First, Keywords: second-hand housing sales, unauthorized disposition, contract validity
In the second-hand housing sales contract, some disputes are often caused by the fluctuation of housing prices. In recent years, with the rise of housing prices, sellers often claim that the contract is invalid and demand to recover the house on the grounds that they have no right to dispose of the house jointly owned by husband and wife. By searching the judgment document network, it is found that in 2020 alone, there are nearly 3000 disputes over housing sales contracts caused by unauthorized disposition. Then, in the face of rising housing prices, can the seller take back the house because the husband and wife have no right to dispose of it?
Second, the main points of understanding the law:
1. What is unauthorized disposition? Does unauthorized disposition affect the validity of the contract?
The so-called unauthorized disposition means that the actor legally disposes of other people's property in his own name without the right to dispose. For a long time, many people have failed to correctly distinguish the relationship between the validity of the contract and the change of the real right of real estate, and mistakenly believe that the disposal of other people's property by people without the right to dispose of it will lead to the invalidity of the contract. Before the promulgation of the Civil Code, Article 3 of the Supreme People's Court's Interpretation on Applicable Legal Issues in the Trial of Disputes over Sales Contracts confirmed the rule that unauthorized disposition does not affect the validity of contracts.
Articles 2 15 and 597 of the Civil Code also absorb the above provisions, and completely establish the principle of distinguishing the validity of contracts from the change of real rights in legislation. Therefore, unauthorized validity is not the reason that affects the validity of the contract. The court refused to support the claim that the contract was invalid on the grounds of no right to dispose of it.
Second, what legal consequences may be caused by unauthorized disposition?
According to the above provisions, the contract that has no right to dispose is valid. However, the issue of contract validity and contract performance are two completely different issues. That is, a valid contract cannot be performed smoothly.
In the process of buying and selling second-hand houses, if the house is registered in the name of both husband and wife, because the sale behavior of one spouse is not recognized by the other, it will be impossible to go through the registration formalities for the change of house ownership, which will eventually lead to the failure to perform the contract. At this time, the purchaser will only appeal to the seller to bear the liability for breach of contract, and cannot ask him to cooperate with the transfer and delivery. Even if the house is registered in the seller's name, as long as the house belongs to the joint property of husband and wife, there are legal obstacles to transferring the ownership of the house without the consent of the spouse, which leads to the buyer being unable to obtain the house.
Third, how to avoid the risk of unauthorized disposal when buying second-hand houses?
Because there is no right to deal with the risk that the contract cannot be performed smoothly, as a purchaser, as long as the seller of the house is married, he should check whether the seller is authorized. Specifically, it is 1. When the buyer and the seller sign a contract, they shall verify their marital status. Verify the marital status of the seller. If you are married, you should show your marriage certificate; if you are divorced, you should show your divorce certificate. In addition, the certificate should also be consistent with the household registration book.
2. Ask the spouse to show the informed consent in person. If the seller signs the contract and the house is registered in his name, his spouse is required to sign the informed consent form in person and keep the audio-visual materials as evidence.
3. Ask the seller's husband and wife to sign the contract. No matter whether the house is registered in the names of both parties or only one spouse, the house sales contract can be signed by both spouses as sellers. When the husband and wife sign a house sale contract, it becomes the obligation of both husband and wife to transfer the ownership of the house to the buyer's name, which can effectively avoid the risk of "no right to dispose".
Three. 1. Typical case
Lao Yu has a resettlement house in Beijing because of family demolition. Later, his wife, Ms. Fu, and her grandson signed a house sales contract with the resettlement house through an intermediary. After the contract was concluded, Lao Sun paid Ms. Fu the purchase price as agreed. Later, Lao Sun began to live in the house. A few years later, Lao Sun found Lao Yu to handle the house title certificate, but Lao Yu claimed that he had no knowledge of the handling of Ms. Fu's sale of the house, and sued to confirm that the house sales contract was invalid and asked Lao Sun to return the house.
2. The Court ruled that:
After trial, the court held that Article 3 of the Supreme People's Court's Interpretation on Applicable Laws in the Trial of Disputes over Sales Contracts stipulates that if one party claims that the contract is invalid on the grounds that the seller has no ownership or disposition right to the subject matter at the time of conclusion, the people's court will not support it. Accordingly, Lao Yu's claim that the contract is invalid on the grounds that he has no right to dispose of the house to his wife, Ms. Fu, has no legal basis, and his request for returning the house based on the invalid contract is not sufficient. Finally, the effective judgment rejected all the claims of Lao Yu.