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September 14, 2009

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Lotus owners sign contracts

TEN people who owned apartments in the unfinished 13-story Minhang District building that collapsed on June 27 have agreed to buy unsold apartments in the rest of the Lotus Riverside complex.

They exchanged contracts on Saturday for apartments in the 10 buildings still standing. The building's collapse killed one worker.

However, 28 people who had bought apartments in the rest of Lotus Riverside have terminated the contracts and pulled out of the deal, according to the district real estate authorities.

The compensation process has been deadlocked for several months. "But it's now proceeding along the right lines," said a lawyer surnamed Zhang who was appointed by the district government to coordinate negotiations between the developer and the buyers.

Authorities plan to release the result of a quality inspection on the remaining buildings by September 25.

Despite indications that Building No. 6 is leaning by several centimeters, Yu Wenyi chose an apartment on its eighth floor to replace his previous purchase in the collapsed building.

"It's a gamble for me, but my greatest hope is that the quality inspection in the rest of the complex will say it's OK for us to move in," he told Shanghai Daily yesterday.

He said he was the last owner to be allowed to choose a new apartment. Yu's new home is valued at 19,024 yuan (US$2,786) per square meter based on market appraisals on August 13. "It was quite a rush to choose a new house, but I hated to let negotiations drag on forever."

Not all apartment owners are so happy with compensation plans. A total of 42 people had bought into the collapsed building and some may still sue the developer, Shanghai Meidu Real Estate Co.

"I think none of the unsold apartments is desirable," said an owner surnamed Gu who also represents other buyers. "But if I was given compensation according to the market price they provided, I couldn't even buy a second-hand apartment now."

Market valuations for the collapsed apartments were released on August 21 by a local real estate appraisal company, showing a rise of an average 25 to 28 percent.

Meanwhile, real estate giant Vanke, which was appointed on July 31 to continue construction and sales at Lotus Riverside, said it had not yet fully taken over the complex.

"I'd hate to see any new problems in the future crop up unexpectedly should Vanke give up halfway," saidYu.


 

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