The Paper's reporter Duan Yanchao interns Chen Si'an and Zhao Lijie
"The boss rolled up the money and ran away, our salary and commission have not been issued, it is recommended that you report the case." On September 5, employees of Jilin Tomato Hotel Apartment Management Co., Ltd. (hereinafter referred to as "Tomato Hotel Apartment") revealed to landlords and tenants that the company had business routines of "high in, low out" and "long collection and short payment".
On September 9, the injured landlord and tenant went to the Tomato Hotel Apartment to discuss the matter. The pictures in this article are provided by the interviewees
High in, low out, that is, with a higher price than the regional market from the landlord, the low price of the house to rent to the tenant, so as to quickly collect housing and expand customers. Long-term payment and short payment are monthly or quarterly payments to the landlord, while the tenant pays a longer period of rent and deposit at one time. Public reports show that since 2019, a number of rental intermediary companies that have adopted similar business models have "exploded".
The Paper (www.thepaper.cn) noted that as of September 12, the number of members of the activist group spontaneously organized by the victim landlords and tenants had reached 433. This does not fully cover the landlords and tenants in Changchun, Shenyang and Harbin.
The September 11 receipt from the Baiju Road Police Station of the Chaoyang Branch of the Changchun Municipal Public Security Bureau shows that the police have accepted the "suspected fraud case of Li Wei and others in Chaoyang District, Changchun City", and the case is being handled.
The police have been charged with fraud
Is the rent of a house below market price affordable or a scam?
According to the national enterprise credit information publicity system, Tomato Hotel Apartment was established on March 12 this year, with a registered capital of 1 million yuan, legal representative Li Wei holds 100% of the shares, and has branches in Harbin and Shenyang.
On September 5, an employee of a tomato hotel apartment told the tenant that the company's owner Li Wei had "rolled up money and run away", and the employees' wages and commissions were not issued, and it was recommended that everyone call the police.
On the morning of September 9, some landlords and tenants came to the office of The Tomato Hotel Apartment and found the door closed and empty. From September 9 to 13, The Paper called Li Wei several times, and the voice prompt telephone was turned off.
On September 9, the Tomato Hotel Apartment was empty.
According to the landlord Qiu Shan (pseudonym), at the end of May, he learned about the tomato hotel apartment through a friend, and he felt "very formal" at the time. Qiu Shan said that his psychological expectation of the house is 2500 yuan / month, but the salesman said that he can only give 2100 yuan / month. But the other party promised that it would manage the house like a hotel, clean it regularly, the landlord can go to the house inspection at any time, and any dissatisfaction can be raised with the company. In addition, landlords and tenants do not have to meet.
For peace of mind, on May 31, Yau Shan signed a power of attorney and lease contract with Tomato Hotel Apartment. The contract stipulates that the lease period is two years, and the tomato hotel apartment pays a deposit for one month's rent, in addition to paying 2100 yuan per month. If the Tomato Hotel Apartment defaults and does not pay the rent before the payment date, Yau Shan can recover the house the next day, the company deposit is not refunded, and three months of rent must be paid as liquidated damages.
A power of attorney signed between the landlord and Tomato Hotel Apartments
On June 12, Tomato Hotel Apartment successfully rented out Qiushan's house, and the tenant paid a monthly rent of 1470 yuan for a period of one year. That is to say, putting aside the cost of manpower, operation and other costs, only the rent of the house is rented every month, and the tomato hotel apartment will lose 630 yuan.
Several tenants said that the rent of Tomato Hotel Apartment is lower than the market price and the quality of the listing is high, so they are willing to choose to sign a lease contract by betting on one payment and twelve.
Tenant Liu Zhe (pseudonym) introduced that he saw a listing on the Anjuke app on August 29 and contacted the tomato hotel apartment salesman by contacting the intermediary. During the communication, he found that the listing information was not true, but the salesman took the initiative to recommend different listings from the same developer according to his needs.
On the surface, the lease contract stipulates that the rent is 1800 yuan / month, the mortgage is paid for 12, and the lease period is one year. In fact, Tomato Hotel Apartment then signed an activity agreement with him, agreeing on a discounted price of 1170 yuan / month. The agreement stipulates that if Liu Zhe defaults, the preferential activities will be cancelled immediately and rented at the original price of the lease contract.
Liu Zhe introduced that the monthly rent of similar listings nearby is 1500 to 1700 yuan, compared to the price, although the location is slightly inferior, but the price of 1170 yuan is more affordable. After the incident, he communicated with the landlord and learned that the rent price of the house he rented was 1500 yuan, and the price of the tomato hotel apartment was 1800 yuan / month.
Because of the "worry-free service" of tomato hotel apartments, the landlord and the tenant did not meet each other, so they did not know about the disparate rental price until the incident. The tenant, Ms. Dong, once proposed to the tomato hotel apartment to see the landlord, but the other party refused, and the other party showed the landlord's ID card, property certificate and power of attorney, and finally gained his trust.
Landlord Qiu Shan said: "High in and low out, who will do the loss of money trading!" A scam that is clearly set up in advance. ”
It was found that the cat was terminated in advance, and the tenant continued to post to reveal it
Why "high in, low out", tomato hotel apartment employees once said in an interview with Jilin media: "We also asked at that time, (the boss) said that the government has subsidies, but also said that there are other transactions." The company told us to operate as I did. After only 20 days of drying, I stopped doing it. ”
In fact, some landlords found out in July this year and called the police with tenants to cancel the relevant agreements in advance.
