Post by Nats on Sept 28, 2016 2:02:31 GMT
They even rip their own kind off borrowed from STUFF
An Auckland company has been ordered to pay a deposit of $730,000 after it tried to back out of a property deal.
Helen Liang, director of Golden Garden Ltd, claimed she didn't understand English and so an offer to buy a $7.3m Kumeu property, on April 6 this year, was not binding on her.
However a High Court judge said "Mrs Liang is much better at English than she has let on" and her company did not have an arguable defence.
Liang, who speaks Mandarin and Cantonese, is the sole director of Golden Garden which operates a restaurant and also owned a property in south Auckland before it was transferred to another company.
Golden Garden put in the highest offer for the 4.4 hectare property on Station Rd, but its cheque, presented with the tender document, for $730,000 was dishonoured.
The property owners, Hongwei Zhao and Zhidong Huang, cancelled the sale agreement and sued Golden Garden. The pair had since resold the property but for less than the amount offered by Golden Garden and it will not be settled until next year.
Zhao and Huang chased Golden Garden for the $730,000 deposit with both sides in the High Court at Auckland this month for a summary judgment hearing.
Evidence presented in a judgement, released recently, showed that on the evening of purchase Liang had second thoughts about the agreement and requested the land agent take steps to have the contract cancelled.
The judgement says the real reason Liang sought to cancel the deal was due to lack of support from investors who had not given their approval to purchase.
Liang's case was that she had thought she was signing a conditional agreement, but it was instead an unconditional agreement.
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She also said the land agent asked as a favour to put in an offer on the property and that she never intended to buy it.
However, evidence showed Liang was familiar with buying and selling real estate in New Zealand.
She purchased a property in Silverdale and also expressed interest in buying a property in Hobsonville.
"She is clearly a businesswoman familiar with dealings in real estate. She understands the differences between conditional and unconditional agreements, tenders and agreements for sale and purchase, and the importance of finance conditions, due diligence conditions and settlement dates," Associate Judge Roger Bell said.
Her handwriting also "does not suggest that she is unfamiliar with writing in English".
"Weighing up Mrs Liang's evidence, in the light of contemporary documents and the circumstances, I find improbability after improbability. I do not accept that the company has any show at all of arguing for defence of non est factum," Associate Judge Roger Bell said.
He ruled that Golden Garden pay Zhao and Huang $730,000 plus interest at five per cent back to April 6.
An Auckland company has been ordered to pay a deposit of $730,000 after it tried to back out of a property deal.
Helen Liang, director of Golden Garden Ltd, claimed she didn't understand English and so an offer to buy a $7.3m Kumeu property, on April 6 this year, was not binding on her.
However a High Court judge said "Mrs Liang is much better at English than she has let on" and her company did not have an arguable defence.
Liang, who speaks Mandarin and Cantonese, is the sole director of Golden Garden which operates a restaurant and also owned a property in south Auckland before it was transferred to another company.
Golden Garden put in the highest offer for the 4.4 hectare property on Station Rd, but its cheque, presented with the tender document, for $730,000 was dishonoured.
The property owners, Hongwei Zhao and Zhidong Huang, cancelled the sale agreement and sued Golden Garden. The pair had since resold the property but for less than the amount offered by Golden Garden and it will not be settled until next year.
Zhao and Huang chased Golden Garden for the $730,000 deposit with both sides in the High Court at Auckland this month for a summary judgment hearing.
Evidence presented in a judgement, released recently, showed that on the evening of purchase Liang had second thoughts about the agreement and requested the land agent take steps to have the contract cancelled.
The judgement says the real reason Liang sought to cancel the deal was due to lack of support from investors who had not given their approval to purchase.
Liang's case was that she had thought she was signing a conditional agreement, but it was instead an unconditional agreement.
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She also said the land agent asked as a favour to put in an offer on the property and that she never intended to buy it.
However, evidence showed Liang was familiar with buying and selling real estate in New Zealand.
She purchased a property in Silverdale and also expressed interest in buying a property in Hobsonville.
"She is clearly a businesswoman familiar with dealings in real estate. She understands the differences between conditional and unconditional agreements, tenders and agreements for sale and purchase, and the importance of finance conditions, due diligence conditions and settlement dates," Associate Judge Roger Bell said.
Her handwriting also "does not suggest that she is unfamiliar with writing in English".
"Weighing up Mrs Liang's evidence, in the light of contemporary documents and the circumstances, I find improbability after improbability. I do not accept that the company has any show at all of arguing for defence of non est factum," Associate Judge Roger Bell said.
He ruled that Golden Garden pay Zhao and Huang $730,000 plus interest at five per cent back to April 6.
