Can developers use property fees to offset the liquidated damages for delayed delivery?

When the developer delays the delivery of the house and pays the liquidated damages, he proposes to exempt the owner from the property management fee for a certain period of time to offset it. According to the relevant provisions of the law, debts can be transferred, but it is illegal to deduct property fees for more than one year.

Delayed delivery

Can property management fees and liquidated damages offset each other? Article 99 of the Contract Law stipulates: "If the parties owe debts due to each other, and the subject matter of the debts is of the same type and quality, either party may offset its debts with the debts of the other party, except that it cannot be offset according to the law or the nature of the contract." Although the subject matter of property fees and liquidated damages are the same in kind and nature, the developer's payment of liquidated damages for delayed delivery and the owner's payment of property fees to the property company are two different legal relationships, so there are different legal relationships between them.

It can be handled by debt transfer. Article 84 of the Contract Law stipulates that "if the debtor transfers all or part of the contractual obligations to a third party, it shall obtain the consent of the creditor", and the developer shall pay the buyer the debt for delaying the delivery of the house and transfer it to the property management company with the consent of the creditor (that is, the buyer) (that is, offset the property management fee for a certain period). And in judicial practice, it is generally necessary to obtain the consent of the third party (that is, the property company), that is, the assignee of the debt. So the three parties signed a debt transfer agreement to prevent future troubles.

It is illegal to deduct property fees for more than one year. Relevant regulations prohibit property companies from charging property fees for more than one year at a time. Developers use the liquidated damages for delaying delivery to offset the property fees for more than one year, which is actually a disguised charge for more than one year.

Pay attention to three points: first, property management and developers selling houses are two legal relationships, and buyers have the right to refuse to offset them; Second, the debt transfer agreement reached with developers and property management companies can only offset the property fee for one year at most, and the rest can still be required to pay liquidated damages; Third, when checking in, relevant written evidence of breach of contract should be kept to prevent the developer from denying the fact of breach of contract.

(The above answers were published on 20 13-05-07. Please refer to the current actual purchase policy. )

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