Sign a 3-year sales contract, customers only receive the principal
According to the first instance judgment No. 309/2022/DS-ST dated November 14, 11 on the "Apartment Sales Contract Dispute" of the People's Court of Tan Phu District, Mr. NLV-Customer Buying House at A2022 Apartment Project-Diamond Alnata (Celadon City-Project of Sports and Sports Complex and Tan Thang Population, Son Ky Ward, Tan Phu District, Ho Chi Minh City), Landa Land (GamuDA) Terms of the contract.
Specifically, after signing the purchase and sale contract in June 6, Mr. V. paid Gamuda Land 2019 installments with a total amount of more than 3 billion VND, the deadline for handing over the apartment is committed on August 1,7, 7. By the 8th payment, Mr. V. had fully prepared his finances but did not receive payment notice from the investor. This customer has actively sent a written request to Gamuda Land to issue a notice of next payment as agreed.
On September 16, 9, Gamuda Land gave a written response. Due to financial difficulties, it did not issue a notice of further payment and proposed to suspend payment until the construction of the 2020th floor is completed. This investor also proposed to negotiate to adjust the time of handing over the house and receiving a discount, but did not specify the adjustment time.
Celadon City project currently has many legal issues as well as disputes with customers.
Due to disagreement with the above request, Mr. V. sent a written response to Gamuda Land and stated that the financial difficulty is not a force majeure event. Moreover, the slow handover of the house will affect the residence and business of Mr. V's family.
Mr. V. also said that by the time of handing over the house as in the contract, Gamuda Land had no feedback on the delay in handing over the house to the customer. On August 10, 8, based on the terms committed in the purchase and sale contract, Mr. V. sent a notice to unilaterally terminate the contract and claim compensation in accordance with the agreed terms due to the late handover of the apartment by Gamuda Land. However, by November 2021, 9, Gamuda Land only returned the principal amount received without penalty for breach of contract. Although the customer has sent a letter of inquiry, Gamuda Land has no response.
At the first-instance trial, through the progress of the trial and studying the case documents, the Trial Panel (Trial Panel) of the Tan Phu District People's Court said that Gamuda Land was slow to hand over the apartment to Mr. V. The representative of this company said that the COVID-19 epidemic situation affected the construction progress. However, the time to restrict people's movement and limit public activities is only for a short period of time in 2021.
Previously, in May 5, Gamuda Land issued a document requesting an extension of the house handover time to February 2020, which proves that the construction progress of Gamuda Company's works has been delayed compared to the commitment in the contract, not until the outbreak of the disease.
According to the agreement in the apartment purchase and sale contract, the deadline for handing over the apartment is August 8, by this time the construction work must be completed in rough terms. Therefore, when the epidemic broke out, the time of social distancing (from May 2021, 31 to September 5, 2021) would only affect the completion of the work.
Many residents who signed a contract to buy an apartment in the Diamond Alnata subdivision have filed a lawsuit against the investor to claim benefits.
At the sentencing part, the Tan Phu District People's Court partially accepted Mr. NLV's petition, asking Gamuda Land to pay Mr. V. more than 500 million VND in fines for violations (30% of the total amount paid under the contract terms) and interest on late payment of principal.
However, the dispute between Mr. V. and Gamuda Land did not stop there, in early January 1, the People's Court of Ho Chi Minh City opened a full appellate trial on appeal from Gamuda Land. At this trial, the representative of the People's Procuracy of Ho Chi Minh City said that Gamuda Land's delay in handing over the apartment related to the force majeure event was the COVID-2023 epidemic.
The People's Court of Ho Chi Minh City accepted a part of Mr. V's appeal, asking Gamuda Land to pay the late interest on principal payment of more than 10 million dong, not accepting the 30% violation penalty according to the contract terms as declared by the first instance court.
Request to void the sale and purchase contract because of the unauthorized sale of the house?
Through the content of the above trials, some homebuyers at the Celadon City project are suing the investor, claiming that the representative of Gamuda Land has made strange arguments to avoid paying benefits to customers. It is based on the construction of this project without a construction permit to ask the court to invalidate the purchase and sale contract, thereby only having to return the principal paid by the customer.
Specifically, at the first-instance trial, the representative of Gamuda Land asked the jury to invalidate the apartment purchase and sale contract. The reason given is that at the time of signing the contract, Gamuda Company had not been granted a construction permit by the competent authority. Therefore, the apartment purchase and sale contract between the two parties is void from the time of signing. Resolving the consequences of a voidable contract is to return to each other what was received.
Gamuda Land returned Mr. V. the paid amount of more than 1,7 billion VND. If Mr. V. agrees to mediation, Gamuda Land will support the amount of VND 400 million for the berths to end the dispute. If they do not agree to mediation, Gamuda Company proposes to the jury to settle in accordance with the law.
Gamuda Land's representative asked the first-instance court to invalidate the purchase and sale contract because there was no construction permit at the time of signing the contract.
Regarding this point of view of the investor, Mr. V. said that he bought Gamuda Land's apartment through the company's brokerage staff and had confidence in the company's reputation, so he did not do a thorough research on the law. When the company offers the apartment for sale, it has committed to the customer to ensure legal protection. The fact that Gamuda Company gave a reason when entering into a contract with Mr. Van and Mrs. Vy did not have a construction permit to declare invalidity is unfounded.
At the time of the Court's conciliation, the Gamuda Land side provided the Court with a Construction Permit issued in May 5. This shows that Mr. V. as the buyer of the apartment, cannot know when Gamuda Land signed a contract with the customer without a construction permit. Therefore, it is not a reason to void the contract at the time of conclusion. Therefore Mr. V. did not accept the mediation.
According to Mr. P.Đ.T, a customer who bought an apartment at A5 Apartment Complex, who is currently preparing to sue Gamuda Land in court, said: "According to the content of Mr. V's trial, the investor's request to cancel the contract because he signed without a construction permit makes us more distrustful and certain that the agreements will not go anywhere. So I will wait for the court's decision in the near future. With Gamuda Land's violations having been handled by the authorities, the delay time for handover is also clearly defined. Claiming the rights of me and some of my clients in the upcoming sessions will certainly have very different results. It is impossible for us to let them keep our large amount of money for many years, only to receive the correct amount of principal because of the investor's own mistake."
On April 13, the People's Committee of Ho Chi Minh City issued a decision to sanction Gamuda Land for violations that occurred at the Celadon City urban area project. This investor has violated when signing a contract to buy and sell apartments in the A4 apartment complex of this project without a written notice from the Department of Construction notifying that he is eligible to sell or lease future houses in accordance with the law.
Pursuant to Clause 4, Article 58 of Decree 16 in 2022 of the Government, the People's Committee of Ho Chi Minh City has decided to fine Gamuda Land 900 million dong for improperly raising capital.
In addition, this company must also take remedial measures to return the improperly mobilized capital. The time to implement remedial measures is 10 days from the date of receipt of the decision. All costs of organizing the implementation of the remedy shall be borne by this company.
