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Recently, a property in Longgang, Shenzhen, suspended sales shortly after a significant price cut. The staff of Shenzhen Qincheng Dayufu Marketing Center responded that the property can be purchased normally, but the old owner is defending his rights at the sales office and cannot take customers to view the property on site.

There was news recently that after the Qincheng Dayu Mansion project, which had been suspended for more than a year, resumed sales, some houses were sold at a price of nearly 50% off, which caused resistance from early home buyers. The project has currently suspended sales.

In this regard, some netizens believe that old owners should not make trouble, "If housing prices go up, will you make up the difference to the developer?", "Why don't the owners object after the price increase? Houses are also commodities, and it is normal for prices to change."

According to Cailianshe, after the substantial price cut, the project was boycotted by early owners. In a petition document from a representative of the owners of Yufu Mansion, early owners demanded that the project stop selling from August 17, and at the same time, the owners advocated that the project should compensate the owners for the difference in price from the illegal sales. Some owners also proposed that the developer should clarify the solution for refunding the house after the house is returned.

The above-mentioned appeal document shows that the project has currently stopped all sales, and the specific results of other appeals from early owners have not yet been announced.

Details of the property. Photo/Screenshot from a real estate website

【1】Staff: The plan was to launch the sale last week, but it was suspended due to the rights protection of old owners

According to the China Real Estate News, the Qincheng Dayu Mansion project will be launched on the market as early as May 2022, selling products with a construction area of ​​approximately 80㎡-133㎡. A total of 623 registered residential units are available, with an average registered price of approximately 42,000 yuan/㎡ and a total price of 3.13 million to 6.13 million yuan/unit.

As of the restart of sales, online signing and filing data showed that the project had registered 437 houses, and the remaining 183 houses were unsold and still in a locked status by the district bureau (meaning that the house was in a restricted state or the developer had violated regulations, resulting in the house sales system being locked by the district bureau).

Jiupai News found that the developer of the project is Shenzhen Qinchengda Real Estate Co., Ltd. In 2023, the project was suspended due to financial problems of the developer.

In order to ensure the delivery of the building, the project introduced a local urban investment company, and the project was able to resume construction. On August 12, the "Qincheng Dayu Mansion" official account officially released an announcement about the project's cooperation with Longgang An Urban Investment Company to help the project's operation and delivery. The project has thus resumed sales.

However, the project was suspended again due to excessive price reduction.

On the 22nd, Jiupai News consulted the Shenzhen Qincheng Dayufu Marketing Center as a home buyer. The staff said that the launch event was originally planned to be held last week, but it was suspended due to the rights protection of old owners. They introduced that the first batch of houses in the early stage of the project were sold at a high price, with an average price of about 40,000 yuan. Now the cheapest house is sold at a unit price of about 22,000-27,000 yuan per square meter, which is equivalent to a half price.

“You can still buy it normally, but the old owners are defending their rights, so you can’t view the house. Once their demands are resolved, you can view it.” He explained that the price reduction was a market behavior and that the old owners occupied the entrance and interior of the sales office, obstructing customers from coming to view the house. “There was a customer who wanted to buy that day, but he went out to do business and didn’t come in until 10 o’clock that evening.” He added that the project is expected to be delivered in May next year.

【2】Lawyer: Developers have the right to decide product prices

Fu Jian, director of Henan Zejin Law Firm, told Jiupai News that developers have the right to decide commodity prices. As long as they do not engage in price fraud during the transaction, they generally do not bear price responsibility to old owners. In addition, based on the macro-control of national policies, they are also trying to suppress the rise in housing prices as much as possible. Therefore, it is not a legal obligation for developers to take care of the owners' psychology when lowering housing prices, unless the two parties have a clear agreement. For moral considerations, developers can consider the owners' feelings before deciding to lower housing prices.

He believes that from a legal perspective, whether old owners have the right to defend their rights after house prices fall depends mainly on the relevant clauses in the purchase contract and the provisions of laws and regulations. If the purchase contract clearly stipulates that the developer cannot arbitrarily reduce the price, then the old owners can defend their rights based on the contract terms.

However, according to the Civil Code and other relevant laws and regulations, the rise and fall of housing prices fall into the category of market risks. Unless the developer commits illegal acts such as fraud and false propaganda, causing the old owners to suffer losses, it is difficult for the old owners to directly require the developer to compensate for the losses caused by the fall in housing prices through legal means.

If old owners cause trouble in the sales office, it may infringe on the normal operation of the sales office and the legitimate rights and interests of others. According to the "Public Security Administration Punishment Law" and other relevant laws and regulations, acts such as disturbing public order and gathering to cause trouble may be subject to administrative penalties, such as warnings, fines, detention, etc. If the owner's behavior constitutes a crime, such as the crime of provoking trouble and the crime of gathering to disturb social order, he may also be held criminally liable.

He reminded that regardless of whether or not one is doing so for the purpose of safeguarding one's own rights and interests, one's actions should be carried out within the scope permitted by law; otherwise one will also be held responsible and the loss will outweigh the gain.

[Source: Jiupai News]