Zhongcheng Qingtai Real Estate Perspective: The height of commercial housing does not conform to the agreement, can you request the termination of the contract?
Published:
2020-09-26
Brief of the case
On December 29, 2010, Xie and a development company signed the "Commercial Housing presale Contract" involved in the case. Article 3 of the contract stipulates that the commercial housing is used for commercial use and is a reinforced concrete structure with a height of 3.1 meters. The building has 2 floors above the ground and 0 floors below the ground. Later, Xie found that the height of the second floor of the shop involved was only 2.6 meters, which could not reach the 3.1 meters agreed in the contract. After failing to negotiate with the development company, Xie sued the court on June 9, 2011, demanding an order to terminate the contract and return the paid house price and related expenses.
case analysis
Because commercial housing is calculated based on the building area, most buyers are more sensitive to the housing area and pay more attention to it, but many people do not know much about the height of the floor. In fact, if the floor height of the house shrinks, the space area of the house will naturally decrease. Excessive errors may also affect the ventilation and lighting of the house and directly affect its use. Therefore, the floor height is also a problem that needs special attention when buying and receiving houses. In this case, the original defendant and the defendant signed the "Commercial Housing presale Contract". The contract clearly stipulated that the height of the commercial housing was 3.1 meters, while the actual delivered house was only 2.6 meters, which was far from meeting the requirements of the contract.
focus of controversy
The focus of the dispute in this case mainly revolves around "whether the height of the house involved is not up to standard and whether the contract can be terminated.
court decision
The Shandong Provincial Higher People's Court held that: In this case, the development company and Xie formed a housing sales relationship, and the relevant rights and obligations of both parties should be based on the signed "Commercial Housing presale Contract. While the contract states that the building has 2 floors above the ground, the height of the floor is expressed as 3.1 meters, and the height of the first floor and the second floor is not distinguished. It should be understood that the height of each floor should conform to the agreement. In the original trial, the development company recognized that the house involved was constructed in accordance with the design drawings. According to the markings on the corresponding drawings, the design height of the second floor was only 2.6 meters, which was far from the 3.1 meters agreed in the contract and could not be corrected. Therefore, the original trial believed that the development company had a fundamental breach of contract and was not improper. The floor height is an important parameter of the house. Because the actual floor height of the second floor of the house involved in the case is quite different from the agreement, the original trial was based on the provisions of Article 94, Paragraph 1, Item 4 of the the People's Republic of China Contract Law. Xie's request to terminate the contract is supported, and the application of the law is not improper.
problem extension
From the judgment of Shandong Provincial High Court, we can see that when the floor of the delivered house is less than the floor agreed in the contract, the floor height "shrinks", resulting in the failure to achieve the purpose of the contract, the buyer can ask the court to terminate the contract, but Shandong Provincial High Court did not elaborate on the standard of "the purpose of the contract cannot be achieved", which led to the lack of a unified standard for such cases, the parties also cannot accurately predict how much the height of the floor "shrinks" in order to terminate the contract. In this paper, the author selects the typical cases and relevant judgments in practice for reference.
Related Cases
1. Liu Yang, Li Chunchun commercial housing presale contract dispute retrial review and trial supervision civil ruling.
Supreme People's Court
Civil Ruling |(2019) Supreme Fa Min Shen No. 1175
Supreme Court: The maximum error of layer by layer is 6cm, and the maximum error rate is about 1.1, which is less than 3% of the absolute value of the area error ratio that the buyer can request to terminate the contract as stipulated in Article 14 of the Interpretation of the Supreme People's Court on Several Issues Concerning the Application of Laws in Hearing Disputes over Commercial Housing Sales Contracts. Therefore, Liu Yang and Li Chunchun demanded to terminate the case on the grounds of insufficient height. The "Commercial Housing Sales Contract" and the "Supplementary Agreement" lacked factual and legal basis.
2. Wang Zheng, Zhu Xiling and Zhangjiagang Oriental Poly Real Estate Co., Ltd. Commercial Housing Sales Contract Dispute Retrial Review and Trial Supervision Civil Ruling
Jiangsu Higher People's Court
Civil Ruling Letter |(2016) Su Minshen No. 2739
Jiangsu High Court: According to the Jiangsu Residential Project Quality Acceptance Rules, the allowable height error is 20mm. In this case, the height error is 200mm and cannot be changed. Dongfang Poly Company has constituted a breach of contract. The high-level default of the house involved seriously affected the lives of Wang Zheng and Zhu Xiling. The absolute value of the error ratio between the floor height of 2.8 meters and the agreed 3 meters has reached 6.7, which can be considered as a fundamental breach of contract by Oriental Poly.
Views of our lawyers
Regarding the question of whether the buyer can ask the court to terminate the contract if the floor height of the commercial housing does not meet the standard agreed in the contract, it is mainly to judge whether the error of the floor height of the commercial housing leads to the failure to realize the purpose of the contract. For the judgment of this standard, the author suggests that before issuing relevant laws and regulations and judicial interpretations, we can refer to Article 14 of the Interpretation of the Supreme People's Court on Several Issues Concerning the Application of Law in the Trial of Disputes over Commercial Housing Sales Contracts, which stipulates that the buyer may request the termination of the contract with an area error ratio of 3% of the absolute value.
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