Li is a post-60s foreigner, who fell in love with Zhang from the 80s at first sight and established a relationship soon after. In order to stabilize love, Li bought a commercial house in 2014 and registered the house in Zhang's name. A few years later, the two broke up and went to court over the ownership of the house.
On February 26, the surging news reporter learned from the Shanghai Qingpu District People's Court (hereinafter referred to as the "Shanghai Qingpu Court") that a few days ago, after the presiding judge's patient persuasion, repeated communication and interpretation of the law, Li and Zhang finally reached mediation, and the house was still owned by Zhang, and he compensated Li with 600,000 yuan.
According to the court, in 2014, Li invested 910,000 yuan to buy a commercial house in full, but at that time he was not qualified to buy a house because of his foreign status, so Li registered the house in Zhang's name. Years later, the two parted ways. After the breakup, Li insisted that he was the actual owner of the house and asked Zhang to return the house many times, but was refused.
Li claimed that the purchase price and taxes of the house were paid by himself, and Zhang recognized this matter. Zhang has repeatedly asked not to hang the house in his name, although the house is registered in Zhang's name, but the essence is to hold on behalf of the two parties, the two parties are "borrowing names to buy houses", and the actual owner of the house is still himself. Therefore, Zhang should return more than 1.24 million yuan to himself for the purchase price, purchase tax and house appreciation part.
Zhang argued that he did not agree with all of Li's claims. First, the right holder registered in the real estate register is himself, and the real estate title certificate is also kept by himself; second, the rental matters involved in the house, water, electricity and other living expenses are all borne by themselves; third, the legal relationship between the two parties is a gift; Fourth, the nature of the house is a small-scale commercial house, and there is no value-added.
The court held that the focus of the dispute in this case was to distinguish between "borrowing a name to buy a house" and "gift relationship".
First of all, in this case, the two parties did not sign a written escrow agreement, and the evidence provided by Li was insufficient to prove that Zhang held the house in question on his behalf. Based on this, the relationship of "borrowing a name to buy a house" has not yet reached a high degree of certainty, so the people's court does not support Li's opinion that the house is held by Zhang on his behalf.
Secondly, in this case, Li clearly denied that the house involved in the case was a gift to Zhang, and Zhang did not adduce evidence to prove that Li had expressed his intention to make a gift to him, and the two parties did not sign a written gift contract, so Zhang's claim that the two parties were a gift relationship was difficult to establish.
The plaintiff and the defendant took a tough stance and refused to give in to each other, and the trial of the case was at an impasse for a time. After patient persuasion, repeated communication and explanation of the law by the presiding judge, Li and Zhang finally reached mediation, and the house was still owned by Zhang, and he compensated Li with another 600,000 yuan.
The Shanghai Qingpu Court stated that parties engaged in civil legal acts must be based on the expression of true intentions, especially when carrying out legal acts around high-value houses. What can really prove and protect one's true meaning should often be written in "black and white".
The names of the parties involved in this article have been changed).
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