If a new-home reservation deposit or down payment has been paid but the sale or mortgage cannot proceed for reasons not attributable to you, such as later policy tightening or a lending halt, seek a refund
If you paid reservation earnest money but no formal contract was signed, or the loan was not approved, look first at whose fault it is. If the cause is neither yours nor the developer’s, the developer must return the earnest money, or return the purchase money plus interest. Policy tightening after signing or the bank stopping lending generally counts as neither side’s fault. Overdue items on your own credit report or income that is not enough count as your cause, and you may not get the earnest money back.
No charge. Read the relevant clauses in the reservation ag…
China’s Supreme People’s Court interpretation says that a deposit taken through a subscription, order or reser…
No charge. Read the relevant clauses in the reservation agreement and formal contract. If the developer refuses a refund, you must sue.
China’s Supreme People’s Court interpretation says that a deposit taken through a subscription, order or reservation follows the deposit rules if one party causes the formal sales contract not to be concluded. If the payer defaults, the deposit is forfeited; if the recipient defaults, it must return twice the deposit. See Section 12, Item 15 on specifying a legally binding deposit. If failure to conclude is attributable to neither party, the seller must return the deposit. A separate provision covers mortgages. When the sales contract specifies loan financing and one party causes the loan contract not to be concluded, making the sale impossible to perform, the other party may seek termination and damages. If neither party is responsible, either may seek termination; the developer must return the purchase money received with interest, or return the deposit. The law states the general principle; the following are the author’s examples. Mortgage-policy tightening after signing or a bank lending halt generally falls outside both parties’ responsibility. Your own overdue credit history or inadequate income records is your responsibility. Incomplete project approvals or a bank refusing loans for that project is the developer’s responsibility. These two provisions apply only to commercial housing bought from developers, not second-hand homes.
最高人民法院 (2020 修正). 关于审理商品房买卖合同纠纷案件适用法律若干问题的解释（第一、四、五、十九条）. https://www.court.gov.cn/fabu/xiangqing/282621.html；全国人大 (2020). 民法典（第五百八十六、五百八十七条）. https://www.spp.gov.cn/spp/fl/202006/t20200602_463888.shtml
Open source linkIf responsibility is disputed, the court decides on the specific facts. State mortgage financing in the formal contract, and preferably specify what happens if approval fails. If the reservation agreement already contains the main terms of a sales contract and the developer has received purchase money, the court treats it as the sales contract; it is then not a case of “no formal contract concluded”. A developer refusing to refund must be sued. Ordinary first-instance proceedings must be concluded within 6 months under the rules, with extensions permitted; simplified proceedings take 3 months; you usually pay your own lawyer. Site editorial note: Where the conditions in Article 19 of the judicial interpretation are met—a loan contract cannot be concluded for reasons attributable to neither party, making continued performance of the sales contract impossible—the refund is the purchase money plus interest, or the deposit. The provision does not require interest to be added to every deposit refund. Original judicial interpretation