"I spent 50,000 yuan to buy an equipment room, and later I learned that it was a public toilet." Li Hua (pseudonym), a house buyer from Hebei, told reporters that he and several neighbors bought Sanhe City around 2019 The commercial-office house at the Yanjing Headquarters Base in Yanjiao Town discovered that the purchased "additional area" was a bathroom shared by the owners when it was close to the house; and the e-commerce fees paid by some buyers were also "drifted". Discounts or deductions were made, but they were neither realized nor refunded, involving about 70 households.
The official website information shows that the Yanjing Headquarters Base Project is located in the Yanjiao National High-tech Industrial Development Zone, Sanhe City, with a total construction area of 360,000 square meters. The above-mentioned home buyers said that in the past year, due to the above-mentioned problems, they have communicated with the developers many times and made complaints and reports to the relevant departments, but they have been to no avail.
What is the truth of this matter? A reporter from the Beijing News recently rushed to Yanjiao, Hebei for an on-site interview.
"The equipment room bought for 50,000 yuan was actually a public toilet"
Li Hua told reporters, "In May 2019, the sales staff at the sales office in the Yanjing Headquarters Base recommended me a commercial office building of more than 70 square meters. The unit price is 15,600 yuan per square meter. It is next to this house. There is also an equipment room of about 10 square meters next to it. The sales staff said that it can be sold to me for a total price of 50,000 yuan. After delivery, it can be combined with the commercial office to form a whole house of more than 80 square meters."
"Later I discovered that this part is actually a public toilet in the corridor of the floor. This should be a public stall for all the neighbors!" Li Hua said.
According to the official website of the project, the Yanjing Headquarters Base (ie, the Yanjiao Modern Service Industrial Park Startup Zone) covers an area of 188 acres, with a total construction area of 360,000 square meters, and has 26 high-end office buildings and garden single-family office buildings.
On the afternoon of August 5, a reporter from the Beijing News came to the Yanjing Headquarters Base Project and saw at the gate that a sign with the words "Sales Office" was placed on the left front of the main entrance. The reporter came to the sales office (namely the Makerspace Merchants Center) as a house purchaser. A staff member surnamed Li said, "We are commercial houses that can live in, and can be bought by both foreign and local accounts. , The price is 12,750 yuan/sq.m.-14930 yuan/sq.m., and the blanks are delivered."
Subsequently, a reporter from the Beijing News followed Li Hua and others to Block C in the west of the Yanjing Headquarters Base for a field visit. At the scene, the reporter saw that there were two public toilets in the corridor of the house that Li Hua bought. One of them was separated from Li Hua's house by one wall, about 10 square meters. This is the "equipment room" that Li Hua bought. .
The reporter saw on the spot that the interior of the bathroom had been renovated and the sinks and pits were all available, but there was no water. Li Hua said, “Originally, it was agreed with the sales staff that the additional area can be integrated with my house. Later I learned that this is a public toilet with a shared area for the neighbors. If this is the case, I will definitely not accept the house.”
In addition, the reporter also saw on the spot that the entrances of public restrooms on some floors were also labeled "equipment room", which were basically locked. The area of individual rooms that could be opened was only one square meter in size.
"The above-mentioned one-square-meter room was originally a public toilet, and the initial area had to be about ten square meters. Not long ago, the owner of the room next door opened the internal wall to integrate the area of the public toilet with his own home. The new wall has been repaired, and it looks like it is now." Zhao Liang (pseudonym), a buyer, told reporters.
Some home buyers further pointed out, “These renovations are likely to be'smart' to deal with supervision. Although the area of public toilets or equipment rooms has been reduced, they still exist in name and seem to be in line with the planning and design.”
In fact, Li Hua felt "something is wrong" in the procedures for handling the procedures. According to Li Hua, he signed a contract at the time according to the salesperson’s guidelines and paid the relevant purchase price. Later, he discovered that the additional area was not specified in the signed house purchase contract. In the end, he only got a copy of the additional area. Part of the receipt.
