Residents demand gov’t step in on alleged Zhuhai housing scam

Around 60 Macau residents who claimed to have suffered losses after buying pre-sale houses in Zhuhai gathered outside the Government Headquarters on Monday. They submitted a petition to the MSAR government, asking for its intervention in the issue.
A representative of the residents, Mr Lo, claimed that he bought a pre-sale apartment near New Yuan Ming Palace in Zhuhai in 2008. However, Lo admitted that he thought the development was a sound one and did not pay attention to the mainland laws that govern the selling of pre-sale properties. He also did not realize that the housing project was not, in fact, granted the relevant certificate. They were only promised verbally that a contract would be signed after the developer topped the building.
Lo alleged that, due to the shortage of capital, the developer had sold part of the project to the construction contractor and a new developer. However, the construction only stopped after disputes between the parties, and the building process resumed when the housing prices rose again. The project was eventually completed three years ago.
When the pre-sale apartment buyers tried to request the return of their apartments, it is alleged that the contractor and new developer then took the original developer to court and accused them of illegally accumulating funds. This is due to the belief that it pre-sold some of the apartments without gaining official approval. It is also alleged that the two had already auctioned three buildings as part of the projects before the verdict was delivered.
The proprietors had launched complaints to several mainland departments but to no avail. Mr Lo said that they have lost their money and their flats, and have since urged other residents to be cautious when purchasing houses in the mainland. He has, in particular, questioned whether or not the housing project was granted a permit for pre-selling.
Accompanying the residents to submit the petition were lawmakers Mak Soi Kun and Zheng Anting. Zheng has advised the MSAR government to establish a cooperation mechanism with the mainland authorities in order to improve the transparency of the pre-selling of properties. He also called for the creation of a “blacklist” of dodgy developers.