A JUDGE with the city’s intermediate people’s court revealed, without being identified, that the judiciary system has issued documents to approve legal enforcement if real estate disputes meet three conditions.

    As the home prices continue rising in Shenzhen, it has made quite a number of property owners break their home-sale contracts after signing with buyers. Property owners find that it is more profitable to break the home-sale contracts and sell the apartments at a new, higher market price.

    The number of homebuyers facing contract breaches has caught the attention of the judiciary system.

    According to the terms in the documents, contracts will remain valid only if the transaction meets three requirements: the homebuyer must be qualified to purchase property, agents and the banks selling mortgages to the homeowners must be willing to continue with the transaction and buyers need to be able to pay a lump sum for the property, according to yesterday’s Southern Metropolis Daily.

    Homebuyers think the last condition, being able to pay for the entire property up front, could be a huge financial burden for them.

    “Since an apartment in Shenzhen will cost at least a few million yuan, to require buyers to pay all the sum at one time would be just another disaster for them,” said Zhang Maorong, a lawyer experienced with home-sale law.

    A 28-year-old Shenzhen resident, Liang Ping, is facing a contract breach.

    Liang signed a contract last February with Zhu Xiaochun, the owner of an apartment in Longgang District. Liang paid a deposit of 30,000 yuan (US$4,833) to Zhu at the same time.

    Zhu used many excuses to avoid completing the transfer of the apartment ownership to Liang after the signing the contract. Liang filed a lawsuit with a court and Zhu was therefore ordered to pay a penalty of 40,000 yuan and continue to fulfill the contract before April 30 this year.

    The case became more complicated with Zhu’s appeal to the Shenzhen Intermediate People’s Court. He accuses Liang of using fake documents to apply for a bank loan during the transaction. The appeal was rejected by the court.

    However, Zhu refused to fulfill his contract even after the ruling by the intermediate people’s court was final.

    Liang said he learned from a judge with the enforcement department of the Longgang court that there is nothing a court can do in his situation if the seller refuses to cooperate with Liang in the process of getting a bank loan to complete the transaction of the apartment. (Zhang Qian)