The Beijing News reporter saw in the materials provided by Li Hua that there was a receipt for May 2019. The main content was that a household of 50,000 yuan from the "Maker Space" was received, and the collection unit was "Sanhe Xinghongye Real Estate Brokerage Co., Ltd.". According to the company's information, the company was established in August 2017, and its business scope is mainly real estate intermediary services, real estate brokerage services, etc., and it is currently in existence. In the past few days, a reporter from the Beijing News repeatedly called the company’s registered phone number as shown by the company on the above matter. After the call was finally connected, the other party hung up the phone on the grounds of “unclear”.
The developer responded that "verification and investigation are required". Industry: It is actually illegal to profit
In the afternoon of the same day, under the guidance of the staff member surnamed Li, the Beijing News reporter also came to the B3 building in the east area, which was on sale. The interior of the building was basically similar to the west area, and there were two sets in the hall corridors on each floor. Most public toilets are currently closed.
When the reporter asked whether an individual could buy it, why it was closed, etc., the staff member surnamed Li explained, “Because I just came here, I don’t know if I can buy public toilets before. At present, these public toilets are not for sale. It’s the water and electricity of the property, and we have to arrange for someone to clean it, so it was closed directly."
In this regard, on the afternoon of August 7, a staff member surnamed Shi from Yinwan Property Company in the West District of the Yanjing Headquarters Base replied to reporters that “some public restrooms have been changed to equipment rooms, and the developers have to ask the developers for specific conditions.”
In the afternoon of the same day, a reporter from the Beijing News contacted the project developer Hebei Jiantou Yingji Real Estate Development Co., Ltd. ("Hebei Jiantou Yingji"), a person in charge surnamed Meng. She did not respond positively to questions about whether the public toilets are of a shared area, whether they were planned to be changed, or why they would be sold separately. She only said, "The Yanjing Headquarters Base project is sold by Sanhe Xinghongye Real Estate Brokers Co., Ltd., We have to verify and investigate the specific sales."
"As far as buyers have reported, public toilets should be public spaces shared by the owners." Zhao Xiuchi, vice president and secretary-general of the Beijing Real Estate Law Society and professor at the Capital University of Economics and Business, said that in the past few years, Beijing and even the whole country In some cities, it is true that some developers or brokerage companies, property companies and other institutions will cut and sell other public spaces such as equipment rooms, storage rooms and even other public spaces directly to the owners. The prices are often higher than the normal and legally sold parts. A lot lower. These are basically the means used by developers, brokerage companies and other companies to make further profits. However, with the continuous improvement of the real estate market management system, such illegal sales activities are gradually being prohibited.
Some owners have paid 50,000-100,000 e-commerce fees, which may be "failed"
In addition to doubts about the "sale of public restrooms", in the interview, some buyers of the Yanjing Headquarters Base reported to the Beijing News reporter that "When buying a house, they paid an e-commerce fee ranging from 50,000 to 100,000 yuan. At the moment it seems to be'flooded in water'. "What's the matter?
According to the buyer Xu Rui (pseudonym), in February 2019, he bought a commercial house in the Yanjing Headquarters Base project at a price of about 13,000 yuan per square meter, and agreed to deliver it before June 30, 2019. "When buying a house, the sales staff at the sales office of this project introduced to us that due to the shortage of housing, we need to pay 80,000 yuan of e-commerce fee, which can give priority to buying houses or discounts." Xu Rui said, himself and some buyers Similarly, following the guidance of the sales staff, the house selection and purchase procedures were processed at the sales office, and a down payment and an e-commerce fee of 80,000 yuan were paid.
But what happened next made home buyers including Xu Rui feel "cheated". "From the time the e-commerce fee was paid to now, no one from the developer has ever mentioned discounts or use of the'e-commerce fee' to offset the house payment. We think this is an illegal charge." Xu Rui told reporters, "according to other buyers It reflects that the original sales promised that the expenses could be deducted from the house payment."
