When a listing agreement provides that a broker will only be paid a commission only upon the completion of the sale of the property, is the broker entitled to his or her commission even if the sale has not yet been completed?

When, as in the current case, the terms of a listing agreement provide that a broker will be paid a commission only upon the completion of a sale, the completion of the sale is a condition precedent to the payment of the broker's commission. (See Seck v. Foulks, supra, 25 Cal.App.3d at p. 575, fn. 16.) At the same time, however, the broker may be entitled to his or her commission even in the absence of the prerequisite completion of a sale when a sale was " 'not consummated because the seller, acting arbitrarily or in bad faith, prevented consummation . . . .' " (Id. at p. 575.) This rule applies even when a listing agreement provides that the payment of the broker's commission shall be made from the sale proceeds upon the close of escrow. (Ibid.; see also Collins v. Vickter

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