Amid rising scams in the real estate sector, a bizzare incident from northwestern China’s Shaanxi province is gaining significant attention on the internet. A man bought a flat on the 34th floor of a recently developed building only to be informed four years later that the tower had only 32 floors.
The person, surnamed Shen, purchased the flat in a village near the provincial capital city Xian in 2013, South China Morning Post (SCMP) reported.
Surnamed Shen, the person bought the 90-square-metre unit on the 34th floor of the building, while the deal costed him 2,646 yuan ($400) per square metre at that time. Notably, this was nearly one-third of the average housing price, since the residential compound came with limited property rights.
The report states that this is an “unofficial name for a kind of grey market housing developed illegally on collectively owned rural land.”
These unapproved construction projects usually occupy rural land that is left idle amid China’s urbanisation. However, buyers need to understand that such flats cannot be resold and are not protected by the law. This means, people only purchase such units since they are cheap.
In Shen’s case, he made the intial 117,700 yuan ($17,400) down payment to the developer in 2013, while developer told him that the required certificates to develop the property can be completed later.
As Shen signed the contract, the developer promised him to deliver the property in 2015.
The person then came back to his workplace in Beijing and later found out that the project had not been completed by the delivery date. In 2017, the developer told him that the work was completed and requested him to pay the outstanding amount. But he told them that he will do so only after they provide him the keys of his flat.
Several months later, he was informed that the building only has 32 floors. Initially, they offered him a flat on the 32nd floor. At that time, he did not have the remaining amount to pay. A few months later, he was again informed that the flat on the 32nd floor was no more available.
This prompted Shen to file a refund application, while the developer told him that they do not have the money to pay him back and asked to wait.
The person was refunded 20,000 yuan ($7,400) in 2020, followed by another 50,000 yuan in 2022. Since then, they stopped answering his call.
Taking action against him, Shen requested an arbitration with the Xian authorities.
The arbitration commission later ordered the developer to give 47,700 yuan ($7,000) down payment back to Shen, along with 27,000-yuan interest.
Further, the agreement required the developer to pay a 47,000 yuan compensation if they failed to pay the owed money as well as interest to Shen.
Until May 2026, the person has not received the refund from the developer, forcing him to take the matter to a local court.