future commissions, should there ever be any, and that's the only way they will reimburse me.

Since it was the Broker who disbursed the commission to the agent but was supposed to FIRST take out your referral fee, I'm having trouble understanding why it's not the Broker you're placing a lien against and going after. Maybe William R. has a better understanding of this since he's a broker (I'm also a licensed agent) and can explain? Thanks in advance.

BTW, I would also pursue this is small claims court (depending on the amount) or take it to regular civil court and go pro se. Again, the Broker would be the primary defendant. This isn't legal advice so consult an attorney.