"The developer means to either return the money or buy the house at a price of 4980" is a common practice. The earnest money must be returned but interest must be paid.
As a self-invented business term, "earnest money" is used in commercial housing sales. Due to the tight relationship between supply and demand, developers are generally strong in the seller's market, so they adopt pre-sale licenses. The method of collecting fees before distribution is used to screen and delineate customers. This approach often does not guarantee that all customers who pay earnest money can buy a house, but only provides a potential opportunity to buy a house. Therefore, the so-called "earnest money" does not have the effect of a contract or the nature of legal protection. "Earnest money" is not a liquidated damages, deposit or down payment in the legal sense.
Collecting "earnest money", or setting up an account deposit ranking in disguise, the relationship between the customer and the developer is essentially a It is a "hands-off contract" rather than a fixed contractual relationship. What consumers pay to purchase is not a specific physical object or service, but just an opportunity, a possibility of buying a house, and there is no specific subject matter as a guarantee. The price is not determined.
The so-called "lucky", that is, "lucky psychology", originally means trying one's luck. A fluke contract means that whether one party performs its contractual obligations depends on the occurrence of accidental events. The validity of this kind of contract is The validity of the contract is uncertain.
Case
"Earnest money" is not a "deposit"
Real estate development companies charge "earnest money" during pre-sales. ", and is linked to subscription, subscription quantity, etc. This fund does not have the nature of "deposit". The deposit has the effect of ensuring that both parties sign a specific sales contract in the future. When paying the deposit, both parties have already clarified the subject and price.
In December 2007, Shen Changzheng of Shenyang challenged this regulation and took the developer to court, demanding the return of the "unjust enrichment" caused by the earnest money.
December 4, 2007. On August 29, 2007, the first instance of China's anti-"earnest money" case was pronounced.
On August 29, 2007, Shen Changzheng applied to the developer for a refund of the earnest money, but the developer said that it would not be refunded until 15 days later. Unsatisfied with the delay, Shen Changzheng took the real estate development company to court and asked the developer to return 160 yuan of interest generated from the 30,000 yuan. Shen Changzheng claimed that the interest should be returned according to the loan interest rate of the People's Bank of China for the same period, while the developer believed that even if the interest was returned, It can only be calculated based on the deposit interest rate.
The court held that the amount should be calculated from the date the defendant agreed to return it (August 29), not from the date of payment (August 21). The interest rate was calculated based on the bank's loan interest rate for the same period, and the defendant Shen Changzheng was ordered to pay a one-time interest of 66.35 yuan on Shen Changzheng's "house purchase earnest money". This case is the answer to the question of "whether the house purchase earnest money can be refunded" according to the law. p>
Department Qualification
In November 2009, in response to the behavior of many real estate development companies collecting "housing deposits" before pre-sales of houses, the well-known real estate lawyer-Beijing Qinbing Law Firm Lawyers Qin Bing and Xu Binzai believe that the act of collecting large amounts of earnest money is suspected of illegal fund-raising and involves great risks and hidden dangers. It is urgent for the financial regulatory authorities to issue corresponding policies and management measures. It is necessary for the financial regulatory authorities to issue corresponding policies and management measures. Therefore, whether as an intermediary or as an agent of one of the buyers or sellers, there is no issue of earnest money, and the buyer must read the specific terms of the contract, especially the sincerity, before signing.
It is understood that collecting earnest money is illegal fund-raising abroad, but due to the legal supervision vacuum in our country, it has become a common practice in the industry and has even been labeled as such by real estate developers. "A marketing method that makes the purchase of a house fair and orderly." Lawyers believe that this kind of behavior puts consumers in a very weak position, and their rights and interests cannot be protected! Lawyers believe that such behavior puts consumers in a very weak position, and their rights and interests cannot be protected. At the same time, it brings great risks to the order of the real estate market and the financial market. Therefore, they call on the corresponding construction authorities, the central bank, the China Banking Regulatory Commission, etc. Financial regulatory authorities should issue corresponding policies and management measures as soon as possible to define and restrict them.