It’s not a new story in Nanyang, Henan Province, which is known as the “City of Rotten Buildings”. Three years ago, hundreds of owners of Platinum Time decided to raise money to save themselves. In order to keep their money from drifting away again, the first group of owners persuaded more people to join them, and the second and third …… groups raised 76 million yuan, far more than the developer’s initial quotation.
They boarded the ship, which was decorated with hope, and for the umpteenth time thought that a happy ending was in sight, but eventually found themselves caught in another phallic vortex.
Foolish Decisions
In his 45 years of life, Wang Jiancheng has made two “stupid” decisions, both related to the suite.
The first stupid decision was made the year he turned 40, Wang Jiancheng is in a good period of his life, stable, carefree work, salary on the north, Guangzhou, these big cities may not be enough to see, but in Nanyang City, Henan Province, he relied on this salary to support a small family, and with his wife to buy the first house, save a hundred thousand savings. The money clutched in his hands sooner or later could not keep up with inflation, and he planned to use the savings for a second house.
At first, Wang Jiancheng and his wife were very satisfied with the property called “Platinum Time”. In the future, there will be no shortage of buyers, whether for rent or resale.
Platinum Times began subscriptions in 2012, and construction officially began in April 2013. Because of its good location, it became the most expensive property in Nanyang City, with a price of 6,000 yuan per square meter, while the average price of Nanyang’s house was more than 3,000 yuan per square meter at the time.
Wang chose a small house of 55 square meters with a down payment of 40% and enough savings to cover the cost. According to the agreement, the Platinum Era will be officially completed by the end of 2015. It’s not long before you can formally take over the house, simply decorate it and rent it out, which can offset part of the loan, and the monthly repayment pressure can also be smaller.
He would never have imagined that just a few months after paying the down payment, the platinum era would end badly. In the end of 2014, the developer of Platinum Time, Sanyou Real Estate Development Company, has been “unable to lend money,” said manager Wang of the project’s contractor, Henan He Li Construction Company. In the Spring Festival of 2015, the contractor has even been unable to pay the migrant workers’ wages, “the developer still owes us money. “
Two gray concrete half-finished buildings were left in place, with a blue fence separating the buildings from the street, the most grotesque and ugly presence in a busy downtown area.
A 49-year-old homeowner chose to buy a home in Platinum Time for the convenience of her children’s school. When news of the house’s demise broke, her left ear suddenly buzzed and she couldn’t hear, “just because of the house. A homeowner working in Beijing came back with her salary and borrowed a portion of it from her relatives before she could get enough for a 40% down payment. Her big, beautiful eyes began to well up with tears at the mention of her ruined home.
The owners, who had invested their life savings in the project, refused to give up and began petitioning the government by putting up black-on-white banners on the street. By 2017, the developer came up with a solution: the owners would raise money to save themselves, make up the final payment, and use it to finance the construction of the house.
There seemed to be new hope. Under the “self-help” program, the owners of Platinum Time had a The “truly elected” owner self-help committee was described by owners as a serious and responsible group of owner representatives who arranged the self-help charters in a clear way. When the first owners started raising money to save themselves, they moved on to convince the second and third owners to join the cause.
According to the owners’ incomplete statistics, more than 400 homes were sold in Platinum Time, for a total of more than $100 million. The self-help committee calculated that, in addition to the nearly 100 owners who had paid the full amount in the beginning, the owners had raised nearly $76 million in final payments. For nearly three years, almost all Platinum Era homeowners were swept up in the self-help movement.
As one of the first owners to make the final payment and participate in the self-help movement, Wang Jiancheng said three years later that it was an even more foolish decision. If it was possible for him to pull out when he made the first decision, Wang Jiancheng thought that this second decision was like tying his life to this rotten building completely.
The “democratically elected” self-help committee
At first no one agreed with the “self-rescue” plan. “This developer is dishonest, the original money is not good cover,” said 37-year-old owner Wang Tun. It is the first time in the history of the company that a company has been involved in the development of a new product,” said 37-year-old owner Wang Tun. 2012, he paid the subscription, in the platinum era to buy a 70 square meters of house, want to wait for the value of the house, but also plans to wait for the children in middle school, can move over to live, school convenience.
It’s not just a matter of time, it’s also a matter of time. The developers flooded into Nanyang.
