When we collect the house, we won't be given the key unless we pay the property fee. How to deal with it? Do they have the right to detain the key, and which department will accept the complaint?

Is this practice of developers legal? Is there any relevant legal basis? Let's make a simple analysis of this common problem, hoping to help readers. Reasons for developers Why do developers do this? The reason is very simple, because it is beneficial to developers, especially in the case of disputes between developers and property buyers, developers can gain the initiative of disputes and force property buyers to submit. Because there are many disputes in the process of housing delivery, such as housing quality problems, unfulfilled promises, incomplete supporting facilities, and greening of residential areas. At this time, it was all exposed. Due to the lack of effective ways to solve such problems, buyers may refuse to pay property management fees in the future to compete with developers. In order to avoid this kind of situation, or prevent the buyer from defaulting maliciously in the future, developers use their strong position in the transaction process to conduct transactions that are beneficial to them. The emergence of this situation is sometimes not only the developer's own reasons, but also the property company's reasons. Because there is a legal and interest relationship between the property company and the developer, the reasons for the property company to do so are roughly the same as those of the developer, but the responsible person of the buyer depends on the specific breach of contract. This common practice of developers is difficult to simply define legal and illegal, depending on the specific situation. At present, under normal circumstances, the sale of houses involves three parties in the delivery process, namely the buyer, the developer and the property management company. Special emphasis should be placed on the relationship between developers and property management companies. Under normal circumstances, developers generally do not directly participate in the property management of residential areas in the name of their own companies, but set up property management companies to manage properties. Powerful developers sometimes invite public tenders to recruit property management companies. Whether it is a property company funded by the developer and applying for registration, or a public bidding property company, they and the developer are independent legal persons, each bearing independent civil liabilities, and have nothing to do with the unit and internal functional departments. However, in the process of housing delivery, developers generally have written or unwritten agreements with property companies, that is, developers entrust property companies to handle housing handover procedures. In the process of housing delivery, the property management company entrusted by the developer actually handled the handover procedures with the buyer, and the result of the agency behavior of the property company was borne by the developer, that is, the developer and the buyer handled the housing handover procedures. When a property management company handles the house handover procedures, it generally requires the buyer to sign the preliminary property management contract, pay the property management fee, pay the relevant taxes and fees, and then go to the acceptance and give the key after the acceptance. If the property management contract is not signed, the property management company refuses to go with the buyer for acceptance and refuses to hand over the key. This behavior of the property company may be authorized by the developer, that is, the developer allows the property company to operate in this way, especially when the developer establishes a property company to manage the community. This behavior of the property company may also be an additional condition decided by the property company to avoid the trouble of arrears in the future, and it has not been authorized by the developer. In either case, the practice of paying the property management fee first and then turning over the key involves three different legal relationships, namely, the housing sales contract relationship between the buyer and the developer, the property management relationship or entrusted management relationship between the buyer and the property management company, and the principal-agent relationship between the developer and the property management company. At present, the common practice in the process of housing delivery actually confuses these three different legal relationships. Strictly speaking, housing delivery is the fulfillment of the housing sales contract between the buyer and the developer, and has nothing to do with the entrusted management legal relationship between the buyer and the property company in the future. Housing delivery should be carried out in advance according to the agreement between the buyer and the developer in the housing sales contract. As long as it meets the prior agreement of both parties, then the developer should hand over the house to the buyer without any conditions. If the final delivery deadline agreed in the contract is exceeded and the developer still unilaterally attaches conditions to the buyer, then according to the contract, unless the buyer accepts the additional conditions of the developer, the developer shall bear the liability for breach of contract for overdue delivery. In the case of legal entrustment, the consequences of the behavior of the property company shall be borne by the developer. Unless the property company acts beyond its authority and the developer does not ratify it afterwards, the developer can be exempted from liability. If the developer has property management in the business scope at the time of industrial and commercial registration, and the developer manages the property in his own name, and there is a prior agreement between the buyer and the developer in the house sales contract, that is, one of the preconditions for the delivery of the house must be that the buyer can only give the key after paying the property fee, then this prior agreement should be legal and effective, and both parties should perform the contract in accordance with the prior agreement, and the developer will not be liable for breach of contract. Finally, remind housing consumers that in the process of housing consumption, it is necessary to distinguish between the relationship between housing sales and the relationship between property entrusted management. Different responsible persons should bear the liability for breach of contract for different problems, and the behavior of developers and property companies should not be confused just because there is an entrustment relationship between developers and property companies. In addition to the problem of housing delivery, there is a similar situation in housing maintenance. I hope that consumers can find the responsible person, avoid the developers and property companies from shirking each other, so that the responsible person can't shirk, and let housing consumers better safeguard their own interests. Column Moderator: Feng Weiping is now writing: Cao Yan Law Firm, Liu Guilin, Li Xing.