On the Civil Legal Issues of ‘Haunted House’ Sales Contract - Take Peng Qian et al. and Chen Yuanhui et al. House Sales Contract Dispute Case as an Example

Abstract

As a vital transaction in daily life, house sale is not only related to the property rights and interests of buyers and sellers, but also carries the peace and happiness of the family. However, when the target house of the transaction is labeled as a ‘haunted house’ -that is, there have been incidents such as suicide and homicide in the house, it often causes the buyers and sellers to fall into deep disputes and troubles. ‘Haunted house’ is not a legal concept, but it carries deep folk traditional concepts and psychological shadows, which has a significant impact on the purchaser’s willingness to live and the market value of the house. The research on the civil legal disputes of the sale contract of ‘haunted house’ is inevitable and necessary in practice. Taking Peng Qian et al. and Chen Yuanhui’s housing sales contract dispute as an example, this paper discusses the civil legal issues in the ‘haunted house’ sales contract, and clarifies the definition of ‘haunted house’ and its legal attributes as a defect of the object in combination with the research status at home and abroad, relevant legal provisions and scholars' views. At the same time, it is of practical significance to analyze the relief ways that victims can take in combination with the information disclosure obligations of sellers and intermediaries.

Funding
This research was funded by Guangdong Province Science and Technology Innovation Strategy Special Fund ( College Students ' Science and Technology Innovation and Innovation Cultivation ), grant number Pdjh2024a073 and South China Agricultural University 2024 College Students ' Innovative Training Program Project, grant number S202410564128.