He bought an apartment on the 34th floor of a 32-story building. The story of the man left homeless and penniless
A Chinese man has found himself embroiled in a long-running legal dispute after buying an apartment on what was supposed to be the 34th floor of a block of flats that actually had only 32 floors.
He bought an apartment on the 34th floor of a building with only 32 floors. PHOTO: Archive
Shen, a resident of China's Shaanxi Province, purchased an approximately 90 square meter apartment in a residential complex near Xi'an in 2013. The price of the home was only 2,646 yuan (337 euros) per square meter, about a third of the average value of homes in the area, notes the South China Morning Post.
The reduced price is explained by the fact that the building was part of the category of housing with limited property rights, developed on rural land without all the necessary legal approvals.
The man paid an advance of 117,700 yuan (15,000 euros) and signed a contract in which the developer committed to hand over the apartment in 2015.
The deadline was not met, and after several postponements, the developer informed him in 2017 that the block was completed and that he had to pay the difference in money. When he first asked to receive the keys to the apartment, Shen learned a shocking detail: the building where he had bought the apartment was only 32 stories high.
Initially, the developer offered him an apartment on the 32nd floor, but the man did not have the necessary amount for the full payment. Two months later, he was informed that that home had already been sold.
Left without an apartment, Shen requested the return of the money. However, the developer cited lack of funds and asked him to wait.
In the following years, the man recovered only part of the advance. He received 20,000 yuan (about 2,500 euros) in 2020 and another 50,000 yuan (about 6,000 euros) in 2022, after which the developer stopped answering his calls.
The case went before an arbitration board in Xi'an, which ruled that the developer must return the remaining amount of 47,700 yuan (about 6,000 euros), plus interest of about 27,000 yuan (3,000 euros). The company also faced additional penalties if it did not comply with the decision.
However, by May this year, Shen had not recovered his money. The court also issued restrictive measures against the debtor, but the authorities found that he did not have assets or savings that could be enforced.
The story sparked a backlash on social media in China, where many users drew attention to the risks associated with buying homes with limited ownership rights.
“Restricted apartments are cheap, but they come with many problems. The man was unlucky, but there is not really a solution for him“, commented a netizen.
