Colliers Newcastle faces $743,000 commission claim in Federal Court from Dane Crawford
Dane Crawford, a former Colliers International real estate agent, has lodged a claim in the Federal Court seeking more than $743,000 in allegedly unpaid commissions.
Crawford resigned last year from their Newcastle office having headed the sales of its residential apartments division.
His statement of claim says he handed in his resignation based on representations that Colliers International made about his outstanding commissions.
He alleges the discussion before resigning concluded with an entitlement to half of the 50 per cent of gross commission on contracts that had been exchanged but not yet settled.
He said he went ahead with the resignation on this understanding, Nine Enertainment has reported.
The claim was lodged last month in the Fair Work division.
According to the claim, following Mr Crawford's resignation, Colliers advised him he was owed $297,500 in commissions.
Crawford claims this was an alleged breach of his contract which entitled him to a base salary and 50 per cent commission on revenue earned above $180,000 and 10 per cent on revenue below that amount.
His lawyer Mia Pantechis from Maurice Blackburn said Crawford was "a top performer who generated substantial revenue for Colliers."
"Crawford remains very disappointed in the way he was treated by Colliers,” she said.
"As the matter is the subject of legal proceedings, the company will not be making any comments," a Colliers spokesman said.
It is being represented by Lander & Rogers Lawyers.
Crawford was at Colliers after joining the agency in April 2015 having been at McGrath previously.
It was just as the residential apartment boom took off in Newcastle.
By mid-2018 10 cranes dotted the skyline around Newcastle, the highest number of cranes ever observed.
The then Colliers director of residential property marketing said the city was in “history-making mode.”
Along the way the agency secured press reports including one on the reported penthouse sale in the East End development for $6 million, smashing Newcastle’s previous apartment price record by more than $1.5 million.
He now is at Commercial Collective where he works with leading super funds, private developers and managed property funds with a speciality in high-density residential development marketing and advisory roles on CBD and city fringe projects.
"Dane has lent his considerable expertise to more than $2.5 billion of projects including multi-stage developments, large masterplanned developments, mixed use projects and boutique projects," his website advises.
"Dane previously held the position of Director of Residential Project Marketing at a global real estate agency, with almost 1,000 transactions completed over his last three years."