In Shanghai, a couple wanted to buy a school district property. In order to evade taxes, the man planned to marry the seller, but due to payment disagreements, they ended up in court. This news made it to the top of the Baidu trending topics on August 29th.
According to information from Guangming Net, Mr. Zhang and his wife were looking to purchase a school district property in Shanghai. They found the seller, Ms. Li, through a real estate agent. After negotiation, the purchase price was set at 38.7 million yuan. To avoid over 2 million yuan in taxes, the agent suggested that the transfer procedure could be done by changing marital status. It was proposed that Mr. Zhang and his wife would divorce, and then he would marry Ms. Li. They would transfer the property during the marriage and then divorce afterward. Both parties agreed to this proposal.
Subsequently, both parties signed a “Real Estate Purchase Contract.” The contract stated that the down payment for the purchase was 2 million yuan, with 200,000 yuan paid on the spot, and the remaining 1.8 million yuan to be paid within seven days of signing the contract.
The contract also stipulated that the transfer procedure would be completed through marriage. It specified that if the contract could not be fulfilled due to reasons related to Mr. Zhang, the down payment already made by him would be forfeited by Ms. Li, the seller.
However, the day after signing the contract, Mr. Zhang learned that a similar property in the same neighborhood had been sold for 35 million yuan. Feeling that the agent and seller had inflated the price, Mr. Zhang and his wife requested a reduction in the price and an extension of the payment deadline. After unsuccessful negotiations with Ms. Li, the couple did not pay the remaining down payment.
Several months later, Ms. Li sent a “Notice of Contract Termination” to Mr. Zhang and his wife, informing them that the purchase contract was terminated and that the 200,000 yuan down payment was confiscated. Disagreeing with this, the couple took Ms. Li to court, demanding the return of the down payment and payment of corresponding interest.
Recently, the Shanghai First Intermediate People’s Court concluded the dispute over the property purchase contract. The second-instance judgment ruled that the contract signed by both parties was invalid. The seller was ordered to refund the buyer the paid down payment without interest.