Before the opening of the property, the developer needs to obtain the land use right certificate, pre-sale certificate and other five certificates, but in the large-scale movement to build the city, “first on the train before filling the ticket” behavior is tacitly approved. The lack of five certificates can also be the first to start construction, sales, which in the latter part of the year became a hidden danger that was difficult to eradicate in many developments. At the time, however, no one could get away from the craze.
In the past few years, the people of Nanyang City with a little money in their hands would choose to buy a house. “There are new developments everywhere. It’s a great way to get the most out of your money,” he said. Land nothing, just dig a hole are able to start pre-sales. The Nanyang city government work report mentions that in 2012, Nanyang annual city construction new start real estate projects total investment of more than 5 billion yuan, equivalent to the sum of the past 10 years of investment.
It’s not just a matter of time, but also a matter of time. The reason for the change is simple: “The government has set up a working group, who do we trust if we don’t trust the government? “
In April 2017, the Nanyang Wolong District Committee Office set up a leading group to deal with the instability of the “Platinum Era” project. In June of the same year, the platinum era project held its first meeting of all owners, calling on owners to raise money to participate in self-help, “just downstairs in a large open space at the site, all standing there. “
Wang Tun clearly remembers, “The developers gave a quotation that they still needed about 45 million yuan, and they gave a promise in front of the leaders of the working group that as long as the funds were available, they would be able to build the house in another 10 months’ time. “
A small organization, the Owners Self-Help Committee, takes shape. The owners in the general meeting of the owners openly elected candidates, each candidate on stage to introduce themselves, and then voted by the owners. “The final election of five representatives have a sense of responsibility, the early on often participate in the rights, we trust them more, what things are getting clean. “Wang Tun said. In the view of the owners, these representatives are “really can represent public opinion.
The first task of the owners’ self-help committee after it was formed was to work with the government working group to establish a safety monitoring account. The owners’ self-help funds are remitted directly to the supervisory account, and each time a grant is made to the developer, five owners’ representatives need their fingerprints and the official seal of the government working group before the funds can be remitted to the developer’s account. Each time the allocation is made, the reason for the allocation is made clear to the group,” he said. “This definitely gives the owners another piece of mind.
The group just spread the news of the owners to raise money to save themselves, Wang Jiancheng also disagreed, his idea is very simple: the down payment has been folded in the hands of the developers, but also to send them money? However, after the owners’ meeting, Wang Jiancheng, who rode his electric bicycle home, repeatedly chewed on the developer’s promise, which was made in front of the government working group.
Wang Jiancheng thought about it for nearly half a month and finally decided to pay the final payment. The wife at this time voted against, “she still think this developer is not reliable, instinctively do not believe. “Wang Jianjian but insisted on participating in self-help, “I think we should trust the government, since there is a government working group leading, it should be no problem. “
In a stalemate, the wife chose to give in, but she told Wang Jiancheng, “If this really doesn’t work, you won’t be able to make decisions about anything in the house anymore. “
Wang Jianjian smiled and didn’t say anything, believing in his choice.
By the end of 2017, the self-help committee had raised more than $35 million, almost approaching its fundraising goal. The Platinum Era project began to resume construction as it continued to raise funds. Several owners mentioned that construction resumed very quickly at one point.
At that time, there were all kinds of votes in the group, and a brush every few days could be a vote. It’s not just appropriations that have been made, everything involving the house is sent up for a vote. “
As long as there is time, several representatives of the site to go around, “in case he does not work every day grinding foreign workers. “Later, the committee also set up a duty room, which was placed in the sales office, and owners who had time voluntarily signed up to arrange for two people to be on duty every day,” from eight in the morning to six at night. Just like working, there are no weekends off. “
The first two years of self-help are a mixture of hope and pain, and every time he stops work, he regrets it: he should not have paid the final payment, the loss is greater, can I get my money back? Once the problem was solved and work resumed, he felt as if the keys to the new house were just around the corner. But there is always hope for more, “You can see the building is back up, the roof is closed, and the exterior walls are being built,” he says. “And with a government task force in town, and a formed and responsible homeowners’ self-help committee, “everyone was on the same page. “
Maelstrom
Money has been the biggest issue.
Initially, it was $45 million, and the developer promised that if the money was raised, the building would be completed and ready for delivery in 10 months. In addition to overseeing the construction, the sales office’s duty office had the task of persuading the owners who came to the site to raise money to help themselves.