According to the “e-commerce fee” certification materials provided by Xu Rui, he paid 80,000 yuan to Beijing Youshang Real Estate Brokers Co., Ltd. (referred to as “Youshang Brokers”) in February 2019. The receipt also marked Xu Ruixian Housing number. A reporter from the Beijing News learned from the company that the friend brokerage was established in May 2016, and its business scope is mainly engaged in real estate brokerage and real estate development. In the past few days, the reporter has repeatedly called the two phone numbers left by the company in the enterprise search system, but has not been able to get through.
Zhao Liang, a house buyer, told reporters, “We have learned that about 70 households have paid this so-called'e-commerce fee', ranging from 50,000 to 100,000 yuan. This payment is “unknown” if it cannot be paid. If the house payment is discounted or the house payment will be deducted, shouldn’t it be refunded to us? But until now no one has given us a reasonable argument.”
Since then, the Beijing News reporter tried to get in touch with the staff surnamed Liu who was in charge of the purchase of the house at the time according to the contact information provided by Xu Rui. On August 7, the staff surnamed Liu responded to the reporter and said, “It was all at the time. You can sue if you feel that something is wrong with the procedures for purchasing a house at the developer’s sales site."
Why is the "e-commerce fee" charged and where is it going? Is Friend Broker another sales company for the project? Regarding these issues, in the afternoon, the developer Hebei Jiantou Yingji, the above-mentioned person in charge of Meng, did not give a positive response. "We have to verify and investigate the specific situation."
On August 9th, the reporter contacted a person in charge of Hebei Jiantou Yingji with a surname of Gao. The person in charge said, “It is understood that these fees are collected by our agency company and its channel companies below. The reason is that the purchase of a house is carried out. For discounts and the like, we, as a developer, discovered these charging phenomena and stopped them. I am not clear about other specific circumstances."
Sanhe City Housing Management Bureau: The sale of public restrooms is not allowed and will be dealt with
Regarding the problems in the sales of the Yanjing Headquarters Base project reported by buyers, on the afternoon of August 5, the relevant person in charge of the Real Estate Management Unit of the Sanhe City Housing and Urban-Rural Development Bureau told reporters that “the developer is not allowed to sell public toilets privately. , We will deal with it according to the specific materials provided by the buyer. Regarding the issue of e-commerce fees, the buyer and seller need to negotiate and deal with it themselves."
Attorney Wang Yuchen, director of Beijing Jin Su Law Firm, believes that developers and brokerage companies cannot privately dispose of the public facilities part of the owners, let alone change the original planned facilities, and individual owners have no right to take the public part as their own. Therefore, from a legal point of view, developers cannot sell public toilets privately. It is recommended that the relevant owners organize the evidence to report to the relevant departments, and they can also file a lawsuit in the court.
Zhao Xiuchi also said, “House buyers should pay attention to the illegal sales behavior of developers or brokerage companies in selling public parts. The procedures are usually abnormal. For example, there are generally obvious differences in the sales procedures. So be vigilant and cut. Don't blindly seek small profits, and must purchase commercial housing legally and compliantly through formal channels."
In addition, what about the legal recognition of e-commerce fees? Lawyer Wang Yuchen stated that the "Notice on Further Regulating the Operational Behavior of Real Estate Development Enterprises and Maintaining the Order of the Real Estate Market" issued by the Ministry of Housing and Urban-Rural Development in October 2016 clearly defined nine types of improper operations by real estate development enterprises: the sixth "Commercial housing sales are not clearly marked, sell houses in addition to the marked price, or charge unmarked fees" and the seventh type "to force buyers to accept the price of goods or services through limited means such as bundling or additional conditions." E-commerce fees are closely related and are all violations.
Wang Yuchen further pointed out that in real life, many e-commerce fees cannot be invoiced. In fact, developers use a third party to divert the house payment in order to avoid price restrictions, or even tax evasion. This situation is What is illegal is also unreasonable.
As of press time, no further response from the above-mentioned related companies and departments on this matter has been received, and reporters from the Beijing News will continue to pay attention.
Beijing News reporter Zhang Jian