Ms. Zhao told the surging news that in July this year, the Harbin branch of Tomato Hotel Apartment had defaulted on the landlord's rent for various reasons, causing the landlord to be suspicious, and after asking the tenant information, she was told that the tenant was a couple, and the person was not in the city at present and could not meet. Finally, the landlord contacted Ms. Zhao through the property.
Feeling that there was a scam, the landlord and Ms. Zhao jointly defended their rights. Finally, after negotiation, Ms. Zhao received a refund on July 28 (after deducting the deposit and one month's rent). She introduced that the tomato hotel apartment to the landlord is 1995 yuan / month, her actual rental price is 1330 yuan / month, but the lease contract is written 1995 yuan / month, the salesman said that the epidemic has preferential policies, just write this number. After that, the activity agreement was signed, and the rent was 1330 yuan / month.
"It's a trap, and if we find out that the scam is asking for the contract to be terminated, we have to pay the contract price." Ms. Zhao also said that when defending her rights, the salesman denied that she had asked for annual payment, and also said that the annual payment and quarterly payment prices were not the same, and that Ms. Zhao was greedy and cheap. Out of righteous indignation, in August and June, Ms. Zhao registered for the Weibo "Tomato Hotel Apartment Management Co., Ltd.", repeatedly telling her personal experience, exposing the tomato hotel apartment, and warning netizens.
Many tenants reported that Tomato Hotel Apartments would write a high price in the lease contract, and then sign the event agreement to state the actual rent price negotiated by the two parties
Ms. Zhao said that with her help, 4 tenants did not sign the contract, and 3 tenants had to return a large part of their money.
Unfortunately, ms. Zhao's Weibo has limited impact after all, and some landlords and tenants continue to be deceived.
On September 9, some of the injured landlords and tenants went to the Chaoyang District Market Supervision and Administration Bureau of Changchun City to register the situation. The tenants present told The Paper that staff said they had frozen their tomato hotel apartment company licenses.
According to the National Enterprise Credit Information Publicity System, on September 10, tomato hotel apartments were included in the list of abnormal operations by the Chaoyang Branch of the Changchun Municipal Market Supervision and Administration Bureau because they could not be contacted through the registered residence.
In the past few days, victim landlords and tenants have successively registered information at the Baiju Road police station in the jurisdiction of Tomato Hotel Apartment. The police at the police station said at the scene that the legal representative of the company involved has been brought back to investigate, and if it is necessary to find everyone to get materials in the follow-up, it will notify everyone through online announcements, WeChat groups, phone calls, etc.
On September 11, the Baiju Road Police Station of the Chaoyang Branch of the Changchun Municipal Public Security Bureau showed that the "suspected fraud case of Li Wei and others in Chaoyang District, Changchun City" had been accepted and the case was being handled.
There have been local regulations that properties in such situations cannot evict tenants
On September 12, The Paper noted that the number of members of the activist group spontaneously organized by the victim landlords and tenants had reached 433. This has not yet fully covered the affected landlords and tenants in Changchun, Shenyang and Harbin.
Ms. Dong, a tenant, said that the landlord had received 3 months' rent, but the starting calculation time was August 11, when the landlord authorized the tomato hotel apartment, not August 27, when she moved in. "You can live for 3 months, and then you have to move out." There are already many landlords who want to take the way of cutting off water and electricity and let tenants move out within a time limit. These tenants, most of whom are part-time or recent graduates, have just entered the society and have been scammed. ”
Landlord Qiu Shan told the surging news that landlords and tenants may have disputes, it takes time and cost to deal with these disputes, both parties are victims, and they should show compassion and face the problem together.
In November 2020, after the "explosion" of finding a house in the city similar to the tomato hotel apartment model, the Changchun Municipal Housing and Construction Bureau issued the Changchun Municipal Housing and Construction Bureau [2020] No. 20 document "Emergency Notice of the Changchun Municipal Housing and Construction Bureau on Doing a Good Job in finding tenants in the city", requiring property service enterprises to take the initiative to report disputes, build a communication platform, and guide owners and tenants to solve rental disputes reasonably and legally. For tenants who have signed a lease contract with Chengcheng to find a house, are still within the lease period and have paid the rent in full, the property service enterprise shall not drive away by water, electricity, gas, etc., to intensify the contradiction.
Hu Keli, a lawyer at Beijing Yingke Law Firm, told The Paper that in fact, when the landlord signed the contract, he knew that the apartment management company leased the house for sublease operation, and also issued the company with a "Power of Attorney". When a company subleases a house, the company is the landlord's agent in the case of a bona fide third party, and indeed it is. Regardless of what contract the landlord signs with the company, the third party has sufficient reason to believe that the house is rented by the landlord entrusted by the company, and according to the power of attorney, the company constitutes the right to act as an agent.
According to Article 925 of the Civil Code, if the trustee concludes a contract with a third party in his own name and within the scope of the authority of the trustor, and the third party knows the agency relationship between the trustee and the trustor at the time of conclusion of the contract, the contract directly binds the principal and the third party; however, unless there is conclusive evidence that the contract only binds the trustee and the third party.
Hu Keli said that even if the company defaults on the landlord and does not pay the rent in full, the landlord can only hold the company liable for breach of contract in theory, and cannot drive the tenant away, even if it is to recover the house, it should also be recovered through a fair judicial channel, and the tenant has the right to continue to live in the house during the judicial process.
Editor-in-Charge: Wei Jiaming