Two notices were posted on the door of the duty room, one was a “Schedule of Remaining Work Schedule” and the other was a notice of payment policy from the developer, which stated. “If the balance is paid in full within 15 days, the discount is 4% of the total payment. If you can’t pay the balance, you’ll get a 2% discount on the actual amount paid. We hope that all buyers will recognize the situation, actively participate in self-help, and enjoy the maximum discount while moving into their new homes as soon as possible. “
Tun Wang has been involved in on-call work, “We are the first ones to pay the final payment, and the pressure is the greatest. Because of what? The company has already paid the full amount, waiting for three or four years, there can be no slip-ups, you have no way out, can’t all the money are floating. “Wang Tun can only try to persuade more owners to join in the self-help, to get the money together, “If it’s going to end badly, we can’t afford the pressure. “
Persuasion to do more, wangtun can sum up a set of templates. The first step has to be reasoned, “Now the developer’s financial chain breaks, he has no money to build buildings, we pay that down payment can not float, this is a layer of meaning. Another is that there is a government working group to give us a red-tape, the establishment of a public account, you do not trust the government believe who? In the beginning was not all day pulling white cloth on the government letter, let the government to solve, the government to you to solve, and you are not willing to cash, that is not the same as later you can not find the government. “
After the reasoning is finished, you have to be moved with compassion. The first batch of owners voluntarily go to the site on duty, and regularly take construction photos sent to the owners group, constantly depicting the scene of the completed building, “on the site to have a look, today send a photo, doors and windows installed, tomorrow send a road hardening done, water supply, power supply equipment installed finished, our The house is about to be delivered. “
The enthusiasm of the owners’ group to raise money for self-help was once very high, and some owners who had paid the final payment would copy and paste a paragraph into the group every few days, introducing the self-help movement in a passionate tone, always ending with a hopeful exclamation: “The sooner you pay the final payment, the sooner you can close the house! “Wang Jiancheng would also follow suit in the group.
There was once an owner who raised concerns. At that time, Wang Jiancheng would say to the group, “Stop worrying and don’t think so much, you can pay the final payment, and then wait for the closing.” This is to convince the owner, as if he is constantly telling himself that he should believe in the decision. This was to convince the owner, and it was like constantly telling yourself that you should trust the decision. The hot-tempered self-help homeowner directly lashed out at the person who raised the concern, “Are you the developer’s navy, running to sway the troops? You don’t want to participate in self-help, you check out and leave.
The voices of concern are becoming fewer and fewer in the group.
The 50-year-old owner Hou Baojun was once reluctant to participate in the self-rescue movement, he stressed that it is not right to self-rescue, “he developers do not have money, the government can not take money to you to build a building, and only self-rescue short-term effective. But in the specific implementation of the self-help program, he had differences with several owner representatives – owner representatives agreed that the money raised immediately for the resumption of construction of buildings, but Hou Baojun that the direct allocation of funds to developers may have The money raised was first used to make up for the missing five certificates of the development, “any project is a certificate before it is built”.
However, Hou Baojun’s proposal was unanimously rejected, “and gave me the label of a developer undercover, kicked me out. “He simply ceased to be involved in all matters relating to the Platinum Age project. But in October 2018, he still raised $300,000 to make up the entire final payment.
It was the third fundraising effort initiated by the self-help committee, and in the first two, the owner had already raised more than the agreed-upon $45 million, yet the developer still said “not enough money! “, they tell the owners that in addition to building the house, the development needs a sum of money for the permit. The developers repeatedly asked for money for two reasons: first, the cost of construction materials and labor had gone up, and second, an additional amount of money was needed for the real estate license.
The owners raised objections several times, and without exception, the developer could not give exact figures and lists, and was not willing to advance funds, and the building was stopped again.
“Start two years, the light stoppage stopped three or four times, the allocation of funds more than a dozen times. “Wang Tun said. The owner does not have any leverage in hand. “We have been on the boat of thieves can’t get off, not allocated to stop work, do we let the house a second time rotten end? “
In October 2018, a representative of the owners called Hou Baojun and said that this time to raise money for the permit. Hou Baojun has always been in favor of raising the final payment, first to get the permit and then to build the house, and he agreed to pay the final payment.
