Cheongchul Law Firm (Attorneys in charge: Bae Gi-hyung, Lee Yeong-gyeong, Eom Sang-yun) represented the buyers of the officetel and led to a favorable ruling that annulled the sales contract and ordered the return of the paid deposit and a penalty of 10%.

The buyers entered into a pre-sale agreement for a newly developed officetel in Gyeonggi Province and paid the deposit and progress payments. However, the developer sent a notice stating that they would change the planned move-in date indicated in the sales contract, and they did not complete the construction of the officetel more than three months after the original planned move-in date. In response, Cheongchul Law Firm filed a lawsuit on behalf of the buyers to annul the sales contract, claiming the return of the deposit and the penalty.

In this case, the developer made various claims: (i) the planned move-in date in the sales contract is considered an indefinite period, making it possible to change; (ii) the buyers’ exercise of the right to annul without paying the balance is illegal; (iii) the delay in construction is minimal, thus exercising the right to annul is against good faith; (iv) as a loan contract for the down payment was signed, the buyers do not hold any claims for the deposit or penalty; (v) various claims were asserted that the interest on the progress payment loan paid by the developer should be offset.

Furthermore, separate from the main lawsuit, the developer placed a provisional seizure on the buyers’ bank accounts and also applied for a separate payment order, making comprehensive case management and resolution of the issues very important.

Cheongchul Law Firm established the recovery of the buyers' actual deposits as the first objective and applied for litigation notice against the sales management trust company, considering that the sale was conducted in the form of a sales management trust.

Next, among the various claims made by the developer, it was confirmed that legal issues related to the litigation (such as evidence presentation) and issues regarding the actors involved (such as the lending bank) could potentially lead to delays in the lawsuit. Therefore, they explained to the court multiple times about the situation where 'the delay in the lawsuit ends up benefiting the developer' and expressed their views on expediting the process.

Regarding the other legal claims from the developer, the concepts regarding the right to annul the contract and deadlines as interpreted by the Supreme Court were carefully analyzed and explained, and as a result, they were able to quickly achieve a favorable ruling for the 'annulment of the sales contract' and 'return of the deposit and payment of penalties.'

In practice, cases where the annulment or cancellation of a sales contract is recognized are very rare, and when lawsuits are delayed, it is often difficult to recover damages even if a favorable ruling is obtained.

Cheongchul Law Firm clearly understands the essential nature of disputes related to sales contracts as described above and provides solutions by contemplating and seeking litigation strategies that can benefit the parties.

If you need a clear solution for disputes similar to this case, please feel free to contact Cheongchul Law Firm.