Ineligible for court, buyers of mainland residences seek help from lawmaker

Several hundred Macau buyers purchasing units in Wanzai District of China’s southern city of Zhuhai have seen the type of properties mysteriously altered, making them legally uninhabitable, lawmaker Jose Pereira Coutinho has disclosed on his social media account.
The apartment buyers have, according to the lawmaker, each spent at least 4 million yuan on the residences, which were later altered to pure commercial use, meaning that even if they obtain title to the development in the future, they will not be able to live in the units.
Defects have also been found in the units in question, such as severe leakage, cracks in walls, damaged windows and doorframes, as well as bent floor tiles.
Furthermore, the buyers cannot even file a law suit at a mainland court because they have not received their contracts of purchase, which have not even been signed. The contracts will only be signed when they settle the entire payment.
To make things worse, the lawmaker said, there is a tricky provision which deprives the buyers of their rights to seek legal appeal even when they have the contracts in hand.
Conflicts regarding real estate property transactions are not new globally, let alone in mainland China. By tracing records as far back as two years, another local lawmaker, Si Ka Lon, who is also a Macau Representative at the National People’s Congress, disclosed that the number of such cases in Zhuhai and Zhongshan was estimated to have reached 10,000.
He did suggest that prospective buyers obtain legal advice from reliable lawyers.
In August, a legal service circle was established in the Greater Bay Area, enabling Macau and Hong Kong lawyers to practice on the mainland. As such, in the future, Macau buyers of mainland real estate may be able to consult with Macau lawyers on their prospective purchases. AL