But the owner’s representative also said to Hou Baojun, “If you don’t pay the final payment, this house will be taken by the developer and won’t be given to you. “
Remembering what the owner’s representative said, Hou Baojun was still a little angry, he lowered his voice, “They shouldn’t have said that, as an owner’s representative to say so inappropriate, you’re on the developer’s side. “
Mr. Hou Baojun is not the only homeowner to have heard such comments. Since about the end of 2018, many owners have had new worries. One female owner described it this way, “At that time, someone said that if you didn’t pay the final payment, the house might be repossessed. Then they were worried that the building was almost finished, and when the working group withdrew, they really took the house away, and they could no longer find a solution from the government, which might say, “Why didn’t you pay when you were told to? “She rushed to borrow a round of relatives before the end of the year, swiping credit cards to raise hundreds of thousands of dollars to pay the final payment.
Since the resumption of work in 2017, more and more people have taken the initiative, or were encouraged to join the self-help, promises were constantly thrown out when one after another final payment was put into the account – the handover date was postponed from 10 months to next year, and then to May 1 every year to say they could hand over the house, and then to November, the end of October, the end of the year! …… Every year the cycle repeats itself. Everyone thinks at first that a new hope is coming, until they step in and realize it is just another vortex from which there is no escape.
“We” are like a herd of pigs!
The original 10-month construction period was extended to three years, and Platinum Times relied on the owner to raise the final payment to substantially complete the construction and qualify for occupancy. The delivery date was finally set for October 31.
The first reaction of many owners is disbelief, which has become almost an instinct, fed by promises that have fallen through time and time again. Wang Tun said he and other owners looked for the government’s leadership team three or four times in a month, going there almost every week, with a hint of expectation in their distrust, but what if it’s true?
Wang Jiancheng has long been not expecting the delivery of housing, a few days ago, he concluded, “according to the developer’s usual practice, October 31 is certainly not handed over. “He thought that the developer may continue to postpone the delivery date.
He did not expect, this time, the developers no longer postpone the delivery of housing, but proposed a price increase.
On October 30, the day before the developer promised to deliver the house. A copy of the handover process was circulated among the owners, in which the handover fee was written: “The scope of self-help of the Platinum Era project is not only to meet the conditions for the handover of the house, but also to apply for the property ownership certificate, but the owners have not paid the amount of money is only enough to pay for the project. In order to be able to enable all owners to apply for a real estate license, real estate appreciation, the price per square meter price upward adjustment of 850 yuan, dedicated to apply for a real estate license, owners who do not want to adjust the price, can be the original price of unconditional withdrawal. “
Wang Jiancheng couldn’t help but swear, “Money-grubbing, shameless beast! If we allocate money to build a house and the price of the house increases, isn’t that like pounding our fist in our eye socket? “
Five homeowners’ representatives were released on bail after spending 37 days in a detention center. None of them were formally convicted. But they have since stopped participating in self-help advocacy, and some have even quietly quit the owners’ group.In September 2019, ten new owners’ representatives formed a new self-help committee, and some owners said, “We didn’t elect them, the government appointed them. “
Owners are generally unhappy with these new representatives, “may have learned from the experience of the previous term, dare not manage. “The group’s vote is gone, safety supervision account in the later and allocated to the developer a few times, there has been no notice or publicity, said Wang Tun, this or later owners to ask only to know. “That five representatives were packed in for no reason at all, equal to we have become headless. “Wang Tun two hands on the ground, slightly helpless.
It’s not just a matter of time, but also a matter of time before you have to make a decision. “
Wang Jiancheng also regretted why he didn’t listen to his wife’s advice and had to participate in self-rescue. In order to make up the remaining 20 million or so final payment, he went for a mortgage in the bank, and now has to pay more than 900 monthly interest. The two children at home, tuition, training fees, everything is a big head, every month can not save money, sometimes he also need to give some financial support to the elderly family, he felt ashamed, “40 years old people still chew the old man, say out how to feel good? “
Every time he mentioned the house to his wife, it must have ended in an argument. He didn’t want to go home at first, working late at work or hanging out a few times, just to reduce the chance of meeting his wife. “I couldn’t argue with her, so I just said I’ll be home late and we won’t meet. “
“We should never have saved ourselves in the first place. “Wang Jiancheng looks back on the self-help actions of the past few years and feels only despair, “We were like a herd of pigs that could only keep contributing blood and flesh. “
Bundling
Wang Jiancheng feels as if his life has been firmly tied to the house.
