A HOME seller was recently ordered to return a downpayment to the buyer after a Nanshan court has ruled the property purchase contract of a 6.44-million yuan (US$975,758) apartment invalid, Southern Metropolis Daily reported yesterday.
The ruling was made due to a forged social security payment produced for the homebuyer, identified only as Tang, who doesn t have Shenzhen hukou or a one-year payment of social security insurance in the city.
Under a government rule issued by the city government last April, non-Shenzhen hukou holders are required to have paid for the social security insurance in the city for at least one year before they are allowed to buy property in Shenzhen.
Tang signed the purchase contract with the home seller for the upmarket apartment in Nanshan District last June. The contract stipulated that any party who failed to fulfill the contract should pay 20 percent of the total value of the apartment to the other party, the Daily reported.
The paper said the home seller, whose identity was not available, was aware that Tang wasn t legally eligible to buy a property in Shenzhen. The contract said that it would become valid only after the homebuyer completes paperwork of social security payment.
However, Tang s mortgage application was denied by a bank due to the social security payment. The home seller then took Tang to court, asking for 1.28 million yuan for failing to fulfil the contract.
It was the first legal dispute resulting from falsified social security payment in the city since property purchase curbs were adopted last April. Media reports said many real estate agencies offered forged social security payments to help non-qualified homebuyers to purchase property. (SD News)
