TWO years after buying an apartment in Nanshan District, a resident, surnamed Ma, received a subpoena from a court after the real estate developer brought him to court, demanding him to pay a penalty for a one-month delay in his mortgage payments for the apartment, a local television program reported.

Like Ma, about 80 households living in the same residential complex were sued for not paying their mortgages within 45 days after they signed purchase contracts with the developer two years ago. The case was heard at Nanshan People’s Court last week.

According to Ma, he bought the 88-square-meter apartment in March 2015. The price for his apartment at that time was around 36,000 yuan (US$5,355) per square meter.

Ma paid a 30-percent down payment after inking a contract with the developer and was going to apply for a bank loan. According to the sixth article on the unified property purchasing contract for Shenzhen, buyers should apply for loans and pay the mortgage within 45 days of when both parties signed the contract.

“I tried to urge the bank to speed up my loan application but was told not to worry, since no developer in Shenzhen had ever sued a homebuyer for paying the mortgage late,” said Ma.

Two months later, Ma’s loan application was approved and he began paying his mortgage that June. At the time, the developer did not hold him responsible for the late mortgage payment.

It wasn’t until last month that Ma and the other property owners in the residential compound were asked to pay a penalty for their mortgage payments that were one-month late two years ago. “According to the deal, I would need to pay over 10,000 yuan,” said Ma.

Apart from Ma, the others also feel wronged because they believed it was the bank that had delayed their loan applications, since they had applied for loans the day they signed their contracts.

Different banks take various lengths of time to process loan applications, according to the report. The process usually takes two to three months with some taking even longer.

A local lawyer said that, based on the current procedure of real estate transactions, the buyers can only be sure about the date they applied for the loans, but can hardly expect be told the exact date when the applications would be approved. “It is normally hard for the buyers to guarantee when they will obtain the loan,” said the lawyer.

The real estate developer has not given a response and the court is still processing the case. (Zhang Qian)