He once posted on the Internet to reflect the problem, the street office, the police station, the unit leaders took turns to call him, the whole unit knows that he has a set of do not know when to hand over the end of the building, the house as soon as the wind blows, the leadership will come together to care about, “now what is the situation ah? “He knew what the leader was saying: don’t make trouble. He felt suffocated.
He had no say in the house, his wife used to ignore his opinions, and all that was left for him to decide was how much money to give his children each month.
There is no shortage of homeowners in the homeowners group who have borrowed from loan sharks, used credit cards, and sold their only home to raise money to participate in self-help, could someone have been persuaded by him to participate in self-help? Wang Jiancheng dared not think. “He jumped into the pit himself and pulled a bunch of people out. “
No one can break free. A few years ago, many homeowners saw an old man in his 60s whose son had bought a house in Platinum Time seven years ago, but the house was ruined and his son died in an accident. The old man had no money at all to participate in self-help, and went to the site several times to get his down payment back, but the developer refused. The developer refused. Later, the old man came less and less, and no one saw him for a long time, nor did anyone know if he had asked for the down payment back.
Zhou Qing, a 41-year-old homeowner, bought two houses in Nanyang, both of which are in ruins. She left Nanyang as a teenager to work hard, worked in sales for more than a decade, got sick, and decided to return to Nanyang in 2012 with hundreds of thousands of dollars in savings to get married and have children. She bought a 70-square-meter house in the Platinum Age, but three years later, it fell apart. She also bought a store near the Nanyang Railway Station, which also fell apart in less than a year.
In 2017, she raised 50,000 yuan to participate in self-help, which was all the money she could spare at that time.
In the past few years, Zhou Qing has become a mother of two children, and it is difficult for her to find time to participate in defending her rights. The house she currently lives in has the same problem, no real estate license. Last year, she followed her neighbors to the city hall to defend their rights for the first time, and was sentenced to ten days’ detention by the public security authorities for picking quarrels and provoking trouble. Zhou Qing remembers the police telling her, “I can understand you, we also have buildings that are in bad shape. “Zhou Qing wasn’t even surprised,” she said, “It’s so common! Isn’t there a saying that no one who hasn’t bought a bad house is worthy of calling himself a Nanyang. “
Zhou Qing sold her other small property in 2019 and raised more than $400,000, which she intended to use as a self-help payment for the Platinum Age project. She didn’t make the final payment right away, when five owners’ representatives were detained and construction resumed and stopped, and she didn’t feel safe. Earlier this year again called on owners to make up the final payment, Zhou Qing is still on the sidelines, she does not trust the developer.
Until June, the municipal party inspection group to open the real estate field letters and outstanding issues special inspection work, according to the owners reflected the problem, the inspection group to interview the platinum era developers, and finally gave the October 31 delivery commitment. Zhou Qing felt that this time is probably not too much of a problem. She made up the final payment.
Once again, the promise fell through.
Zhou Qing said she was confused. “In the past, I used to run around in many places, and when people bought a house, it meant the beginning of a good life. But in Nanyang, I’ve been working for half my life, I have money, I bought a house, and then everything is smashed in. “
No one could offer a solution. The owners gathered at the construction site shared their pain, gnashed their teeth, cursed the developer, and then scattered home with disappointment and anger.
When Wang Jiancheng came home, he told his wife that he still hadn’t received the house, and the developer was going to raise the price. His wife replied, “I told you so. He didn’t know what to say and hid in his room in silence.
The owners of Platinum Time reintroduced their demands: they refused to raise the price, and demanded that the developer deliver the house in one go, and refused to do it in batches. Zhou Qing said that the batches of housing is to disintegrate the owners, “Today to pay two floors, the first to receive the room owners will certainly not be involved in the subsequent self-help rights. “From the start of raising money to save themselves, more than 400 owners actively or passively tied into a whole, before the house is not in hand, all can only move forward and backward.
The rest can only hope that the government will intervene and continue to defend their rights. Wang Jiancheng said, “Nanyang has a jade factory next to the end of the building, boiled away several developers, rotting there for almost 17 years, I’m afraid the worst result is like this. “He gave a self-deprecating smile, which he quickly withdrew, “I don’t think I can wait for when I can take possession of this house. “
(At the request of the interviewee, all characters in the text are pseudonyms except for Tun Wang)
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